When I first read that SP2 includes Hyper-V for Vista I was quite perplexed. I have been testing SP2, and there was no Hyper-V. So could it be possible that Microsoft really waited for the Beta for such an important change? Even more puzzling was that all of sites I’ve read just mentioned it in passing. Thus, my first thought was that it has been generally known already for some time that SP2 would include Hyper-V for Vista and I somehow missed this important information.

I downloaded the pack from Technet. That was where the second surprise awaited me. I wasn’t able to mount the ISO file in VMware Workstation. So I downloaded the file again. Unfortunately this didn’t solve my problem. I then tried the 64-bit version with the same result. I was also unable to burn the ISO file to a CD. Could it really be possible that the SP2 files on Technet are corrupt? I changed the file extension to exe and launched the file. To my surprise, this seemed to work. However, the unpacker created only a folder containing symbol.exe. The purpose of this file seems to be to unpack symbols.cab to C:\windows\symbols. I have no idea what those files there are for. This was the point where I gave up and downloaded the ISO file that contained Vista plus SP2. It finally worked then.

What I find remarkable is that so many sites were reporting about SP2, but nobody seemed to realize that such a big change as the inclusion of Hyper-V in Vista is highly unlikely at this point. Even if Microsoft announced today that it is in Windows 7 I would be baffled. It is also obvious that nobody really downloaded SP2 to verify whether this bit of a sensation is really true. I must admit that I find this incident rather scary. This is obviously quick-and-dirty journalism.

Anyway, I already said it before: This service pack is a yawner. There are no real new features. This is quite okay, though. We are all waiting for Windows 7, and it wouldn’t make much sense to add new features to Vista now. However, what I find not okay is that SP1 is required to install SP2. I mean, the main purpose of a service pack is to put together all available patches in one big update ,right?

• Tweets: Total Network Monitor – Windows 7 release date in June? – Download Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2 Beta (0)
• Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 – the interesting part (4)
• Service Pack 2 for Vista and Windows Server 2008 on the way? (0)

I had to install a new patch (SP Servicing Stack Update, KB955430) before SP2 showed up in Windows Update. The download size of Service Pack 2 was 297.5MB for each OS. I wonder if there will only be one setup file for both operating systems. I started both downloads at the same time on the same physical host, but the one for Server 2008 required only half the time. My guess is that Server updates have priority. I didn’t experience any problems after the installation. However, I only played a little with my test machines. I wouldn’t dare install a pre-beta on a productive system.

If you look at the new features below, it is quite obvious that this service pack is mostly a collection of previously available updates. Microsoft says that it also improves reliability and compatibility. I guess all of Microsoft’s windows developers are now busy with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. All the new features they are working on will only be available next year when these new Windows versions come out. Nonetheless, it is necessary to release a service pack in advance because it simplifies the deployment of new OS installations.

New features of Vista SP2

• Windows Search 4.0
• Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack
• Support for ICCD/CCID smart cards
• Ability to record data onto Blu-Ray media natively
• Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration
• exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones
• New VIA 64-bit CPU support
• Print server and spooler performance improvements for printers
• Application compatibility updates

New features of Windows Server 2008 SP2

• Hyper-V RTM included
• Backward compatibility with Terminal Services licensing keys
• Improved manageability features with DFS/FRS console and Storage Resource Manager
• Print server and spooler performance improvements for printers
• Improved error reporting in DFSR to help identify incorrectly configured deployments which lead to failed replication
• Improved power profile

• Tweets: Total Network Monitor – Windows 7 release date in June? – Download Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2 Beta (0)
• Hyper-V in Vista SP2 and other confusions about Service Pack 2 (5)
• Service Pack 2 for Vista and Windows Server 2008 on the way? (0)

This article discusses a beta release of a Microsoft product. The information in this article is provided as-is and is subject to change without notice.

The following introduction is a bit disappointing, though:

This Microsoft Knowledge Base article will be updated with more information about Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) when the information becomes available. Currently, the product release notes and related information about Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista SP2 are not available.

As usual, in KB articles, one is asked at the end if this information was relevant. Guess how I answered…  . Perhaps this placeholder indicates that the release date for the betas for Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2 isn’t far away. I checked Microsoft Connect and MSDN, but so far, there is no SP2 in sight. Just in case you are wondering how you could have missed SP1 for Server 2008 – there never was one. When Server 2008 was released, Microsoft decided to name its new server OS Windows Server 2008 SP1 because it shared the code base with Vista SP1.

One the one hand, this makes things easier, because they can now refer to THE Service Pack 2 in documentation,  independently of the Vista and Server 2008 edition. On the other hand, this might give admins the wrong impression; namely that the current Server 2008 code already benefitted from public feedback in server environments.

However, the fact that there is just one placeholder article for Vista and Server 2008 leads me to wonder if there will also be only one Service Pack 2 installation file for both operating systems. In this case, the somewhat unusual naming of the first release of Server 2008 would really make sense.

• Tweets: Total Network Monitor – Windows 7 release date in June? – Download Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2 Beta (0)
• Hyper-V in Vista SP2 and other confusions about Service Pack 2 (5)
• Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 – the interesting part (4)