Windows 7 Service Pack 1 beta now available

[-Sweeper_]

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta helps keep your PCs and servers on the latest support level, provides ongoing improvements to the Windows Operating System (OS), by including previous updates delivered over Windows Update as well as continuing incremental updates to the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 platforms based on customer and partner feedback, and is easy for organizations to deploy a single set of updates.

http://technet.microsoft.com/hi-in/e.../ff183870.aspx

[zanzabar]

wasnt it up on the 24th of june.

it dosnt do anything useful for the non server so dont expect anything like vista sp1 or xp sp1/2

[Ket]

Is there any danger W7 SP1 will bring back everybodys beloved WMP11? Thats the only thing, and I mean only thing I miss about Vista.

[Peakr]

Is there any danger W7 SP1 will bring back everybodys beloved WMP11? Thats the only thing, and I mean only thing I miss about Vista.

Yeah what's up with that. The only way to stop it from dumping album art and info is to write protect the folder. Even though you've turned that function off in the settings. And why won't it remember it's location on screen? It's almost as bad as itunes.

[Sparky]

MP11? I don't like MP11. MP10 was good, but MP11... meh.

I don't really use MP12 much, so I can't really comment on it.

[ripken204]

this is it? what is the point of this service pack?

-Additional support for communication with third-party federation services
-Improved HDMI audio device performance
-Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents
-Change to behavior of “Restore previous folders at logon” functionality
-Enhanced support for additional identities in RRAS and IPsec
-Support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)

[Ket]

Yeah what's up with that. The only way to stop it from dumping album art and info is to write protect the folder. Even though you've turned that function off in the settings. And why won't it remember it's location on screen? It's almost as bad as itunes.

Damn straight. I really miss WMP11s cool little GUI where you could minimise it to the taskbar and still watch video

[Manicdan]

any plans on dropping signed drivers, nm, one can dream

[Ket]

If you want to turn off device driver signing in Windows 7 completely, do the following.

Hit the Win+R keys together to open the run dialog. Type gpedit.msc to open the local groups policy editor.
Expand ‘Administrative Templates’ (it’s under ‘User Configuration’). Expand ‘System’. Click ‘Driver Installation’.
In the right panel, double click on ‘Code Signing for Device Drivers’.
Choose ‘Enabled’ in the window that appears. In the underlying options, choose ‘Ignore’. This disables drivers signing in Windows 7, and now you can install unsigned drivers in Windows 7.
Click Apply, OK. Restart your computer to install unsigned drivers.

[sniper_sung]

Finally Bluetooth support for Windows Server 2008 R2?

[Manicdan]

If you want to turn off device driver signing in Windows 7 completely, do the following.

Hit the Win+R keys together to open the run dialog. Type gpedit.msc to open the local groups policy editor.
Expand ‘Administrative Templates’ (it’s under ‘User Configuration’). Expand ‘System’. Click ‘Driver Installation’.
In the right panel, double click on ‘Code Signing for Device Drivers’.
Choose ‘Enabled’ in the window that appears. In the underlying options, choose ‘Ignore’. This disables drivers signing in Windows 7, and now you can install unsigned drivers in Windows 7.
Click Apply, OK. Restart your computer to install unsigned drivers.

ive done that before, but i dont like how windows treats you like you have cancer when u h ave unsigned drivers

[Ket]

Wacha mean? W7 leaves me alone. That might be because I turned UAC off completely, disabled security center and use a registry hack so admins have full control over any file though

[Mats]

The fact that this SP isn't a huge improvement for W7 is a good sign. W7 is already very good, that's a rare one from MS.
MS have enough time to just make their latest Windows up to date, and not having to fix a lot of buggy or annoying things like in older versions. I know I'm not longing for a chaotic pre-SP1 XP or Vista situation.
One of the reasons is of course that W7 have a lot in common with vista.

However, I still don't understand the search function. If I have a file called xs.txt and search for "xs", nothing shows up even if it's indexed. Is there any cure for that?

[Chrono Detector]

I really hope you can slipstream the official final service pack like XP, it was stupid that Microsoft disabled this option with Vista.

[Ket]

The fact that this SP isn't a huge improvement for W7 is a good sign. W7 is already very good, that's a rare one from MS.
MS have enough time to just make their latest Windows up to date, and not having to fix a lot of buggy or annoying things like in older versions. I know I'm not longing for a chaotic pre-SP1 XP or Vista situation.
One of the reasons is of course that W7 have a lot in common with vista.

However, I still don't understand the search function. If I have a file called xs.txt and search for "xs", nothing shows up even if it's indexed. Is there any cure for that?

What about all the individual updates MS has released so far? Would it really kill them to include them all with this SP? No. Instead I'm now going to have to mess around downloading every single update individually which is going to be hugely tedious just to make a batch file that will install them all at the same time.

[AlterBridge86]

What about all the individual updates MS has released so far? Would it really kill them to include them all with this SP? No. Instead I'm now going to have to mess around downloading every single update individually which is going to be hugely tedious just to make a batch file that will install them all at the same time.

...they are included...

by including previous updates delivered over Windows Update as well as continuing incremental updates to the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 platforms based on customer and partner feedback, and is easy for organizations to deploy a single set of updates.

[Ket]

I said ALL updates, including those MS intend to release just after SP1. They won't be included, which in my book = fail.

[AlterBridge86]

I see what you mean...but has ANY service pack ever had updates that were later released afterwards?

AFAIK, service packs have been rollups of updates that occurred until now, including those that haven't been released generally over WU (ones you have to contact MS to get for a specific issue). Updates released post-SP1 would be rolled up in SP2 whenever that comes along...at least thats how I remember SP's being handled thus far...

[Ket]

That is how their done. I'm just saying its frustrating to sit around for 30mins to an hour while the SP does all the updates, only for 10 mins after the update finishes a popup appears saying updates are available. WTF M$ those updates were ready same time the SP was why not include them with the SP? That is their fail.

[SKYMTL]

They still haven't fixed the battery bug on laptops that have been upgraded with Win 7? Are you effing kidding me?

[Vardant]

The fact that this SP isn't a huge improvement for W7 is a good sign.

It is and it isn't.
It means the system was very good to begin with. That was to be expected though, after the open beta called Vista.

But it also means, they're not really trying to offer anything new and they're keeping everything for another OS update.

[itznfb]

Service packs were never intended to be feature additions.

[RVWinkle]

Service packs were never intended to be feature additions.

Acually they were originally meant for that purpose but they stopped due to new service packs causing backwards compatibility issues. This was back on NT 4 or win 2000, I can't remember.

[MrMojoZ]

NT4 service packs were a pain at times if I recall, didn't it require a specific install order to work correctly? Been awhile.

[itznfb]

NT and 2000 service packs never included new features. They included updates to existing software like updated IIS and COM+ objects. This was to address major security flaws inherent in the applications.