Free Microsoft Press E-Book: Windows Vista Resource Kit

To celebrate its 25th Anniversary, Microsoft Press is offering Free E-Books, One of the Book its offering is :

Windows Vista Resource Kit, Second Edition

By Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northrup, and Jerry Honeycutt with the Windows Vista Team
ISBN: 9780735625969

In-depth, comprehensive, and fully updated for Service Pack 1, this Resource Kit delivers the information you need to administer Windows Vista. Sign up to download the entire book from here : (PDF, 44.8 MB).

EDIT: Some of the blog readers have raised doubt about the file being downloaded, because it downloads a file called ‘pdf_loader.pl’. So proceed with the download , once the download is complete, rename the file with the file extension of .pdf. And it will work.

Also its a LIMITED OFFER, so get it soon before it gets expired.

Test Drive Windows Vista using your Web Browser

The Windows Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 test-drive allows you to try (or “test drive”) this latest operating system from Microsoft without having to install it on your PC. By simply logging onto test drive environment using your web browser, you will be able to experience Windows Vista first hand. You can explore the product on your own, or follow along with guided excercises and videos.

 

Test drive Windows Vista at http://windowsvistatestdrive.com/SP1/

Go on a Test Drive now, its quite cool.

Windows XP SP3 feature by feature compared to Windows Vista SP1

Microsoft has released a white paper which compares feature and capabilities of Windows XP SP3 with Windows Vista SP1. Using this comparison, customers can adjust their expectations for the security, management, deployment, mobility, and productivity of either operating system. For each feature or capability section compares key Windows Vista advancements against Windows XP.

Its a white paper which clearly shows how Windows Vista is superior to Windows XP with those compared features. So this document will be a good help in deciding for those who were waiting to switch to Vista from XP. This document makes a good read where features are compared in a tabular format with key differences shown.

You can download the document here. Its available in pdf format (737 KB ) or in xps format (580 KB) file.

Five Misunderstood Features in Windows Vista Re-released

Few days back I had posted about a document "The Five Misunderstood Features in Windows Vista" released by Microsoft. The link was later removed and so the document was not available.

Now Microsoft has re-released the document for download with some minor changes in the document, making some changes in way it has been written.

Its also now available in xps format apart from pdf format.

You can get it here.

Windows Vista SP1 available via Windows Update Automatically

Many of you must have already manually downloaded and installed Vista SP1 when it was made from the Microsoft Download Center or Windows Update. Since April 23rd, automatic distribution of SP1 in English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese (Wave 0 languages) has begun. So this means PCs that have automatic updates turned on and running the above language will receive via Windows Update. Automatic distribution will only occur, according to user settings, on PCs ready for SP1.

SP1 of remaining languages is already available for manual install on the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update. Automatic distribution of those languages will start sometime in mid-May.

If you haven't yet installed SP1, I'll advise you to do so to see better performance, reliability and compatibility overall. Also, if you are an enterprise customer and want to postpone automatic delivery of SP1 in your organisation then Microsoft has provided a free Windows Service Pack Blocker Toolkit about which I had posted earlier,Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit

Feature-by-Feature Full color Guide to Windows Vista SP1

Earlier last year I had posted about Windows Vista Guides in which I had also mentioned about Official Windows Vista Product Guide, that was the first ver. Now the 2nd version has been released with details about Windows Vista SP1 added.

So check out this comprehensive feature-by-feature Product guide to Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 in color for free. With contributions from people who actually worked on the product, this is the definitive resource to learn about Windows Vista. The Windows Vista Product Guide is available in XPS and PDF formats.
It is available as an XPS (25.0MB) or PDF (18.9MB). In order to view the XPS document, you will need to install the reader (included in Windows Vista)

Download Windows Vista Product Guide ver. 2

There is also Windows Vista Product Guide Revision Document, a complimentary document to the RTM Windows Vista Product Guide that outlines the improvements made to Windows Vista by Service Pack 1.
This Revision document is made available for consumers who own a print copy of the Windows Vista Product Guide's first release. It outlines the improvements made to Windows Vista by Service Pack 1 as well as explaining minor content changes between the two product guide releases.

A must have guide. Download it now !

Vista SP1 stand-alone packages do not contain updated SP1 Help Files

Windows Vista SP1 stand-alone packages do not contain the updated Windows Vista SP1 Help files. The updated Help files have been excluded from the stand-alone SP1 packages to reduce the size of the packages. However, the updated Windows Vista Help files are contained in the retail and OEM versions of Windows Vista that include SP1. Therefore, if you perform a clean installation of a version of Windows Vista that includes SP1, you do not have to add an updated Help file.

The updated Windows Vista Help file packages are named "Update for Help Files." These files are packaged separately for each language.

