Vista SP1: What You Need To Know Before You Deploy

Abstract

The release of Windows Vista SP1 allows you to take advantage of improvements that Microsoft and its partners have developed to provide the best experience possible. SP1 addresses key feedback Microsoft has received from customers without sacrificing application compatibility. SP1 delivers improvements and enhancements to existing features that significantly affect customers, but it does not deliver substantial new operating system features. This white paper help will help you decide whether you should deploy now or if you should wait.

Sample

Introduction

Microsoft has released its first Service Pack for Windows Vista. Should it be deployed or should we wait, or maybe skip the installation altogether and wait for the next service pack. To make an educated decision, we need to know what is included with Windows Vista SP1 and what had we seen so far from the user deployment base.

Normally a service pack is jam-packed with all kinds of features to enhance the user experience and to update the operating system, and well as fix known bugs, etc. Microsoft says the Service Pack will offer better compatibility with third-party hardware, increased reliability, tighter security, and better performance. But unlike the last Windows Service Pack release for Windows XP SP2, which offered users a new Windows Firewall, an improved Automatic Updates feature, and a pop-up ad blocker for Internet Explorer, Windows Vista SP1 is largely a code update, lacking any of new eye catching "must-have" features for home users. Most of the features advertised by Microsoft are for the Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions of the operating system. The home user will not see any overwhelming changes, as was the case for Windows XP SP2. Prior experience with previous releases of service packs has shown that some of these enhancements are not desirable to the user, and/or disable, delete, or, quite frankly, break parts of our operating system, applications, and/or devices that were running successfully before the service pack was deployed.

Windows Vista received its first service pack update on March 18, 2008, about a year and three months after its release. Many users were unaware that the service pack was even available. Your computer does not indicate the update was ready to download and, if you went to the Windows Update website, it may not be listed to download. As of this writing, this is still the case for my HP notebook computer. So is it available or not? Microsoft says that they are releasing it to select computers via Windows Update website. It depends, if your system is ready for the update. At this web link - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948343#method5 - Microsoft lists seven causes and seven remedies addressing the fact that the SP1 does not show as a Windows Update offered by automatic updates. One of these seven items is related to the hardware devices on your system that Microsoft recognized as being problematic, or in another words, breaks, after the service pack installs.

Here is an excerpt taken from the link above called Method for Cause 5:

To help ensure a positive update experience, Windows Update will temporarily not offer Windows Vista SP1 to systems that have the following device drivers installed. In some cases, these device drivers are problematic on Windows Vista-based computers when you update to Windows Vista SP1. By installing updated device drivers, you will resolve the issue and enable Windows Update to offer Windows Vista SP1.

Some of the hardware drives are: Audio drivers Realtek AC'97; IDT/SigmaTel, Creative Audigy; Conexant HD Audio; Biometric (Fingerprint) Sensors; AuthenTec; UPEK; Display drivers; Intel Display x86 and x64; Other drivers Texas Instruments Smart Card; Sierra Wireless AirCard; and more. Even some software applications installed on your system from such well known vendors as Symantec have known issues after SP1 is installed. You will need to go to the Vendor Website to get the updates for your particular machine.

From the HP support and drivers website for my make and model laptop I found some "finger-pointing" in the direction of Microsoft. I took a sample from this link: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01394456&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product= 3439724&lang=en

This is saying that Microsoft is responsible for the successful deployment of SP1 and the consequences of validation, as follows:

HP strongly recommends that customers acquire SP1 via Windows Update. By going through Windows Update, the application will validate whether or not the computer is ready for SP1. If the computer is not currently ready, Microsoft can provide a variety of updates and fixes for drivers and other issues that will ensure that the computer will be ready for SP1 at the end of the process. Installing SP1 manually bypasses this validation and correction process, and customers may encounter problems as a result of drivers that have not been updated to work correctly with SP1.

As of this writing, I have yet to see the Windows Update Site offer the Service Pack for my HP laptop. Microsoft says that as a prerequisite to installing SP1 all updates, both urgent and optional need to be installed. I downloaded all the updates available for my machine except for the foreign languages that I don't need and still no choice is given for deploying SP1. Maybe I should learn a new foreign language; just kidding.