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SP1 released on Feb 16 for Technet and MSDN users. For the rest of you waiting until the Windows Update Feb 22 release I figured I'd detail a few notes.

Q. What does SP1 provide?

A. If you're a Windows 7 user only bug fixes. If you are a Server 2008 R2 users who does not use Hyper-V, you too only got bug fixes. Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V meanwhile received two new features: RemoteFX for 3D Guests and USB Redirection and Dynamic Memory to end the need for static memory assignments per Guest.

Q. Got a link for the bug fixes?

A. Link You may need the free Excel Viewer to read the file.

Q. How about install tips?

A. If you're running Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V then you should definitely review the Deployment notes as the situation has a few caveats. For everyone else the process is more streamlined.

1. Disk Space:
a. 2008 R2 Stand-alone install: 903 MB download and 7.4 GB of free disk space.
b. 2008 R2 Windows Update: 95.7 MB download and 850 MB of free disk space.
c. Windows 7 x86 Stand-alone install: 537 MB download and 4.1 GB of free disk space.
d. Windows 7 x64 Stand-alone install: 903 MB download and 7.4 GB of free disk space.
e. Windows 7 x86 Windows Update: 44.3 MB download and 750 MB of free disk space.
f. Windows 7 x64 Windows Update: 73.7 MB download and 1050 MB of free disk space.

-What is up with those huge numbers on the Stand-alone install?
The stand alone install includes 35 languages.

2. You'll need Admin credential to elevate the install.
3. Make a backup of your system with Windows Backup. The SP1 install will generate a restore point, but don't rely solely on that.
4. Update drivers.
5. Disconnect the UPS monitoring.
6. Make sure laptops are plugged in.
7. Disable anti-virus.
8. Launch a command prompt with elevated privileges and do a chkdsk c: /f (where C: is the system drive)
9. Launch a command prompt with elevated privileges and do a sfc /scannow
10. Download and run the System Update Readiness Tool.
11. Launch Windows Memory Diagnostics to check for defective memory.

The latter steps are handy in finding, preventing, and correcting file corruption.

Q. I do deployments of service packs via command lines, what are the switches for this release?

A. /forcerestart, /nodialog, /norestart, /promptrestart, /quiet, /unattend, /warnrestart:[<seconds>], /? or /help

For more details see the Deployment Guide here.

Q. Am I able to Slipstream this Service Pack?

A. Sort of. It doesn't work the same way it did in XP.

Q. "What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

A. If you're high speed you can use the AIK and DISM (One, Two) in order to integrate SP1 into the WIM. According to the SP1 deployment guide *this is considered an unsupported action.*

Alternatively you can do a reverse integration, *this is the supported method.*

1. Install a fresh copy of Windows 7 RTM to any available machine in your home or organization.
2. Apply SP1 and nothing else
3. Run sysprep
4. Boot to WinPE (must have created a WinPE boot device)
5. Usage ImageX to capture the Windows 7 SP1 install on the disk of the machine

The image you captured is *not* tied to the machine/hardware you installed on. You can now use the captured image to deploy a fresh copy of Win7 SP1 to any machine you desire. What you have generated and subsequently captured *IS* a clean install. You can even remove the user account you had to generate in order to apply SP1 before you captured the image if you want.

A step by step guide for Windows 7 imaging

One word of caution, sysprep is a powerful too, but no single install can endure more than *THREE* uses of the /generalize switch. At that point the activation subsystem for any non-KMS Windows client will resist being reset.

The last option is to be a Technet or MSDN subscriber and simply grab the latest ISO directly from Microsoft.

Q. SP1 is awesome. I'm never going back, how do I remove the backup of replaced RTM files?

A. GUI: Run Disk Clean Up with Admin privileges and select to uninstall the Service Pack Backup Files with a checkmark.
Cli: 1. DISM.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /spsuperseded

Niche needs:
To remove the files from an offline image, run the following command:
DISM.exe /Image:<path_to_offline_image> /Cleanup-Image /spsuperseded

The /spsuperseded option removes the backup files created during installation. You can use the /hidesp option to hide the service pack from the list of installed updates without removing the files.

