Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Robert Lacroix — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:46:49 GMT

@tokm: The "Evaluation copy" text on the desktop after uninstalling pre-RTM versions of SP1 will disappear after rebooting the computer once more.

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Nick White — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:23:35 GMT

Hey BobBinns: actually, there *is* a place for your to log issues experienced with SP1 -- this forum, dedicated solely to that purpose: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=1992&SiteID=17. Please direct your feedback there, and thanks for reading.

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

BobBinns — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:19:41 GMT

Hi,

I am and MSDN member. There does not seem to be an official place to log problems installing SP1 RC1 so I am happy you have this Blog.

I have two Vista Ultimate Machines (All updates, all language packs). I installed SP1 on them both via Windows update. The SP1 Installs successfully on both (so it said) but I cannot login afterwards I get an error something like:

Memory access error

Neither machine has ever been domain joined.

My only recourse was to go back to the last restore point (which work quite well thankfully).

Both machines have a pretty different set of hardware/software. One is a dual core laptop used for development (Visual Studio, etc...), the other is a Quad core Home desktop with lots of games.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Bob Binns

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

nectario — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:51:35 GMT

I have a dual Quad core XEON x5482 3.2GHZ (8 cores) with a 1600Mhz bus speed. I played an mpeg-2 1080p video. All was fine, but as I was moving the video around the screen the video glitched. I would not expect a glitch on such a powerful computer even if I am moving it accross the screen. I have an 8800GTX Nvidia graphics card.

Thank you

-N

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Hannabull — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:46:10 GMT

I've had SP1 RC since about Dec 15th. I have yet to notice any changed in my system at all really. Maybe a slight drop in RAM usage, but not much. It still seems to run at a decent speed. (Running Vista Ultimate x64 on a 2.8 gig P4 with 1 gig of RAM.) I mainly only use my machine for music, gaming (WoW) and web surfing though. Wonder if that makes any difference.

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Nick White — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:59:53 GMT

Hey kevanbrown: I've heard of this issue before and that it has been resolved for many customers by installing the Performance and Reliability updates that form part of SP1 (and are mentioned here on this blog). You might also check out our public forum deducated to SP1 to see if anyone there has any advice or guidance on the matter: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=1992&SiteID=17. Hope this information helps.

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

kevanbrown — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:10:36 GMT

I have an Alienware m9700 laptop. I normally run Windows Vista Ultimate x86 on it. I have never been able to successfully resume from hibernation with Windows Vista installed. When trying to resume, the "Resuming" animation appears for a while and then switches to a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left corner. I was really hoping SP1 would fix this VERY annoying problem, so I installed the Vista x86 with SP1-integrated distribution from the MSDN download site and then loaded all vendor drivers for the laptop. I still have the same hibernation problem with a fresh OS with SP1 and driver load; very disappointing.

BTW, I've attempted multiple times to install the problem reporting tool to send information about this issue but it will not install and does not report an error. The Windows Installer dialog appears for a second and then disappears never to be seen again.

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

ProAudio1 — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:24:11 GMT

Hakon Strande - I am impressed by this laundry list of features, advantages and benefits - although I've not heard any of them "play out" yet, but I'm sure I will.

However, your list reminds me of the little story about the chicken and the turtle. Seems the chicken lays an egg a day and lets the whole world know about it - the turtle lays hundreds of eggs per day in silence. Perhaps there should have been more crowing a long time ago! ;-)

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Hakon Strande — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:42:57 GMT

This is a comment for SuperPotato who said "Seriously, it's not like Vista is a massive change in terms of technology compared to XP."

Here are some of the things the Windows Sound Team did for Windows Vista:

> User Mode Audio migration: A complete re-write of the audio subsystem to allow for enhanced audio policy, transparency, low latency, high fidelity, extensibility, stability, reliability and security.

> Audio performance enhancements to enable UMA’s high fidelity goals.

> a new streamlined audio render sink, the platform component of the Media Foundation API which is a big part of the important playback of premium protected content scenario

> Audio Accessibility improvements necessary to meet government regulations and allow Windows Vista to be sold to government institutions

> Protected User Mode Audio, an infrastructure that allows content owners to control the protection level of their content on the PC – this was built to enable premium content playback scenarios on the PC

> System Effect Infrastructure, insertion points for 3rd party audio processing value-add. Supports the UAA class driver initiative by allowing IHVs to use class driver and have their own value add audio processing algorithms in user mode (which in turn means increased stability for our OS)

> A re-design on how volume is handled by the OS, focus on fidelity and ease of use. One result of this work was the per-application volume mixer.

> Improvements to the USB Audio class driver. USN Audio is one of the standardized technologies required for Windows Vista logo certification under the UAA initiative.

> HD Audio – a new class driver based on a driver model that promotes stability, reliability and high fidelity that will support a technology that is required for Windows Vista Logo certification. This is the big bet that will enable native (in-box) audio driver coverage on new OS in the future even if the 3rd party driver fails.

> WaveRT – new driver model that moves audio buffer handling into user mode to increase stability and transparency. WaveRT also enables low latency audio streaming and improves glitch resilience of the audio pipeline

Windows Vista is a great improvement over Windows XP in the audio pipeline domain but as with all new technologies there will be things to work out - the PC is not a closed ecosystem, it is WIDE open and as the comment from ProAudio1 shows even OEMs and OS vendors can miss behavior from bad hardware/drivers.

Hakon Strande - Microsoft Windows Sound Team

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Rick J — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:42:43 GMT

Is there a trick to using Nero 7 to turn the download into an install CD? I was able to install from the copy on hard disk but the CD copy failed twice in a row. The install is not trivial and took about an hour to complete. Having the code roll itself back kind of upset me. Having it do that twice made me quit for the day.

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Nick White — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:43:40 GMT

Hey Korn1699: we can't provide support for SP1 here on the blog, but you can discuss your installation experience with others and report the issues you've identified at this forum: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=1992&SiteID=17.

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Korn1699 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:46:20 GMT

I have been having a lot of trouble with installing SP1. With the version that I first tried, my laptop appeared to install fine, but then the installer said it didn't work and rolled everything back. My desktop would contantly blue screen during the setup, but it let me load safe mode, which also ended up rolling things back. I tried the refresh yesterday on my laptop, which I have switched to 64 bit Vista Ultimate instead of 32 bit, which I had last time I tried SP1. After the installer restarted the first time, it would blue screen after the windows loading screen. There wasn't an option to go into safe mode, and doing a repair with me windows disk also didn't work. Luckily I did a full backup before that, so I was able to go back. Have there been many people with similar issues? My laptop is an Inspiron 1520 with basically max options, and I think that is a fairly common model. I know I saw at least a few of them around where I was sitting at a VS 2008 install fest that had about 100 people.

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Hellishdevil — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:41:17 GMT

Thank You very Much For Your Response Nick!

Thanx!

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Nick White — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:08:31 GMT

Hey Hellishdevil: you can turn off chosen updates in Windows Update by going to the Windows Update control panel -> View available updates -> right-click selected update -> choose 'Hide update'. Hope this helps.

re: Windows Vista SP1 RC now available for public download

Hellishdevil — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:22:49 GMT

When will I get a response from you peeps?