Get to Know Vista Service Pack 1
Robert Strohmeyer
Yesterday, Microsoft announced a release candidate of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to members of the TechNet community. While it isn't the final service pack, this release candidate is a great way for net admins to get a feel for the service pack before its official release sometime in the coming weeks.
Updates in the service pack include changes to security features, promises of greater reliability and performance, and tweaks to administration tools that should be of interest to any net admin whose network includes Vista PCs. Of particular interest will be changes to the group policy management tools, which promise to simplify the process of managing large groups of Vista users.
You can download the SP1 RC either as a stand-alone installation or via Windows Update.
Downloading the SP1 release candidate via Windows Update involves running a script that will allow the PC to receive the service pack as an update within the next few days. Alternatively, you can force the install to run manually by running the script, and then clicking Start, Control Panel, Windows Update and choose the Check for Updates option in the left pane. This should give you the option to install Update for Windows Vista, which in turn will give you the option to install another Update for Windows Vista after a reboot, and then install the actual service pack. Along the way, you'll need to keep manually clicking Check for Updates. It's a convoluted process, even by Microsoft standards, but it beats waiting several days just to take a gander at the service pack's features.
As with any prerelease software, this SP1 release candidate should only be installed on a handful of non-critical test systems, and isn't recommended for non-technical users. However, net admins would do well to get a feel for the update before its final release, so they can better prepare for deploying the final SP1 when it arrives.
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