Tag: service pack 2

Vista SP2 Bluetooth Pairing Update Released

January 28, 2010 by Jason

Microsoft has made available for download a reliability refresh designed to resolve issues affecting Windows Vista, including platforms upgraded to Service Pack 2, in Bluetooth pairing scenarios. According to the Redmond company, Bluetooth pairing issues affect only Windows Vista, and not customers running Windows XP or the latest version of the Windows client, Windows 7. Customers can now grab an update from the Microsoft Download Center, set up to resolve reliability issues associated with Windows Portable Devices (WPD).

“You try to pair a Bluetooth device with a computer that is running Windows Vista. When you initiate Bluetooth pairing from the Bluetooth device, the Bluetooth services on the Bluetooth device are not enabled automatically. You have to manually enable the services,” the software giant explained. “This issue does not occur when you initiate Bluetooth pairing from the computer. In this situation, the Bluetooth device’s services are turned on automatically.”

Microsoft is offering the Vista SP2 Bluetooth pairing reliability update for both the 32-bit (x86) and the 64-bit (x64) versions of the operating system. “To apply this update, you must have hotfix 971514 installed on a computer that is running Windows Vista Service Pack 2,” the company informed. Read More»

Vista SP2 Upgrades on NVIDIA Chipset PCs Result in Crashes

January 12, 2010 by Jason

Customers that have upgraded their Windows Vista Service Pack 1 computers to Service Pack 2 only to subsequently be plagued by frequent crashes can access a solution from Microsoft. The Redmond company notes that it is well aware of the issue. According to the software giant, some customers that made the jump from Vista SP1 to Vista SP2 have experienced repetitive crashes and have also come across the following stop error message “Stop 0×000000FE BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER”. Microsoft also mentions that the same problems affect customers that upgraded from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 SP2.

“After you upgrade from Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) to Windows Vista SP2 or from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 SP2, your computer crashes frequently and you receive the following stop error message: Stop 0×000000FE (parameter1, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4) BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER,” the company stated.

While an update is not available from Microsoft, nor likely, except with the release of Vista SP3, a hotfix can be grabbed from Microsoft Support. The software giant notes that the hotfix is the same as a resolve designed to take care of another problem impacting Vista and Windows Server 2008. However, in the specific case of Vista SP1 to SP2 upgrades, the issue “usually occurs on computers that have NVIDIA chipsets. Read More»

Vista SP2 Application Compatibility Update

August 27, 2009 by Jason

Microsoft is constantly tending to the evolution of its Windows client and server platforms, not only through major upgrades, such as service pack releases, but also through minor updates made available through the Windows Update infrastructure. It is the case of the latest application compatibility update for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. The refresh is currently served through WU, but as of August 25th, 2009 the bits can also be grabbed as standalone download via the Microsoft Download Center. If you don’t want to use WU to grab the August 2009 Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Application Compatibility Update simply use the links at the bottom of this article.

“Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update is a software update that addresses common application compatibility issues in Windows Vista. Microsoft regularly releases application compatibility updates for Windows Vista and for Windows Server 2008,” Microsoft noted.

The Redmond company explained that Application compatibility updates were designed to introduce modifications in the way Vista and in Windows Server 2008 were dealing with various programs that posed incompatibility problems. Read More»

Vista SP2 RTM Management Tools

July 06, 2009 by Jason

Following the availability of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1 Microsoft has literally joined its client and server operating systems at the hip. So much so that the client can stretch all the way to the server and manage the hypervisor role. This scenario was valid with the first service pack for Vista, and it continues to be valid after the release of SP2. All that end users need to do is make sure that they deploy the Update for Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Management Tools for Hyper-V. The Refresh will allow Vista SP2 users to remotely manage a server running Windows Server 2008 with the Hyper-V role enabled.

“This update package includes fixes for the Hyper-V Management Tools on systems that are running Windows Vista Service Pack 2,” Microsoft explained. “The Hyper-V Management Tools must be installed in order to install this update.”

The update is offered in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors, tailored to the respective versions of Vista SP2. Microsoft released SP2 for Vista to manufacturing at the end of April 2009. A month later, the first five languages of Vista SP2 were released to web for download, and through Windows Update. The end of June 2009 brought with it the final wave of Vista SP2 releases. Now Vista SP2 RTM and Windows Server 2008 SP2 RTM are available for download in all localized versions, in correlation with the supported languages for the two platforms. Read More»

Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit

July 04, 2009 by Jason

Microsoft is offering Windows Vista SP1 users the chance to block automatic upgrades to Service Pack 2. In addition to making available Vista SP2 RTM as a standalone download, DVD ISO image, the bits are also released to Windows Update, and subsequently served to Vista SP1 users who have Automatic Updates enabled. With the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit, Microsoft gives customers, especially businesses, the possibility to temporarily block the delivery of Vista SP2 RTM via Windows Update. Of course that, since Vista SP2 RTM and Windows Server 2008 SP2 RTM are joined at the hip, the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit is capable of blocking the delivery of the latest released service packs for both Windows client and server.

