We're excited about the progress we've made with Windows Vista Service Pack 1. On March 18th, Windows Vista SP1 was made available for customers who chose to manually download and install it from the Microsoft Download Center or Windows Update in English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese. Last week, we made the remaining languages available - giving WU users the ability to download and install Windows Vista Service Pack in any of 36 supported languages.
Today, we're happy to announce that we are beginning automatic distribution of SP1 in English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese.
So what does this mean? Over the next few months Microsoft will automatically distribute Windows Vista SP1 to PCs that have automatic updates turned on (Learn how to turn on automatic updating) and running English, French, German, Spanish, or Japanese via Windows Update. Automatic distribution will only occur, according to user settings, on PCs ready for SP1. After Windows Vista SP1 downloads, WU will let you know that "new updates are available." You'll then be asked to make a few clicks before the installation of SP1 will begin.
While we're beginning automatic distribution today, you might not see it right away since the distribution process is very gradual. As I called out on April 7th, we'll be distributing the service pack slowly so that we can help Windows users have a good experience.
As I posted above, we made the remaining languages of SP1 available for manual install on the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update last week. We'd like to let those of you running one of those languages that we'll plan to start automatic distribution of those languages sometime in mid-May.
We hope you enjoy the many improvements that have been made in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and are excited to start automatic distribution so more of you can begin experiencing the benefits.