Q. SP1 oriented my toilet paper the wrong way and put a hex on my family and me. How do I get rid of this?

A. GUI: Control Panel > Program and Features > View Installed Updates > Select Service Pack 1 (KB976932) > Click Uninstall
Cli: Wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:976932 (requires root privs)

Extra switches: /norestart, /promptrestart, /quiet, /warnrestart:[<seconds>]

Did that help you in particular, or were you just posting the notes?

I find it helpful -- both to get a better idea of what's coming, and to have everything in one place once it arrives. (I can just grab the ISO for myself, but it's going to be interesting watching via remote as this rolls out via automatic update on my mother's machine. I suspect she never even leaves it on long enough most of the time to download the full 73.7 MB in a single session... I wonder how many days it will be after SP1 goes live on Windows Update that it actually gets installed?)

Thanks Ryu

For the average consumer, having religiously installed updates to Windows 7 every time one was available, does it make any sense to install SP1? I mean, I'm fully up to date anyway right and this is just a cumulative doobie of patches that have already been installed.....right?

It makes sense to install if for no other reason that it updates the version number reported by Windows. Sooner or later you're going to encounter some software that checks for SP1 and refuses to install (whether it actually needs it or not). In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if IE9 (or one of its later updates) does that. And SP2 (which is definitely coming, eventually) almost certainly will.

Besides, if you're religiously installing updates, why would you suddenly refuse to install this one? Yes, it's a big download so it may take awhile in the background on a slow connection, and the actual install process may annoy you for a few minutes; but the alternative is to have an installation that is up-to-date in every way except one particularly important one. (And who knows -- past Service Packs for XP have included additional fixes that weren't rolled out as part of the general update process because they were done initially as a special patch for certain OEMs or enterprise customers)

It's not that I refuse to install the SP, it was just a question from a technical point of view.

Jon wrote:

It's not that I refuse to install the SP, it was just a question from a technical point of view.

I have not been able to dig up the particular KB article, but I experienced issues with random hangs that a private fix was released if you paid them enough $$. The KB article claimed that the fix would be fully tested and included in SP1, so I am looking forward to it.

(in response to the person who was asking whether SPs are necessary if automatic updates are going on)

Windows updates (which go on automatically) are almost entirely security patches, very few fix performance or stability issues unless the issue is an absolute show-stopper in MS's opinion. Service Packs include the patches I've already mentioned, but also include performance and stability updates which ought to be fixed in MS's opinion. Because Service Packs are enormous updates to Windows, they undergo a lot more testing.

However, because they're enormous updates (even with the extra testing), they're still risky to put on your computer. I plan to wait a few weeks before putting on SP1. There have been a few Windows service packs in the past that have been withdrawn because of a problem found after general release.

There's nothing that I urgently need fixing on my setup, but improved Flash performance (viewtopic.php?f=29&t=71815) and a few UI fixes would be nice

It would be nice if they fixed the 'chkdsk /r uses up all the memory' issue as well, but considering that MS doesn't think that needs fixing, I guess they won't.

Anyone installed it yet?

Hasn't everyone? It rolled out on Windows Update two weeks ago.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

Hasn't everyone? It rolled out on Windows Update two weeks ago.

It's not a mandatory update, so people will have it sitting there for years to come

mikeymike wrote:

JustAnEngineer wrote:

Hasn't everyone? It rolled out on Windows Update two weeks ago.

It's not a mandatory update, so people will have it sitting there for years to come

Yeah, it's not installed yet on my mother's machine, which is set to auto-absolutely-everything without notification. I'm going to have to remote into that machine one of these days and run the update manually, which is annoying (it would be even more annoying if something went wrong but considering how clean and up-to-date the thing is, that isn't very likely.

Meh. SP1 installed fine, but neither Flash bug or library search bug was squashed.

mikeymike wrote:

Meh. SP1 installed fine, but neither Flash bug or library search bug was squashed.

Why would Microsoft fix Adobe's stuff? I haven't really seen the search bug, care to elaborate?

Flying Fox wrote:

mikeymike wrote:

Meh. SP1 installed fine, but neither Flash bug or library search bug was squashed.

Why would Microsoft fix Adobe's stuff? I haven't really seen the search bug, care to elaborate?

What I've noticed (and quite a few other people, but by no means universal): viewtopic.php?f=29&t=71815 - just because I've seen it affect Adobe Flash, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bug in Adobe Flash.