The temporary period of time for which the tool is capable of blocking Vista SP2 via WU is a year after the general availability deadline. Microsoft released the first wave of Vista SP2 RTM downloads on May 26th, 2009 and, in this context, the end of May 2010 will bring with it the expiration of the restrictions set in place by the blocking solution. Once the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit expires there will be nothing standing between Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1 and SP2; with the exception of manually configuring updates not to download and install SP2 automatically, of course. Read More»

Vista SP2 Sound Problems

June 17, 2009 by Jason

Microsoft is making it easy for users running Windows Vista Service Pack 2, but also SP1, to resolve sound problems affecting the operating system after the deployment of a service pack. In this manner, the Redmond company is acknowledging that Vista users can run into issues related to sound once they upgrade their platform either to SP1 or to SP2. Fortunately enough, the software giant provides users with an automated solution for eventual sound problems via KB948481. Microsoft is essentially providing a Fix It button and associated solution that will help users troubleshoot any sound issues introduced with the installation of a new service pack.

“After you install a Windows Vista service pack, you may experience one or more of the following problems with sound: no sound is produced when you play audio files or run programs that have an audio component. The speaker symbol next to the clock in the notification area may display the following message: No Audio Output Device is installed. The Sound Controller in Device Manager displays a yellow exclamation point. The sound quality changes. For example, if you previously had surround sound, you may now have stereo sound,” Microsoft explained. Read More»

Vista SP2 and XP SP3 June 2009 Patches ISO

June 12, 2009 by Jason

Concomitantly with this month’s security bulletin releases, Microsoft has also made available for download the June 2009 Security Release ISO Image. The ISO image is designed as a package containing all the patches released by Microsoft on June 9th, 2009, but only those plugging vulnerabilities in Windows client and server operating systems. June 2009 was synonymous with the release of no less than 10 new security bulletins. No less than six bulletins impact Windows, Microsoft explained.

“This month’s release addresses 31 total vulnerabilities with 15 rated as “1” on our Exploitability Index, meaning there is a high likelihood that reliable exploit code may be developed in the next 30 days,” stated Jerry Bryant, Sr. security program manager lead.

As it is traditional, Microsoft is offering all security patches designed to resolve vulnerabilities in Windows platforms in a single package. The June 2009 Security Release ISO Image comes to compensate the lack of Windows Server Update Services in IT environments that require security update to be downloaded in multiple individual language versions and then deployed. Read More»

Vista SP2 RTM Crashes on Repeated Hot-Unplugs of USB Devices

June 09, 2009 by Jason

Windows Vista, even before the advent of SP1, namely as RTM, while it had its sins when it came down to compatibility and support, was extremely stable in comparison to Windows XP. However, given the necessary amount of abuse and the right triggers, Vista reliability can suffer just as much as its precursors. It is the case of repeated hot-unplugs of USB devices, which can easily lead to Vista Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2 crashing. A hot unplug refers to the action of disconnecting a USB device from a machine without turning to the Safely Remove Hardware feature.

Windows Server 2008 RTM and SP2 are also affected by this problem, the Redmond company revealed. The software giant indicated that it is sufficient to surprise remove a USB device several times in order to cause a crash of the operating system.

“After you plug the USB device into the USB port in this scenario, the device does not appear in Device Manager. Read More»

Vista SP3 Gets First Hotfix

May 14, 2009 by Jason

Windows Vista Service Pack 3 gets its first hotfix from Microsoft. Yes, Service Pack 3, and yes, the error lies with Microsoft. The Redmond company is offering a hotfix designed to fix Event Viewer crashes associated with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 opening large event log files and attempting to sort log entries by a single column. But when it comes down to actually downloading the fix, the software giant offers it for the 32-bit, 64-bit and Itanium flavors of Windows Vista SP3. It is highly improbable that at this point in time Microsoft has debuted testing of Vista SP3 bits, and in this regard, the SP3 references are nothing more than an error. (via Neowin)

The Redmond company has recently wrapped up the code for Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista. The SP2 RTM bits are so “fresh” that they haven’t yet been served to Vista users, and Microsoft only pointed to the second quarter of 2009 for the availability of the second service pack for Vista, while not offering any specific deadline. The Redmond company announced that it had released Vista SP2 to manufacturing on April 28, 2009. MSDN and TechNet subscribers already got access to SP2 RTM, and the bits have even been leaked in the wild. Still, the public will only get Vista SP2 in Q2 2009. Read More»

Security Compliance Management Toolkit v2.0

March 09, 2009 by Jason

The Security Compliance Management Toolkit series builds on previous Solution Accelerators to provide you with expanded best practices and additional automation tools to help configure and deploy security settings for the following operating systems and applications: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP Professional SP3, and 2007 Microsoft Office SP1.

After deploying the security settings, you can verify the accuracy of the setting policies and monitor policy changes by applying one or more of 26 Configuration Packs using the desired configuration management (DCM) feature of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1. This series includes the following toolkits:

  • Windows Server 2008 Security Compliance Management Toolkit
  • Windows Server 2003 Security Compliance Management Toolkit
  • Windows Vista Security Compliance Management Toolkit
  • Windows XP Security Compliance Management Toolkit
  • 2007 Microsoft Office Security Compliance Management Toolkit Read More»