(Not) an update on SP1

A HotFix.net blogger today posted a collection of individual Windows Vista hotfixes as a supposed Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) preview.  However, those of you who've been closely following discussions on Windows Vista will quickly notice that what is posted consists of some material already available on Windows Update and some hotfixes that we give out on a case-by-case basis, along with a lot of speculation about what may and may not be included in SP1.

Looking at the site, it seems to me the blogger compiled a list of previous mentions of SP1 (purely conjectural, and already discussed in other blogs) stitched together with another list of "hotfixes" mentioned in various KB (Knowledge Base) articles (again, already posted on our web site).  You probably already know that we create and release hotfixes on a regular basis for very specific customer scenarios or for OEM-shipped machines, and that it's standard policy that all hotfixes are rolled into the next service pack release.  However, a service pack is not just a compilation of hotfixes and security updates, so don't make the mistake of thinking that the set of fixes offered in this particular blogger's list represents a preview of the service pack itself.

It's worth mentioning that hotfixes not posted on Windows Update are not intended for individual installation unless the user is experiencing the specific symptoms mentioned in the corresponding KB article.  These hotfixes represent specific fixes for specific customer scenarios and typically have not undergone full regression testing.  When they are integrated into a future service pack, they will receive full regression testing and beta testing.  So, installing a collection of unnecessary hotfixes may cause more problems than are fixed.

The bottom line is that unless you have encountered the specific situation described in a given KB, you'll get everything you need from Windows Update.

Final comment:  I'm not here to discuss SP1 on this blog, so please refrain from posting your questions on it in the Comments section.  Windows Vista is a product that's both deep and wide and we on this blog intend to continue to delve into it while sharing with you the story of its creation.  When the time comes to discuss other releases, you can be sure that we'll have plenty to say right here.

Tags: , ,

Comments

  1. sl380
    Posted on: April 11, 2007 at 12:01PM  

    Well, there's another problem now. I hit the submit buton once, and it posted twice. Hmmmmmm.

  2. Nick White
    Posted on: April 11, 2007 at 1:41PM  

    Hey sl380:  I'd suggest you pose your question in one of our public newsgroups to see if anyone else has encountered this situation, and if they can help.

    I will be sure to direct your feedback to the Windows Mail team.

  3. sl380
    Posted on: April 11, 2007 at 3:01PM  

    Nick, thanks for responding and forwarding my issue to the Mail team. Below is a microsoft communities forum on this issue. Maybe send that too. It has been a problem, apparently, since Vista was released. In the past, users have been able to download a program, overwriting the exsisting one. I did it with Outlook Express a few times. Can you post a link for that? Since Windows Mail only works on Vista, you would not really be giving away anything users haven't already paid for. MS has not provided help to the computer manufacturers, yet keep sending us to them. It's all in the Communities posts.

    http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.mspx?query=mail+stuck+in+outbox&dg=microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail&cat=en_US_0F13D7E8-6EEF-4471-A336-41CAA3BF9ABC&lang=en&cr=US&pt=&catlist=D1CBF0BD-E8EE-4D73-8ECC-15AF7EC6783B&dglist=&ptlist=&exp=&sloc=en-us

  4. Andy McKnight
    Posted on: April 11, 2007 at 3:40PM  

    Nick,

    I need an email address, I can't find yours on the site?

    Andy.

  5. Nick White
    Posted on: April 11, 2007 at 7:39PM  

    Hey again sl380:  It sounds like you're asking for a stand-alone installation of Windows Mail.  This isn't possible since WM is now part of the OS.  In the past, OE was part of IE and could be downloaded as part of the IE6 package, but this is no longer the case.

    As for the issue with mail being stuck in the outbox, one thing you can try is:

    - Go to the location of your mail store (Find this info by going to Tools->Options->Advanced->Maintenance and looking at the store location)

    - Go to the Outbox folder in your mail store and remove the message thats stuck

    BTW, you can send me an email by clicking on my name to go to my profile, then clicking the "email" link.

    Hope this helps.

  6. Southpaw
    Posted on: April 13, 2007 at 3:08AM  

    Why is Windows update in vista so slow? 13 min to check for updates on a 10mbps down and 2mbps connection.

  7. LexComm
    Posted on: April 17, 2007 at 6:58PM  

    Hey, Alot of people that argue an os is worse than the other normally 9 times out of 10 they havent even experienced the new OS, but Nick, i seem to be having the same problem as Hunter1942, I play my music in winamp, or have shoutcast tv running, and all it shows is a still image unless that specific program is in the foreground, this is really annoying, cause Id like to know how long the song/video clip has left if i have it in the background, any feedback or support would be greatly appreciated thankx Team Lexcomm.

  8. LexComm
    Posted on: April 17, 2007 at 8:18PM  

    oh also i have 1 more thing, i have le Vista Ultimate and I run in Español which isnt a big deal as its my native language, but I tried to install the en language pak and it says it has an error after attempting the install, it will dl the pack complete at 100% and do the creating system restore..etc but after it says installacion failed, is there a way i can download an seperate language pack without Vista Update?

  9. stephensaw
    Posted on: April 20, 2007 at 9:05AM  

    Hi, speaking of update, is there any way for us to backup the downloaded windows update? Just in case for formating PC needed to carry out, we still can restore back the backup, rather than we download all over again, while before service pack is out...

  10. sl380
    Posted on: April 22, 2007 at 3:38PM  

    Nick, I hope you got the email I sent you, regarding WM. I tried your idea to no avail. Also, in Microsoft communities, I found a few other solutions, including a way to delete the Outbox. Windows did rebuild that folder, but the message that is stuck is still there. WM worked for my wife on her account for a few days, now has the same problem. You said you would forward this problem to the WM team. Have they indicated when a downloadable fix can be expected? Thanks again.

Recent Posts

Tags

View more
© Copyright 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.   |   Privacy Statement