Vista SP1 beta released to private beta testers today.

I'm looking forward to SP1 for Vista. I thought someone might find this interesting. Looks like some good things to be expected from the new SP.


http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/24/microsoft-beams-out-vista-sp1-to-beta-testers/

 

Let us hope that SP1 makes Vista operate the way it was supposed to out of the box...!

 

Let us hope that the Beta is leaked somehow...!

 

Already is, but only for that damn Vista x86.

 

check on any torrent site..it is already leaked....i just hope they fix the turbo memory issue utilized with ABS

 

Anyone have the torrent?

x64 versions of the beta were also released, need some hunting for the torrent.

 

how about the XP SP3 ?

 

I just checked. They are leaked, but they are private torrents to begin with.
What is the version number of the beta build by the way?

 

There was already a thread on this but I will chime in the concerns again. If you download the beta version, you run the risk of getting into conflicts when the final sp1 comes out sometimes next year. I do believe for the certified beta testers, they might get some type of uninstall program to get rid of the beta pack so they can install the final one without issue. I have no idea what would happen if you try to install the final one without uninstalling the beta one though. Just food for thought for those that want to try installing the beta.

 

how do youbecome a beta tester?

 

when should we expect it to be released to the public?

 

I would imagine the service pack can be removed. Here are uninstall instruction from microsoft to remove SP2 from XP http://support.microsoft.com/KB/875350.

Typically all windows updates have a method of uninstall. Most of them from add/remove programs.

 

So nobody knows anything about the SP3 for XP ????

 

XP SP3 will mainly conatain a collection of all XP patches and updates released so far via Windows Update. XP SP3 is not official yet but it is in works and due in 2008.

'Windows XP SP3, despite its collection of delays, will make it to the market, and Microsoft plans in integrate changes to Internet Explorer and to Windows Media Player into the refresh. "Microsoft has agreed to make changes to Windows XP, two Middleware Products, and Windows Live Messenger. The Windows Live Messenger changes have been delivered in the Windows Live Messenger 8.5 beta and will be included in the public release. Changes for Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player have been made available to users in August 2007 and Microsoft is discussing with the TC the delivery mechanism for those changes. These Windows XP changes will be incorporated into Service Pack 3 for Windows XP," revealed the U.S. Justice department in its filing. "

 

I dont see what the concern would be. Just create a restore point before one install the beta. Or do a disc image. Most of us did a clean install of Vista anyway. So, one can just do a clean install. I personally like to do a clean install at least once or twice a year. A friend of mine downloaded the beta off a torrent site. She is suppose to make me a copy this weekend. I may give it a try.

 

I have downloaded the SP1 Beta and saw the changes. I can't find the bittorrent right now, but i'll try to post the link for those who wish to download and try.

Clarification - Is the SP1 version at the system properties Service Pack 1, v.275?

 

what are the most significant changes you have noticed thus far? Thanks

 

I'd like the link for that. Is it for 64-bit?

 

Performance is faster as far as i can see for most computing tasks i had done and Internet explorer is noticeably faster. The previous beta build i used (v.249) kept crashing Internet Explorer, but this SP1 beta build seems to be solid stable for the first four hours. There are a few minor UI changes in SP1. Battery life improved by 15 minutes.
More here.

There is no 64bit package on the net yet, but i'll search for it.

I forgot which torrent that i used to obtain the SP1 beta, but here is a few to try. I am currently in school and they blocked bittorrent applications.

EDIT - Beta testers rejoice! i found the torrent. No registraton of trackers needed.
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Update 32Bit Build 6001 16659 Beta 1 at btjunkie.

The downloaded contents should be a folder called "Windows6.0-KB936330-X86" and it contains a file "Windows6.0-KB936330-X86" that is 703MB.

After installing, the first thing that you'll notice is that the Search is not on the start menu. System properties should say it is Windows Vista (version) v.275 (clarification on version number needed). From the changes described in the Windows Vista team blog, i believe i downloaded the real deal.

Edit 2 - I have not encountered any problems so far.

 

I can't wait for the x64 version to get released...

