A Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) release candidate has been made available to the general public, after Microsoft made good on a promise it made last week.
Windows Vista SP2 Release Candidate (RC) can be downloaded from Microsoft's website in versions for both 32- and 64-bit PCs and laptops.
As first reported by Neowin.net, while Microsoft has made Vista SP2 RC available to the public, it has yet to change the download pages' titles to reflect that the files are the release candidate and not Beta 2. The file name of the disk image, however, reveals that it is, in fact, the RC: 6002.16670.090130-1715_iso_update_sp_wave0-RCSP2.0_DVD.iso . "This build is the same build sent out to select testers last week," Neowin said.
A week ago today, Microsoft announced it had completed Vista SP2 RC, and had posted it to TechNet and MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network), the subscription-based services that cater to IT professionals and developers. At the time, a company spokeswoman said that the release candidate would be offered to everyone else this week.
Microsoft has announced a final release date for Vista SP2, and in the past has only said it plans to deliver final code during the second quarter of 2009.
Others, however, said SP2 would become widely available sooner rather than later. The Malaysian website TechARP.com, which has accurately predicted past Windows delivery dates, has said Vista SP2 is on track to launch no later than mid-May.
Users can download Vista SP2 RC as a standalone fresh installation disk image, as an update for the 32-bit version of Vista or as an update for the 64-bit version from Microsoft's site.
Although Microsoft will offer Vista SP2 SC through its Windows Update service - as it did when it rolled out SP2 Beta 2 late last year-- it has not yet turned on that switch. Most people will use Windows Update to get SP2 RC, if only because downloads through the service will be significantly smaller, between 41MB and 90MB, as opposed to the 302-508MB of the files available now.
Machines must be running Vista SP1 to download and install the SP2 release candidate.
Comments
ama said: hey i have a 200gb hard drive and once i install vista it starts eating it away once i install its about 187gb then after a reboot its 186 the next day its 179 if i install a program thats lets say 12mb it cut 2gb of the hard drive and im like wtf
RC said: BTW Neil when a SP is installed it keeps all the previous versions of replaced files and if you do a little research youll see how to remove the old bits and free up some hd space
RC said: Neil a 40 gig hd these days is NOTHING SPs address bugs usability and operational issues as well as update needed for certain hardwares Youre complaining about hard drive space yet you are wondering where all the Ultimate extra downloads are thats hilarioius BTW Ill agree that Ultimate edition doesnt have the downloads youd think it would but it also comes with everything Vista offers Yes I also believe there should be more Ultimate premium downloadsWhat gets me about the SP2 RC offering is it says that SP1 needs to be installed first Well this flies in the face of how Windows SPs have worked in the past Previously theyve been inclusive of all SPs to that point and not its breaking with tradition I wonder how many non-readers this will catch out I hope it refuses to install unless SP1 is installed or theyre possibly in for a lot of grief Ill have to install a clean RTM without SP1 and see if it installs
neil said: where are the ultimate extra downloads all these sp1 sp2 what are they meant to do I havnt noticed any differance only that the size of my hard drive is shrinking I have been updating it since day 1 and at the moment i have 10Gb free for me out of 40 that is 30 gb for programs its riduculous They should get it right first time if i did a job and kept coming back there would be an unroar is that not true