Announcing the Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 RC

[z3r010]

Announcing the Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 RC

This week we are announcing that Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 has hit an important milestone in development: Release Candidate (RC). 

Starting today, the RC of SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 will be available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers to test prior to final release. In the very near future, we will be making the RC broadly available for anyone to download and test. You can expect another blog post from me when that happens.

SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 include updates that have been delivered since the release of SP1, as well as support for new types of hardware and emerging standards. As we’ve described since we first talked about SP2, we’ve taken your feedback into account when developing SP2. Specifically, we expect SP2 to continue the security benefits of both products and simplify deployment for our customers.

For an outline of changes in SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, check out the notable changes document.

We are planning to release SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 in the second quarter of 2009.

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More...

 

[Jacee]

I've been Beta testing SP2 on my Vista laptop .... not one single problem

 

[win7]

Such a long expiration date...?

 

[dmex]

SP2 adds a registry key that enables modification of the maximum number of open TCP connections to increase application compatibility.

I guess that means no more TcpPatch for torrent users

 

[XxKOLOHExX]

I hope this Service Pack 2 for Vista is a better release than the service pack 1 because although the 1st one fixed alot of things it also created more problems. For me that is. So i hope the service pack doesnt cause more bugs and what not for the OS
bye

 

[Mark]

Thought this might be good to know if you plan to use the SP2 RC

Things to know about Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta

Prerequisites

If you have a prior version of SP2 installed, it must be un-installed prior to installing Beta

• Use the Control Panel applet “Programs and Features” and select “View installed updates” from the top left of the task pane, under Windows, look for KB948465

You must have a genuine copy of Windows Server 2008 with SP1 or Windows Vista with SP1 installed on the computer prior to installing SP2

• Windows Server 2008 released with the Service Pack 1 code included
• SP2 is the first post-release Service Pack for Windows Server 2008

Recommendations

• Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista SP2 Beta is applicable and recommended to individuals, organizations, and technical enthusiasts who are comfortable evaluating pre-release software
• This pre-release software is provided for testing purposes only
• We do not recommend installing this software on primary, production or mission critical systems
• We recommend that you have a backup of your data prior to installing any pre-release software
• If “vLite” was used to customize your Windows Vista installation, you may have removed required system components which prevent Service Pack 2 from installing; if you wish to install SP2, a reinstall of SP1 without vLite is recommended

Service Pack Information

• SP2 Beta is pre-release code which will change before the final release of SP2
• Windows Server 2008 SP2/Windows Vista SP2 Beta is time-limited software that will operate until May 1st, 2010 - Un-install Windows Server 2008 SP2/Windows Vista SP2 Beta before May 1st, 2010
  • After SP2 installation your desktop may display the text “Evaluation Copy”. This does not mean that your system is no longer “Genuine”, only that you have installed a test version of software which is time-limited
  • After installing the service pack, the “Evaluation Copy” text may show up on the 2nd boot
  • After un-installing the services pack, the "Evaluation Copy" text may remain during the first boot, but will disappear after the next reboot
• Starting any Windows Server 2008 SP2 or Windows Vista SP2 installations will result in Microsoft collecting information about the installation process

 

[petrossa]

after installing v286 i noticed idle processor load became the same as under windows 7. On my dualboot i've installed (as much as possible) the same setup on both os's.

With vista sp1 my processor ran about 5C hotter on idle then with win 7.
With sp2 RC it runs the same temperature on idle.

Furthermore, loadpercentage under sp1 under idle was about 15% average and win7 3%, now it dropped to 7% with sp2 RC. (that's with HD dreamscenes running in both setups)

Seems some win7 optimizations ended up in sp2 RC.

Cool.