Tag: service pack 1
February 01, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 to manufacturing in the first half of 2008, and subsequently made the service packs available both as standalone downloads and via Windows Update, Microsoft Update and Automatic Updates. Soon enough, there will be nowhere to hide from the final wave of Vista SP1 and XP SP3 that the Redmond company released through its update infrastructure. This because the software giant is gearing up for the expiration of the last barrier standing in the way of automatic downloads and upgrades to SP1 for Windows Vista and to SP3 for Windows XP, namely the Service Pack Blocker Tool.
“The Service Pack Blocker Tool temporarily prevents the installation of a service pack through Windows Update, typically for one year after general availability of the service pack. We are announcing the upcoming expiration dates for the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3: Windows Vista SP1: April 28, 2009 – Windows XP SP3: May 19, 2009. After April 28th, Windows Vista SP1 will be delivered via Windows Update. And after May 19th, Windows XP SP3 will also be delivered via Windows Update,” revealed Brandon LeBlanc, Windows Communications Manager on the Windows Client Communications Team. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
January 07, 2009 by
Jason Following the downloading and deployment of over 1.5 million Beta copies of the Microsoft hypervisor-based virtualization technology in testing environments, Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V was released to manufacturing at the end of June 2008. However, even as early as the Release Candidate stages of the solution, the Redmond company was offering tools designed to integrate with Windows Vista computers, and to permit the remote management of Windows Server 2008 machines with the Hyper-V role. At the end of 2008, the software giant also made available for download management resources for the RTM version of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.
“This update package installs the management tools for the release version of Hyper-V technology on a computer that is running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). This update package includes the following items: the Hyper-V Manager Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in (the Hyper-V Manager MMC snap-in provides management access to servers that are running Hyper-V); [and] the Virtual Machine Connection tool (you can use this remote connection tool to establish an interactive session on a virtual machine host),” Microsoft informed. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
December 10, 2008 by
Jason Although the Server Message Block remote file was originally introduced in the 1980’s, the first major overhauling it suffered was with the availability of Windows Vista RTM in 2007. SMB2, as it was labeled in Vista RTM, was subsequently updated the following year, with the introduction of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, and Windows Server 2008 SP1. However, even with the advent of SMB2, Windows operating systems continue to be interoperable with platforms that support SMB1, as the latest version of the remote file protocol has been tweaked in order to provide full support for the connection setup mechanisms of its precursor.
“A key improvement in SMB2 is the way it makes it easy for clients to send a number of outstanding requests to a server. This allows the client to build a pipeline of requests, instead of waiting for a response before sending the next request. This is especially relevant when using a high latency network,” Jose Barreto, technology evangelist with the Storage Evangelism Team, explained. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
November 17, 2008 by
Jason Microsoft is currently moving onward with the development of Windows 7, having passed Milestone 3 with the operating system. According to Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, the Redmond company is now cooking the Beta 1 release of Windows 7. But even as early as Windows 7 Milestone 3 pre-Beta Build 6801 and 6801+, discernible details, components and features across the next iteration of the Windows client come with the promise of making users forget all about Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and even SP2, or even Windows XP Service Pack 3.
“We’ve had a pretty incredible couple of weeks at the PDC and WinHEC. Based on what we talked about you can imagine we are all rather busy as we transition from milestone 3 to beta. We trust many of you are enjoying 6801 (or perhaps we should say 6801+),” revealed Sinofsky earlier this week.
With Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 changes stretch from the surface to under-the-hood optimizations, with the client evolving from both the perspective of the graphical user interface, user experience and interaction model but also in regard to the actual architecture of the operating system, with repercussions on performance, new capabilities and features, as well as compatibility and support. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista | 4 Comments »
November 06, 2008 by
Jason
The Games for Windows Branding tool is one of the evolved aspects of the DirectX software development kit launched on November 5, 2008 for a variety of Windows releases, including Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3.
The November 2008 DirectX SDK delivers the Runtime, along with the additional software (updates to tools, utilities, samples, documentation, and runtime debug files) set up to enable developers to create content compliant with DirectX. Both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows are covered by the DirectX SDK update.