 

thanks for your update! I appreciate your feedback

 

After half a day of usage, everything is fine. The applications i used that constantly will crash Vista suddenly worked fine. The responsiveness of Vista is fast, not the constant feeling of heavy lag while trying to do something basic. It is gliding on the water, not constantly sinking. Explorer shows Windows Version as 6001 SP1 v.275. And to add on, there is an expiry date 8/4/2008. This is a clue that SP1 will ship before that date.

Vista will be ready for RTM (again) after 6 long years of development.

 

This is great. Thanks for your overview of the beta SP1 package System64.

 

yep this is wonderful; no lags

does vista still eat away at your cpu and hd while idling?

 

Nope. It idles for around 16% usage for CPU and there is no almost hard disk thrashing when on battery.
Rejoice. It's finally working out for Vista. Suddenly, everything works.

 

alright!! I may just switch to this beta; thanks for the torrent link; I am sick of vista eating away at my HD and CPU for absolutely no reason. I will leave my comp on...come back an hour later and hd light is blinking away and cpu jumps from 0% to 40% almost every other second

no defrag is going on; antivirus is not checking system; nothing is going on; it still eats away

 

I found the x64 bit version at http://thehotfixshare.net/board/index.php?act=idx . You have to register but they far more bandwidth than torrents. I downloaded the file in a few minutes here on campus. You need to register to download, but it is painless.

Direct Link:
http://thehotfixshare.net/board/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=3453

 

Odd.The x64's version is 16633 but the Vista SP1 beta released (and from the bittorrent)'s version is 16659. I'm not sure if it is the latest version or the older build as i do not have an x64 system to test.

 

It sounds like there are some "pre-requisite" installations before you actually install the service pack.

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/w...encing-windows-vista-service-pack-1-beta.aspx
"The first prerequisite includes updates to the servicing stack. The second prerequisite is an update for BitLocker-capable PCs (Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate) to ensure proper servicing of Bitlocker. And the third and final prerequisite includes some updates to Windows, necessary to install and uninstall the service pack."

And there should be a stand-alone installer:
"On my Desktop PC, I decided to give the standalone installer for SP1 a try. The standalone installer is the version of SP1 offered as a single downloadable file in x86 and x64 flavors. Since I am running at 64-bit on my desktop PC, I chose the x64 standalone installer for SP1."

 

I noticed that too, even the torrent versions available differ for x64 and x86. Only problem is that there are not very many sharing the x64 currently and with a 25 KB/s transfer rate through torrents I could probably hold out for the official release.

 

Build 16633 is not the SP1 Beta that was recently released, it is a pre-beta that has been out for a month or so. Better wait for the build 16659 to get posted.

 

I haven't installed the x64 yet. I wonder are we sure that the x86 and x64 betas have the same development cycle? I am really not too worried because I am planning a new clean install soon, but am curious about whether the version numbers will match for each release.

 

I can't find build 16659 for x64. I downloaded build 16633 for x64. When I get time, I might back up my system then install 16633. I have read in a few forums that if you have a beta service pack installed that Windows update will auto update when a new beta is released. Maybe it's worth a shot.

I'm not sure when I will get a chance to do this. If someone else tries it out. Please post to let us know how it worked out.

 

Let me clear up the confusion (if any) , i was also confused wether there was prerequisites needed before installing the standalone package.

The prerequisites are needed for those doing the beta via Windows Update. The standalone installer "took care of installing the prerequisite packages for me." according to the Vista Team blog.

 

Do you know if this is true^^^

 

I am probably going to wait for a later version of the beta before installing since I barely got my system stable. I honestly did approx 7-8 clean installs and had my notebook for under 3 weeks; No APS or turbo drivers this time and it is finally stable...im not going to attempt to mess with it anymore

but please keep us updated on how it is going. Thanks

 

I'd like to install this, but I don't want to run the risk of majorly screwing up my legit updates.

Any opinions?

 

I did a bit of reading and it looks like x64 users can install the leaked 16659 build, and then use Windows Update to update to the new 16663 build.

Also, for those of you outside the US who try to install this SP and get a message that the SP does not apply to you, change your system locale (requires a restart) to US in the Regional section of Control Panel.