You must manually install the "Update for Help Files" package to obtain the updated Windows Vista Help files in the following scenarios:

•You install Windows Vista SP1 on a computer that is running the release version of Windows Vista by using Windows Update or by using a Microsoft Update Standalone (MSU) package for Windows Vista.

•You have a Windows Vista Enterprise SKU installed or a Windows Vista Ultimate SKU installed, and then you install a new language by using the language packages.
In this scenario, you must manually install the updated Help file because the "Update for Help Files" package uses the language that corresponds to the content language. Packages of "Update for Help Files" are language specific. For example, you cannot install the German version of the "Update for Help Files" package on a Windows Vista-based computer unless that computer already has the German language installed.

•You remove a language package from a Windows Vista-based computer after you install the "Update for Help Files" package for that language pack that you removed.
In this scenario, the "Update for Help Files" packages are automatically removed.

You can download the MSU package for the "Update for Help Files" package through the Microsoft Download Center. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=dd4affa2-f435-4c42-82da-110948c001c1 

Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB937286)

For more details : Check this KB article

(Thanks: Bink.nu)

Vista SP1 to be available Today, March 18

Thanks to a confirmation on Computerworld, Gregg Keizer writes that the release of Windows Vista SP1 will be out on Tue. March 18.

Microsoft Corp. late Monday inadvertently confirmed that Windows Vista users will be able to upgrade to Service Pack 1 (SP1) starting tomorrow. (Tue. Mar 18)

"If Microsoft holds to plan, Vista users will see SP1 in Windows Update tomorrow as an optional download, but only if their PCs do not harbor one of the balky drivers. Alternately, users will be able to download a much larger stand-alone installer from Microsoft's download site, also beginning Tuesday."

So make sure Automatic Update  is turned on so that you can receive it once it goes live to Automatic Updates or check out Windows Update.

Microsoft plans to roll out SP1 next month to users who have Windows Update set to automatically download and install fixes.

Thanks Satisfy Me

Why SP1 was offered to some via Windows Update yesterday

Some people have posted about start of roll-out of SP1 as some of them have received it. But no it has not yet begun as general availability.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of zdnet has posted the information he got from a Microsoft spokesperson about it :

We’re very pleased with the progress we’ve made with Windows Vista to date. Since releasing SP1 to manufacturing on February 4th, we have made Windows Vista SP1 available to beta testers, MSDN and TechNet Plus subscribers, as well as Volume Licensing customers. Today, a build of SP1 was posted to Windows Update and it was inadvertently made available to a broad group. The build was intended only for our more technically advanced testers, and was meant to only be offered to those with a specific registry key set on their PC. For general availability, we are still planning to make SP1 broadly available in the mid-March timeframe.

Windows Vista SP1 available on MSDN/ TechNet

Windows Vista SP1 is available on TechNet and MSDN subscriptions now. TechNet Plus and MSDN subscribers can now access Windows Vista SP1 in the Top Subscribers Download section on the subscriptions home page.

Subscribers, Login to get :
For TechNet Subscribers
For MSDN Subscribers

And please check the 'Top Subscribers Section' as said earlier for these downloads, as some of the subscribers are not able to locate.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008 RTM

Here it is , everybody was waiting for. Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 has been RTMed. This announcement was made just few minutes ago.
Windows Vista SP1 was RTMed for first set of languages (English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese).
I have been running SP1 RC for quite some time, and I have not faced any problem and in fact my system runs faster on SP1 RC. So I am looking forward to running RTMed version.

Here's the schedule of its availability according to Windows Vista Blog:
- In mid-March, we will release Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update (in English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese) and to the download center on microsoft.com. Customers who visit Windows Update can choose to install Service Pack 1. If Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not offer SP1. Since we know that some customers may want to update to SP1 anyhow, the download center will allow anyone who wants to install SP1 to do so.

- In mid-April, we will begin delivering Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista customers who have chosen to have updates downloaded automatically. That said, any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not update successfully will not get SP1 automatically. As updates for these drivers become available, they will be installed automatically by Windows Update, which will unblock these systems from getting Service Pack 1. The result is that more and more systems will automatically get SP1, but only when we are confident they will have a good experience.

- The remaining languages will RTM in April.

(Above screenshot is of Windows Vista SP1 RC)

Windows Vista SP1 includes quality improvements that help enhance reliability, security and performance.

Service Pack 1 is a very important milestone because it addresses many of the key issues that customers have identified with Windows Vista over the last year both, directly and through programs like the Customer Experience Improvement Program. With Service Pack 1, great progress in performance, reliability and compatibility have been made.

Windows Server 2008 was also released to manufacturing today and will be available for purchase to new customers on March 1. Microsoft Volume Licensing customers with active Microsoft Software Assurance coverage or an Enterprise Agreement will be able to download the server software toward the end of February as part of the joint Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 “Heroes Happen Here” launch event.

