Vista SP1 release candidate goes live

By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published December 12, 2007, 11:09 AM

This morning, BetaNews FileForum was alerted to the availability of the latest release candidate for Windows Vista Service Pack 1, just released from Microsoft.

FileForum posted a live link immediately. In an indication that this may be the only RC release prior to SP1's final endorsement, no number has been attached. Microsoft is only describing the file as an "RC," not an "RC1."

On Monday, Microsoft made an advance copy of the SP1 release notes available to the public. In it, the company gave cause for many to hope for speed enhancements, including expedited file copies and a way for administrators to adjust the speed throttling index. That index had previously given Windows Media Player extra priority when other tasks were being performed, though users noticed tremendous slowdowns for those tasks as a result.

Since this is a release candidate, testers are being advised by a TechNet document this morning that uninstallation may be necessary prior to deploying the final SP1 version. Testers are being told to run the command line tool as an administrator, and apply a command to launch the Package Manager to invoke the uninstallation.

But you have to read those instructions carefully, because Microsoft describes the command you have to run rather than providing it directly, and since the package name includes hexadecimal digits (not a joke), you should be very careful before pressing Enter.

Comments

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the biggest annoyance vista is that it refuses to retain your email account password(s) if you are using Outlook 2000, 2002 or 2003.

This Service Pack does not address the problem and the only way to get around it is a hack. Unsafe behaviour to fix a problem that Microsoft created. They are trying to force us all into using 2007 which big, clumsy and has compatibility issues.

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"the biggest annoyance vista is that it refuses to retain your email account password(s) if you are using Outlook 2000, 2002 or 2003."

Hmm...it retained mine at work...using Vista Business and Outlook 2003 (worked with SP2 and SP3)...you sure it's a Vista issue?

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"An internal error occured while installing the service pack.

Error code: 0x8007000D. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=101139";

And that link leads just to the support page...

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Any improvements on UAC, for example, less of it? It's pretty lame when UAC pops up when doing something very simple, like defrag, or when running a program I installed and want to run, but hasn't been authorized by Microsoft.

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Then you obviously dont know how to turn UAC off. Thats the first thing I do.

Go to the users control panel
on the left side slick on the User Acounts Control and turn it off.
(sorry for the vauge instructions, im not in front of my vista machine right now). All the people that complain about Vista and such just dont understand enough. I turned half the worthless services off and it runs like a campion on my old 1.6 laptop with only 512 MB.

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I heard turning UAC off can cause problems.

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Really? I heard the same thing--but I've had it off since February and haven't had any of those problems.

Strange... :D

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Just how rubbish does it make Vista seem that there's a service pack being rushed for release so soon after it's initial release? Laughable.

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How long before Apple felt it necessary to release 10.5.1?

The service pack won't be out until March or April, which is over a year which is actually quite longer for MS to release the initial service pack.

Now go play in the sandbox with the other kids.

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That's right folks, as usual, they *scream* for a service pack and then complain about it before it's even released.

Dude...You actually used to be able think before posting. Did you get hit by a car or something? Get a pole shot through your frontal lobe?

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wouldnt launch for me -.- nice one microsoft

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So, because you are having problems its MS fault? Yet, other people including myself had no problems, hell I hit install and it told me it would take an hr, I walked away came back about a half hour later and it was done waiting for me to put my password in and there was definitely a difference.

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The installer does not launch, Windows Vista Business (32 Bit installed) cache and all that cleared with Window Washer and CCleaner.
Anyone know what is going on?

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pop-up blocker? UAC? firewall settings?

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I've downloaded and installed the RC with the widely known registry hack about a week ago.
I haven't had any issues neither during the update process nor ever after. My Ultimate 6001 x86 OS is better, faster and more stable than ever before. I use a 4GB high speed flash drive to boost my pc (to 2 GB RAM). I can not complain.

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I am using 2 gb installed with 1 gb flash drive, and yes everything seems peppier now. From startup everything is loaded immediately and ready to go. So far so good, we'll see how it goes.

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no complaints before or after. vista has been very solid for me

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I can't get the installer to launch. I've redownloaded it a few times just in case of network problems, and reset services to the default state, and the installer still does not launch. Any suggestions? Vista home premium

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only a minor tip if it helps, but just clear cache/temp folders

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hope with SP1 i will finally be able to see the computers on my network. no biggie though i can still map to them

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Is IPX/SPX installed as a network protocol?

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Sorry but neither SP1, 2,3,4...10 is going to put that "WOW" in Vista. For that you will still need Mac OS X Leopard. There is simply no way to getting around this reality. ^--^

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you heard it here folks, straight from the mouth of god...er I mean anus.
we all must believe as some anonymous iternet anon says.
don't like Vista? You've got your choice, why so threatened by something you think so little of? lol

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BAH! Mac is another Porqueria!

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What reality? You're a lemming?

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Works great here.

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SP1 screws up the boot up time of my PC: from 38 seconds to 62 seconds. :(

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Admittedly they should make a defrag pass part of the update process, but since they don't, defrag and it should improve.

They replaced hundreds of files with files of different sizes and it's not all fitting int he same place so most of them are ending up in multiple locations on the disk causing slower load times.

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Doesn't Vista consistently defrag the hdd anyways?

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Possibly during periods of inactivity (not entirely certain), but it does schedule a complete defrag periodically.

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Sure, and he can wait for that to complete, or he can initiate a complete defrag and take care of it relatively quickly.

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This is great... Installed earlier today and my system feels much quicker and more responsive. There is certainly a good speed increase when copying files, both locally and over the network.

Thumbs up for Vista SP1 !!

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What about just file selection? When I highlight a bunch of mp3 files, it seems to take forever before I can even right-click my selected group.

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thank tool_xp because sometimes it takes forever to copy a file. i am glad to hear M$ improved this. that along worth me updating. i will update it as soon as I get home.

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yea that's one of my biggest complaints...that and when I have a video running in the background my computer seems to slow to a crawl...even the mouse pointer seems to have a delay. Hopefully SP1 fixes that.

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That was one of the supposed areas of focus. I'm looking forward to testing that.

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