Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Now Available

[Supernova]

Windows 7 SP1 RTM now available on MSDN/TechNet

by Andrew Lyle

Microsoft has released Windows 7 SP1 to MSDN and TechNet customers on Wednesday. The free download allows Windows 7 customers to upgrade their machines to the latest Service Pack. Microsoft has confirmed the official build for Windows 7 SP1 RTM is 7601.17514.101119-1850.

Microsoft will release Windows 7 SP1 to non-MSDN and TechNet subscribers starting February 22, 2011. The update will be available through Windows Updates for existing Windows 7 customers.

As we previously reported, SP1 only contains two major new features, which will not affect the majority of users. The first of the two is RemoteFX, a standalone product that requires Windows Server 2008 R2 to be used. RemoteFX allows users to watch high-quality video and interact with 3D applications over a remote desktop session -- this will change the way Virtual Machines are used, as they have had limited display capabilities until now.

The second feature is an update for HyperV in Windows Server 2008 R2 called "Dynamic Memory". The feature is as simple as it sounds -- it dynamically allocates memory to virtual machines as required and is able to remove memory from virtual machines when others need higher resources. You can read more about the new features over on the Windows Server Team Blog.

Source: Neowin.net

[Supernova]

Download (MSDN/TechNet subscribers only)

[Darrel]

Also here for non-subscribers.

[Supernova]

Now available to the general public:

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (KB976932)

[Crossy]

Before starting the 2G download read this (from the Microsoft download page):-

Do not click download if you are updating just one computer: A smaller, more appropriate download is now available on Windows Update. The best way to ensure you get Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is by turning on the Automatic Updates feature.

[lopburi3]

Just installed three new updates for x64 plus the service Pak 1 using update downloads. It was only 87.4mb download but took forever to download - a long time to install - a very long time to configure out and back. Total time for all almost an hour.

[MunterHunter]

So apart from these couple of new features - is there any benefit to SP1? Did they actually fix anything (which isnt already available thru the normal windows update program?)

[lopburi3]

It seems to be basically an update of all changes made by those doing updates. As my computer has all updates installed there was only 87mg to download but from the amount of time doing configuration suspect there was some basic changes being made deep within.

Unlike its predecessor this OS seems to be rather good as released. Suspect allowing the world free access for almost a year to test drive it helped a lot.

It is classed as 'important' so suspect future could be risky without installing it.

[Chicog]

Release Candidate of IE9 also popped up if you're running the Beta.

[Chicog]

The only changes of interest seem to be these:

Improved HDMI audio device performance

A small percentage of users have reported issues in which the connection between computers running Windows 7 and HDMI audio devices can be lost after system reboots. Updates have been incorporated into SP1 to ensure that connections between Windows 7 computers and HDMI audio devices are consistently maintained.

Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents

Prior to the release of SP1, some customers have reported difficulty when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents (documents containing pages in both portrait and landscape orientation) using the XPS Viewer, resulting in all pages being printed entirely in either portrait or landscape mode. This issue has been addressed in SP1, allowing users to correctly print mixed-orientation documents using the XPS Viewer.

Change to behavior of "Restore previous folders at logon" functionality

SP1 changes the behavior of the "Restore previous folders at logon" function available in the Folder Options Explorer dialog. Prior to SP1, previous folders would be restored in a cascaded position based on the location of the most recently active folder. That behavior changes in SP1 so that all folders are restored to their previous positions.

[Pib]

I downloaded and installed the service pack a few hours ago from the Microsoft site...well, actually the Microsoft site redirected/linked me to a third party site where the file download from. I use IE8, Orbit Download Manager, and I'm on a TOT 6Mb ADSL plan...it took about 15-20 minutes to download the 537.81Mb service pack file.

I have my computer setup to do automatic download and install of Windows updates. Before starting the install, I checked the specific version number of my Windows 7 Home Premium and it was identified as: Windows 6.1 (Build 7600). The install took approx 40 minutes and the computer rebooted only one time during the install. Before the install a screen tells you that your computer might reboot several times and might take over an hour to complete. I have a 1.6GHz Intel Dual Core CPU system/laptop about 5 years old. Have no clue if me keeping my computer updated with the latest Microsoft updates allowed the install to go faster.

After the install, I checked the version number again and it was: Windows 6.1 (Build 7601: Service Pack 1). Everything I've checked so far after the install is OpsNormal (knock on wood).

Grand summary: approx 60 minutes to download "and" install the service pack.