 

Have you made a back-up of your system? If you haven't you should use Complete Back-up and restore to back-up your system (if you have Business or Ultimate) if you don't you should use Ghost or Symantec to back-up so you don't have to go through the entire clean install process. I have two full system back-ups that I can use. The first back-up I created right after I installed all my drivers. The second back-up was after I installed all of my applications and did a few tweaks. So now I can restore using either one and never have to clean install again.

 

So I installed SP1 Build 6001.16633. It took about 50 minutes to install. For some reason I had to re-install my video driver after the SP finished installing. I have rebooted several times and I have forced Windows Updates to look for updates several times. It seems that it is not going to allow me to update to Build 6001.16659... bummer. I haven't noticed anything different since installing it. However, I was happy with performance and stability before. I suppose I will keep this SP for awhile and see how it goes. I can always revert back to my back-up that I made prior to installing it.

Here are a few screenshots (the most recent service pack says (v.275):


I thought this was interesting. I have a new addition to my desktop

 

I installed build 16659 for my x64 install too and also had to reinstall video drivers. Everything worked fine except for my TCP Auto Tuning tweak had reverted itself back to default. I tried to set it again but after every reboot it reverted back to default. This is a show stopper for me since without that tweak, my transfer speeds to my file server are incredibly slow. See here for the tcp tuning tweak I use: http://thesystemadministrator.com/T...CP_Auto-Tuning_to_Solve_Slow_Network_(Vista)/

So I uninstalled it and everything is working as it should.

 

I installed build 16633. Where did you get 16659?

 

Oops, I double checked and the one I installed was 16633.

 

I found the latest build (6001.16659) for 64-bit: http://www.thehotfix.net/forums/index.php?showforum=113

I'll install it tomorrow and see what happens.

BTW, anyone who is following this. Install at your own risk. I don't even know for sure it's the real deal. I've never downloaded anything from that site. I wouldn't even attempt it if you haven't backed-up your entire system.

 

Second day update - Vista is stable. Am i dreaming? I do not have benchmarks that will be give a good indicator of the improvements (my notebook is my study/gaming machine).

Vista SP1 is the RTM.

 

The beta watermark appears on all beta versions of Windows, including the latest service pack 1. There is a registry hack to remove it, but i cannot find it anywhere.
Also, for users of Vista Ultimate, by using Deskscapes the beta watermark will be covered up.

 

I suppose this should get rid of the "watermark": http://keznews.com/1735_Vista_RTM_Evaluation_Copy_Desktop_Watermark_Patch

Looks like it has been around for awhile, but it probably works.

EDIT: This watermark patch only works for 32-bit. Someone please post if you find a way to remove it in 64-bit.

 

So regarding this no search box thing, how are we suppose to easily find files then?

I kind of wish they would revert it back to the way xp was when it would just list everything under 'Programs'. It kept you aware of all the programs you had installed on your computer

 

The "no search box thing" is very misleading. I thought people were talking about the search option just above the windows orb. I just finished installing SP1 (the latest) for 64-bit. The search option is gone from the menu on the right side of the start menu, but it is still right above the windows Orb for easy access. It was just redundant to have both. Compare my start menu with yours:



If someone considers installing this, I have a few tips. First of all if you have a previous version of the service pack you will get a message that says "Service Pack 1 is already installed" even though you are installing the newer version. So you must start off without any previous SP1 betas. Second tip. Flip the switch on the front of your laptop to turn off wireless connections. My laptop sat all night with a message that said "Shutting down...". It would not shut down. So I flipped the switch to turn off my wireless connections and it shut down immediately and continued with the install process. Third, be prepared to re-install our video driver after it finishes. I had to for my nVidia graphics anyway.

So far, all is well with the SP1 released on Sept 25. The link I provided a couple posts up seems to be the real deal. We'll see how it goes.

 

A fourth suggestion. It seemed like my 4GB SDHC card was not being accessed with the pre-SP1 information on it. It was difficult to get the system to recognized the card, but I eventually managed to reformat the card, re-insert the card, and re-set readyboost to function with the card. Seems to be working fine now. If you install this SP, I would recommend that you reformat your readyboost card before installing SP1 so the previous information doesn't cause any conflict.

This might be good information to remember even if you don't install the SP1 beta. It would probably be a good idea to do this prior to the official/public SP1.