For more details on Windows Server 2008 and Vista Sp1 please check :
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/default.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/feb08/02-04WS2008.mspx

Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh - Points to Note

Windows Vista Service Pack1 RC Refresh (Build 17128) has been made available to public/testers for testing recently, It's available through Windows Update. If you want to try it , please check it here; Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh Public Availability Program. (Build 17128)

But there are some points, one should note :

-SP1 RC Refresh is an optional update – if you are already running RC (17052) , you do not need to install this build.

-Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh fixes issues that were preventing successful installation of the service pack. Install the RC Refresh if you are having problems with RC.

-If you are already running SP1 RC or any previous version of SP1, you need to uninstall it prior to installing SP1 RC Refresh

-If you install Windows Vista and then install this release candidate of SP1 without first activating Windows Vista, you might not be able to uninstall the service pack. Either activate Windows Vista before you install SP1 or activate SP1 before you attempt to uninstall the service pack.

-To uninstall previous version of Windows Vista SP1
Open the Programs and Features control panel and select View installed updates. In the Microsoft Windows section, right-click Service Pack for Windows (936330) and select Uninstall.
Your system will now uninstall the previous version of Windows Vista SP1 Beta and may reboot multiple times.
Please wait one hour after uninstalling a previous version of Windows Vista SP1 before installing Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh. The installer service needs to clean up and complete the uninstall prior to installing the RC. Failing to do this can result in installation errors when installing the RC version.

-Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh is time-limited software.Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh will no longer operate after June 30, 2008 and should be uninstalled prior to that date.

-After installation your desktop will show the text “Evaluation Copy”. This does not mean that your system is no longer genuine but that you have installed a test version of software which is time-limited. The “Evaluation Copy” text will appear on your desktop after the second reboot after installing the service pack. Likewise, the “Evaluation Copy” text will remain on your desktop during the first reboot after uninstall the service pack, but will disappear after the next reboot.

Microsoft does not recommend installing this software on primary or mission critical systems.

For more details ,Please check

 

Release Notes for This Release Candidate of Windows Vista Service Pack 1

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh Public Availability Program

Announcing Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC)

The release candidate (RC) of Windows Vista SP1 is available via Microsoft Connect now, and it will also be available to subscribers of TechNet and MDSN by tomorrow. In addition, the RC will be available to the public next week via Microsoft's Download Center.

Changes made since the Beta release of Service Pack 1 :

• The size of the standalone installers have decreased significantly. For example, the standalone installer packages consisting of all 36 languages (x86 and x64 chip architectures) are smaller by over 50%. The standalone installer packages consisting of just the 5 languages (again, x86 and x64) slated for initial release are more than 30% smaller in size.
• The required amount of disc space for SP1 installation has also decreased significantly. Furthermore, with the RC, if more space is required to install SP1, an error message will now display exactly how much space is needed to complete the installation.
• Previous SP1 versions left behind a directory of files that wasn't needed after installation and occupied about 1GB of space; the RC includes automatic disk clean-up to remove this directory.
• Installation reliability has been improved based on bug reports and error codes reported from Windows Update . Testing shows that these improvements have significantly increased the proportion of successful installations of the RC.
• We've improved the user experience of installing SP1 via Windows Update. During the Beta release, users installed without much guidance from Windows Update. The RC now contains a series of screens with detailed information on SP1.

These improvements were really needed. Many of these improvements have been considered as a result of feedback from beta testers. I know being a beta tester as I also had faced problems while trying out the beta.

Windows Vista Team Blog also informs that "..we're on track to complete and release SP1 in the first quarter of 2008. When SP1 is complete and we reach our release to manufacturing (RTM) milestone, then shortly after the standalone installer will be released to the Web in two waves. The first wave will consist of the standalone installer (x86 and x64) for the 5 initial languages -- English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. These languages will be deployed shortly after the RTM milestone. The second wave will launch 8-12 weeks after the first and will consist of all remaining languages, for both chip architectures (x86 and x64).

For administrators managing Windows Vista PCs configured to use Windows Update but not wishing to deploy SP1 upon its release, we have a "blocker patch" that will prevent installation of SP1. Information on the blocker patch can be found here starting tomorrow: http://technet.microsoft.com/windowsvista/bb927794. "

Those not familiar with SP1, can find more information in this whitepaper

So, here I go for downloading Vista SP1 RC. Thanks for bringing these improvements !!

Windows Vista SP1 Beta released

Windows Vista SP1 Beta has been released to private group of Beta testers via connect.
At present, I am downloading it , will install and talk about it afterwards.
Check out the Windows Vista Blog for more details.
Also refer to to the White paper about which I had posted here on Blog yesterday: Ready for Windows Vista SP1 Beta?