Upgrading Vista RTM to SP1


Recommended Posts

That's right....I have done it legit. I have been part of the beta team since longhorn started and have been using vista since day one. But enough of that.

I liked that Microsoft offered us the rtm bits to us on connect the other day and spent the last few hours upgrading my two machines. I did all the usual stuff to prep a machine....backup everything important, create a restore point, have my important cds/dvds handy just incase.

I decided to use both ways of upgrading just to see what the differences were. It was an experience with both. My desktop was upgraded using the dvd iso and my laptop was upgraded using WU.

Desktop

Dell XPS 410

Intel C2D 2.13 ghz

3 GB ram

2x 320 gb hd

Vista Ultimate

This one was done using the dvd iso path. I popped in the dvd and let it go. Agreeded to the terms and the install started. It did about 4 restarts and took about 45 minutes. Things I noticed:

  1. I needed to reactive: Clicked on it to reactive and it did so no problem. Not sure why, but it went through no problem.
  2. File copy/transfers are much quicker. This goes for local and network also.
  3. Startup/shutdown/restart all seem a bit quicker
  4. All my programs still work.
  5. Memory useage is way down. With RTM build, I had 61 processes at startup using between 45-50% of my ram. Now at startup it is using 37%.

Laptop

Lenovo Thinkpad T61

Intel C2D t6500 2.2 ghz

1 gb ram

100 gb hd

Vista Home Premium

Updated using the wired 10/100 nic rather than the wireless

This one was done using WU. I know that when sp1 is pushed out to the masses you won't have to jump through the hoops to get it downloaded and installed. I hated that I had to download the cmd process, download the wu kb files, and then wait for wu to find sp1. After all of that, which took a good 25 minutes, then I still had to download sp1 and install it. It took around 35 minutes to download the service pack and another 40 minutes to install it. Overall a good 2 hours to get the laptop updated. I did cheat a little though in that I choose to use the wired nic to download everything and install. I wanted as quick of an experience as possible.

Thing I noticed on the laptop:

  1. Again I had to reactive the computer. Is this a feature or a bug? It happens on both types of installs. I know it did this during the beta cycle, but one would think they would get rid of this now.
  2. Again, every program I use on this computer works. Who could ask for anything better.
  3. It's been running on the battery alone now and seems to be running a bit longer. Wishful thinking...who knows?

Final thoughts

I know that as I continue to use sp1 over the coming days/weeks/months I will find more quirks, likes, dislikes. But on the durface so far I like it. I has definately come a long way since the beta started many months ago.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/619087-upgrading-vista-rtm-to-sp1/
Share on other sites

What "RTM" build are you referring to? The latest Refresh 2 is the SP1 build.

Actually no. The rtm build of sp1 was posted to connect on feb 6.

Picture

Maybe it wasn't offered to everyone. I don't toot my own horn all that often but I do a lot for them. Maybe it was a reward?

Edited by TechMedik
  • 4 weeks later...
Man wish I could download this now is it available to public yet?

No you don't. On a new Dell XPS (Clean Pre-built Dell image)....

SP1 really messed it up and had to reload Windows 1st, then SP1, then all the drivers and some of the software.

Now on my PC it worked as expected.

No you don't. On a new Dell XPS (Clean Pre-built Dell image)....

SP1 really messed it up and had to reload Windows 1st, then SP1, then all the drivers and some of the software.

Now on my PC it worked as expected.

Well on my xps system using the slipstreamed sp1 dvd that was given to us by microsoft on connect, I was able to install vista on it with no problems at all. Everything installed just fine in a little over 25 minutes from 1st screento desktop.

I am very pleased with how sp1 is doing so far.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Stack Overflow is launching a version of itself for AI agents by David Uzondu Stack Overflow has announced Stack Overflow for Agents, a platform that traditionally hosts crowdsourced programming solutions for human developers, but now serves autonomous software agents. Basically, Stack Overflow's argument is that the rapid democratization of building software has exposed a major vulnerability. Agents operate in isolation, creating an Ephemeral Intelligence Gap where they waste valuable tokens on something another agent halfway across the world has already solved. That's why, according to the company, a shared, real-time knowledge repository is needed. Stack Overflow for Agents is currently in beta, running as an API-first knowledge exchange where humans review what agents publish. To prevent hallucination issues and keep the database clean, the platform uses a multi-agent verification loop to check code quality. This system forces agents to query the corpus first to locate validated answers rather than running expensive code-generation scripts. To ensure trust, Stack Overflow connects agent contributions directly to the human developer's established reputation through single sign-on credentials. The agents can interact with three distinct post types. One option, Questions, documents unsolved bugs, while "Today I Learned" posts record debugging traces. Blueprints round out the selection by storing reusable design patterns. If an enterprise wants to keep proprietary data private, the Stack Internal platform allows the organization to run the assistant behind its own firewall. Before the massive rise of LLMs, which tanked its traffic by about 50% over the last couple of years, Stack Overflow was the go-to website for millions of programmers seeking coding solutions. Some argue that another reason why the website sort of fell off stems from its notoriously hostile (and condescending) community that frequently closed basic questions and alienated beginners with strict gatekeeping. In order to avoid getting eaten by AI, Stack Overflow has tried several things. When volunteer moderators banned AI-generated content in 2023 to protect data quality, corporate leaders tried to limit those restrictions, prompting the volunteers to stage a massive site-wide strike. Since then, the developer portal has signed major deals with tech companies like Google to bring Stack Overflow data directly into Gemini models and Google Cloud console. A similar deal with OpenAI in 2024 sparked an uproar, leading some users to delete old answers in protest. The company swiftly suspended those accounts to protect the database. It has also experimented with OverflowAI, an AI-powered conversational search tool designed to pull together answers from multiple threads.
    • There are two options for smartphone platforms so consumers don't have much of a choice there. The EU is not making any decisions for customers they just want them to have options if they so choose. I am not sure why you would be for closed platforms. The big tech companies already have so much power and money while are relatively unregulated in the US which is why they run into so much trouble in the EU.
    • Hello, I am using a Moto G Stylus (2025) and happy with it.  I don't know how well the model works on Twigby's network (it looks like they are an MVNO of Verizon).  It looks like they have a BYOD plan, though, so as long as you find a device that works on their network you should be okay.   Regards,   Aryeh Goretsky 
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      StaticMatrix earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      StaticMatrix earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Rookie
      lamborghiniv10 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • One Month Later
      pinnclepd earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • First Post
      X-No-file earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      532
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      209
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      150
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      100
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      84
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!