The November 2008 DirectX SDK has taken the Games for Windows Branding tool (offered initially in the August 2008 release of the SDK) to the next level. “This tool helps developers and publishers test their compliance against the Games for Windows technical requirements and test requirements,” revealed Microsoft. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | No Comments »
October 14, 2008 by
Jason Network Access Protection is designed to permit a high degree of control over client computers across a network. A critical feature of Windows Server 2008, NAP is now also supported by Windows Vista
RTM and Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3. But deploying NAP is not exactly an effortless task. However, Microsoft is offering the necessary resources to help network administrators, infrastructure specialists and system architects. An illustrative example of this is the Network Access Protection Design Guide available via TechNet.
“The Network Access Protection Design Guide, authored by our very own technical writer and NAP Forum hero Greg Lindsay, is now live! The NAP Design Guide explains the advantages, disadvantages, requirements, recommendations, and design considerations for deploying NAP for the IPsec, 802.1X, VPN, and DHCP enforcement methods. (…) Huge thanks to Greg for his authoring efforts over the last year and to many NAP product team reviewers for helping to ensure that the content is technically accurate and complete,” revealed Joe Davies, NAP Senior Program Manager. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
September 05, 2008 by
Jason Despite being different releases associated with the evolution of the Windows client, Windows XP and Windows Vista share not only common elements and components through their architecture, starting with the kernel, but also flaws in the source code.
In this context, the Service Pack 1 and respectively Service Pack 3 refreshes for the two operating systems have done nothing to break the intimate connection between the two products. An illustrative example in this situation are the new Critical updates Microsoft is wrapping up for the 32-bit and 64-bit Vista SP1 and XP SP3, designed to patch security vulnerabilities in the two operating systems.
Next week, on September 9, 2008, Microsoft will make available three security bulletins impacting both the latest service packs for Vista and XP. According to the Redmond giant, the updates will patch vulnerabilities in Windows Media Player 11, Windows Media Encoder 9 Series, and Windows itself. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
Making a 64-bit copy of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 confirm that it is actually Vista SP1 might require a minimum amount of effort on behalf of the end user, such as right-clicking My Computer and selecting Properties, but things are a tad different when an application is programmed to identify the operating system versions or the service pack releases. According to Scott McArthur, Support Escalation engineer with the Setup & Cluster team, Microsoft Corporation Enterprise Support, application compatibility problems can emerge when a program will look for the service pack version in the wrong location in the registry. The example given involved an application designed especially for Vista SP1 failing to install on an x64 copy of Vista SP1.
“The application was checking for the OS version in a registry value, specifically: HKLM – SOFTWARE – Wow6432Node – Microsoft – Windows NT – CurrentVersion – CSDVersion. On the x64 version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, however this value does not exist. The correct value does show up under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – SOFTWARE – Microsoft – Windows NT – CurrentVersion – CSDVersion however. This highlights an inherent problem with relying on the registry method to capture this information. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
August 2008 has been synonymous with three separate releases of DirectX for a variety of Windows operating systems. The DirectX refreshes are tailored to Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1, but also to Windows Server 2003.
Microsoft made available for download updated versions of the DirectX Software Development Kit, the DirectX End-User Runtimes, as well as the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer. The first two releases have been re-published on the Microsoft Download Center on August 18, 2008, while the last one is available in the same form as when it went live on August 8.
DirectX End-User Runtimes (August 2008) “provides the DirectX end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product. The redistributable license agreement covers the terms under which developers may use the Redistributable. This package is localized into Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, and English. [...] The DirectX redist installation includes all the latest and previous released DirectX runtime. This includes the bi-monthly D3DX, XInput, and Managed DirectX components,” Microsoft informed. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 5 Comments »
Microsoft is indeed starting to deliver an increasing volume of details related to the upcoming Windows 7 client and Windows 7 Server releases, but the end of 2009/ the debut of 2010 is still not even on the horizon, and neither are the next iterations of the Windows platforms.
And with Windows XP available only on ultra-low-cost desktops and laptops and via downgrade rights, the focus falls entirely on the Windows Vista platform, now with Service Pack 1. But even Vista SP1 needs additional work, and the latest evolution involves a newly released reliability and performance update straight from Microsoft. And since Vista SP1 shares its core and codebase with Windows Server 2008, the update is also available for the latest version of the Windows Server operating system.
“This update resolves issues that may affect some Windows Vista SP1-based or Windows Server 2008-based computers. These issues have been reported by customers who use the Error Reporting service or Microsoft Customer Support Services. This update improves the performance, stability, and reliability of Windows Vista SP1 and of Windows Server 2008 in various scenarios,” Microsoft informed. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
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