How-To Geek

After much rumor, speculation and innuendo, SP1 is beginning to launch for the masses. Please keep this discussion on-topic, related to the performance of your Vista after you've downloaded and installed SP1 and *only* if you have.

From Ed Bott "...you can call for free support on SP1–related issues even if you purchased an OEM copy of Windows Vista preinstalled on a new computer."

https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&x=8&y=7&prid=11274&gprid=500921

Please report your experiences here after/if you install SP1.

Just finished installing SP1 through Windows Update. Install went well, took a little over an hour. Don't
know if it was just coincidence, but after reading about the need to have all prerequisites installed before SP1 can be installed I got to thinking about KB937287, which I hid and did not install after I did a
system recovery to correct rebooting problem evidently caused by it. So, I went ahead and installed it and
voila, SP1 showed up and I proceeded to install it. So far I haven't noticed a big change other than computer seems to be a little quicker.

@techauthor

That's definitely not a fun experience!

I've installed the update via the downloadable version on my laptop, and also via automatic updates on other machines... I've had no issues with installing, although the automatic download did seem to take forever for me.

Things to Know Before You Download Windows Vista SP1 ( this was part of an answer to a query I had sent to Microsoft. They are very helpful in providing information)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-.....68895.aspx

How to obtain the release notes for Windows Vista Service Pack 1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936330

If you would like to install the SP1, please select KB935509, KB937287 and KB938371 to install and then do the following steps to install SP1.
Generally, of installation issues can occur if certain third party programs are running in the background during the upgrade (especially third party firewall, antivirus programs etc). As a result, Vista SP1 cannot be downloaded completely and the installation will fail. Therefore, I suggest we first perform the following steps to directly download Vista SP1 on our website in Normal Mode and then install it in Clean Boot mode to avoid software conflicts.
Before we try to install Vista SP1, please understand installing Vista SP1 requires a minimum of 5 GB free disk space on the Windows partition. The recommended free disk space is as follows:
• 7 GB Recommended for 32-bit Windows Vista
• 12 GB Recommended for 64-bit Windows Vista
Therefore, please make sure you have enough free disk space before installing Vista SP1.
If you are using a branded computer, which is also known as an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) PC, the hardware and applications on your computer are highly customized by the original computer manufacturer. Therefore, the standard version of Vista SP1 may not be fully compatible with the computer system. At this point, I recommend contacting the computer manufacturer first before installing Vista SP1. Please ask them if any of the software applications and hardware drivers need to be updated for Vista SP1. Otherwise, installing Vista SP1 may cause unexpected problems. Thank you for your understanding.

They also sent a long guidance on how to install with the standalone installer. If there is interest in this, I will be glad to post it.

What was interesting is that they recommended to install in "Clean Boot Mode" - I assume that means "Safe Mode". - Maybe that could help techauthor.

Sorry if this not the right thread, I'm VERY new to this. I've read all your post's with great interest on the matter of SP1 downloads, but my burning question has not been mentioned. DIAL UP connection, which is what I have, would take a life time to download SP1. Can anyone advise me what the position is with this. Thank you in anticipation.

Thanks for that whs, my dial speed is usually only about 33,000 bites per sec, so a little longer than you suspect. I've tried getting in touch with M/S but have not had any joy so far. Any other suggestions?

Rob, when you do the calculation remember that your transfer rate is in bits and the file size for SP1 is in bytes. There are 9 bits (8 data and 1 check bit) to a byte. That makes it even worse. Let's hope Scott is right on the CD deal.

Hey, I can't even install SP1 - both the standalone installer and Windows Update give Error Code 0x80070002, and following MS's fix for this doesn't help. Windows Update displays it after downloading 20%, and the standalone gets to about 75% and then displays it.

Anyone else having this problem?