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Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Released

Martin Brinkmann — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:18:16 +0000

Microsoft has just released the second service pack for the Windows Vista operating system which can either be downloaded as a standalone package or via Windows Update. The standalone package not only contains the Windows Vista Service Pack 2 but also the second service pack for Windows Server 2008, a combined package so to speak. The size of the 32-bit standalone package is about 302 Megabytes for the five language and 390 Megabytes for the seven language service pack and almost double that amount for the 64-bit standalone package which comes in sizes of 508 and 622 Megabytes.

The size of the Service Pack 2 is considerably smaller when downloaded over Windows Update with all downloads being less than 100 Megabytes in size for all possible editions. Microsoft has created a What’s New article at Technet which details the most notable changes that are introduced in Windows Vista Service Pack 2.

Changes that affect most users are the removal of the halp open outbound TCP connection limit, support for Bluetooth 2.1, improvements to Wi-Fi connections and configurations and the integration of Windows Search 4.0.

The standalone Windows Vista Service Pack 2 can be downloaded from the following pages:

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 5-language (English, French, German, Japanese, or Spanish) standalone pack download

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 5-language DVD ISO download

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 5-language 64-bit download

The all language standalone packages are not available yet, the links are the following for 32-bit and 64-bit

Please follow these links for additional information about the second service pack:

Notable Changes
Release Notes
Hotfixes and Security Update List

via OS News

Windows Vista SP2 Beta 2 Download

Martin Brinkmann — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:17:36 +0000

If you want to keep up with the latest beta releases of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 you might like the following. Our reader Kevin send us the new Registry keys that are needed to download the beta 2 release of the Windows Vista Service Pack 2. Yes, it is still a beta release and yes, it should be only installed on test systems and not work environments. Still, if you want to have the latest you need to do the following.

First make sure that the first beta of the Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is completely uninstalled from the computer system as the new beta cannot be installed over the old one. Once the first beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 has been uninstalled you can go ahead and add the following Registry keys to the Windows Registry: The easiest way to do this is to copy and paste both lines into a new text documents and rename it so that the extension changes from txt to reg.

reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSP2 /f reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSP2 /v Beta2 /t REG_SZ /d DCA54ECC-362A-4B4D-B62B-22780E839A7E /f

A double-click will execute the file and add both lines to the Windows Registry. You can try and check Windows Update right away to see if Beta 2 shows up. It might take some time and you might need to reboot the computer after applying the Registry patches before you can see the new beta release.

Windows Vista SP2 Details

Martin Brinkmann — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:51:21 +0000

Neowin published details about the upcoming Windows Vista Service Pack 2 on their website which was recently released to testers in an early build and quickly leaked to the Internet so that anyone interested could install Windows Vista Service Pack 2. It was an early build with bare to none new feature and came in a surprisingly low size of 290 Megabytes. Taking into consideration that the size of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 was more than 720 Megabytes it is fair to assume that service pack 1 will not be included in service pack 2.

This essentially means that users who want to install Windows Vista Service Pack 2 will have to install Service Pack 1 first before they can do so. Microsoft is aiming for a public release in the first half of 2009 with beta builds going out to selected testers as usual.

Another interesting aspect is that Service Pack 2 will not only be for Windows Vista but also for Windows Server 2008 RTM. Several new features have been confirmed by Microsoft.

Support for VIA 64-bit CPUs
Support for Bluetooth 2.1.
Support for ICCD/CCID smart cards.
Support for native Blu-Ray media recording.
Windows Connect Now (WCN), a new tool to assist in connecting to Wi-Fi networks.
ex-FAT file system, supporting UTC timestamps to ensure correct file synchronization across time zones.
Windows Search 4.0 integration.
Improved support for resuming with active Wi-Fi connections.

Nothing spectacular in the list (yet) but probably helpful for some users who are experiencing Wi-Fi connection issues or use hardware that supports Bluetooth 2.1 or run Via 64-but CPUs or Blu-Ray devices.

Windows Vista SP2 Registry Hack

Martin Brinkmann — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:43:12 +0000

Joseph was nice enough to send me the required Registry keys for the Windows Vista SP2 update that was distributed to selected testers on October 16. It is a pre-beta update for testers and not suited for anything else but test systems to test the changes of the new service pack for Windows Vista.

There are not any changes yet that can be identified after installing Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista. The service pack 2 currently contains all released patches and hotfixes that have been already released and several files that are required for future updates that Microsoft will release to testers.

Users who are still interested in testing Windows Vista SP2 can download a batch file that is stored at Mediafire which will add the required keys to the Windows Vista Registry. The computer has to be restarted after executing the batch file before the changes become visible.

Windows Update will present the Vista SP2 Servicing Stack Update first which has to be installed before the actual Vista SP2 becomes available.

Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Pre-Beta Released

Martin Brinkmann — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:39:52 +0000

Microsoft began distributing a pre-beta release of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 just a few days after announcing a second service pack for Windows Vista which according to Microsoft would come out before the release of the next Microsoft operating system Windows 7.

The pre-beta release is distributed to a select group of testers who have to run a program that adds a few keys to their Registry which enables the download of Windows Vista service pack 2 on Windows Update.

The release which has the build number 6002.16489 has a size between 290.7 MB to 296.9 MB. It contains all released updates but no obvious changes or additional features according to Within Windows.

KB955430 is the hotfix that has to be installed after making the changes to the Windows Registry. After installing that hotfix the real Windows Vista Service Pack 2 download becomes visible in Windows Update.

It will probably be only a matter of time until the Registry changes leak on the Internet which would enable the Service Pack 2 downloads for anyone making the changes to their Registry.