The libraries problem may be something peculiar about my system, but if I go Start > Documents, then do a search for anything (*.*, or for a file name I can even see in the main documents window), I get no results. If I go to my documents folder through the file system, the search function works as expected. My documents folder isn't in the default path, but Windows acknowledges it as my documents folder in the usual way, and it's the only folder specified in the documents library.

mikeymike wrote:

Flying Fox wrote:

mikeymike wrote:

Meh. SP1 installed fine, but neither Flash bug or library search bug was squashed.

Why would Microsoft fix Adobe's stuff? I haven't really seen the search bug, care to elaborate?

What I've noticed (and quite a few other people, but by no means universal): viewtopic.php?f=29&t=71815 - just because I've seen it affect Adobe Flash, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bug in Adobe Flash.

If I had to choose I would trust Microsoft more than Adobe. I know "trusting" Microsoft is not a hip thing but this is with respective to Adobe.

mikeymike wrote:

The libraries problem may be something peculiar about my system, but if I go Start > Documents, then do a search for anything (*.*, or for a file name I can even see in the main documents window), I get no results. If I go to my documents folder through the file system, the search function works as expected. My documents folder isn't in the default path, but Windows acknowledges it as my documents folder in the usual way, and it's the only folder specified in the documents library.

Have you tried on another system? I just tried on mine and it seemed fine (I have Public and My documents in my library).

My experience of SP's (Service Packs) of this family of Windows Operating Systems goes back to WinNT 4.0 and the only disastrous SP I can point to would be Service Pack 6 for WinNT 4.0. It was pulled within a day or so, but not before it had caused massive damage to many enterprises bringing their servers and workstations to a crashing halt. I was Senior German Engineer for Enterprise Disaster Recovery Tech-Support at that time and it was a hellish experience where we had to work 24/7 to try to undo the harm it had caused to companies. Microsoft released SP 6a but the damage had been done and the confidence had been shattered.

To those of you who "will not install an SP" because your system is running or want to pick and choose what you update it has to be said that you are sowing the seeds of your own misfortune.

When a new version of Windows goes Gold then it enters what we in the business call the "Gamma Testing" phase. Everyone knows the "Alpha" and "Beta" stage of testing; the "Gamma" phase is the unofficial name when the OS is released (or escapes) into the wild and the underlying shortcomings of the package are exposed by the guinea pigs who pay for the privilege.

Any NetAdmin worth their salt will not transition from one Windows OS version to the next until at least the first Service Pack for the new OS has been released.

From the time of its release (assuming it is not an unmitigated catastrophic disaster such as WinNT SP6) the OS and SP level will become the standard Operating System environment that all other drivers and applications will base their development upon. For the die-hard "not gonna apply the SP" crowd this means that new hardware drivers, system tools or applications will simply not work properly or run at all. Those people will also not get any tech-support from any serious vendor until they have the Service Pack installed.

Personally I treated Win7 as a test-bed OS and when SP1 was released I completely wiped my system and did a clean installation of Win7 and then applied SP1. The advent of a new SP is pretty much a good time to wipe and cleanly reinstall the OS to get rid of all the garbage, relics and artefacts which have accumulated over time.

My own personal Win7 system has been up and running 24/7 for 932 days and 1 hour with time outs only for hardware upgrades and of course regular weekly reboots to clear out things like memory leaks caused by naughty applications (hello Mozilla FireFox) or rebooting after updating the OS, installing new drivers or upgrading old ones.

There is something to be said for not being one of the first ones to apply a new Service Pack for the OS you are running however to simply boycott it for the sake of "principle" is foolhardy and ultimately self-defeating.

I was able to update my Win7 to SP2, problem is that after the update was done my device keeps on restarting and till now. What should I do?

progunner wrote:

I was able to update my Win7 to SP2, problem is that after the update was done my device keeps on restarting and till now. What should I do?

Install Windows 10.

Well, that would be my last option... Thanks by the way.

If Win10 isn't an acceptable option, wipe and reintall Win7 from scratch, then install all updates to get it current on security patches. Yes, this will take a while (I would plan on spending several evenings on it).

just brew it! wrote:

If Win10 isn't an acceptable option, wipe and reintall Win7 from scratch, then install all updates to get it current on security patches. Yes, this will take a while (I would plan on spending several evenings on it).

Thanks for the advice just brew it. Really appreciate it.

There is a Win7 SP2? I thought that was Windows 10? Ba da bump!