SOLVED Windows 7 Service packs

[davehc]

For the impatient, the SPs (64 and 32Bit)have been put up for download here:
http://www.ngohq.com/news/18086-windows-7-service-pack-1-beta.html

 

[Fire cat]

The BETA service packs...

 

[davehc]

Maybe only semantics, but the Emailreferred to it as a "pre-release" for testing. I can' t quite see the diiference- that's a Beta by other interpretation?
"
You are receiving this invitation based on the quality of feedback you have provided on previous Windows programs and the Microsoft Windows release team would like you to participate in the Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) release program, to be available shortly, as announced at the Microsoft’s TechEd conference.
Accepting this invitation will allow you to access pre-release versions of the Service Pack for the purposes of validating the release readiness. We highly value your past feedback and know we can count on you again to help us build a great new version of Windows!
The SP1 release version is not available quite yet but we need to assemble a great team of program peers early so you are ready to go when we are! If you accept this invitation you’ll be notified when the release version becomes available.
What you will get if you choose to participate
• Early access to downloadable Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 releases
• Access to private newsgroups to share information about the release with other program peers and with Microsoft staff
• The ability to report bugs and track their status
• An opportunity to help us build a better Windows by validating the release readiness
What we will ask of you if you choose to participate
• Download and install Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 on at least one PC each
• File bugs if you encounter them as well as respond to surveys as you can.
• Validation we are seeking
o Set-up and installation
o Application Experience/Compatibility
o Device Experience/Compatibility
• We ask that you actively participate in discussions on the newsgroups and share your opinions with us and others"

 

[Nibiru2012]

It's a big download, over 500 MB for x64 update.

Plus some of the comments left by the posters didn't seem too promising.

davehc - have you DL it yet and installed it? If so, how's it working?

 

[davehc]

Yes. I got ot through a Microsoft source and compared. Nothing dodgy there.It takes about an hour to install, according to the quality of your computer, I guess.
I have had it on for about two days now and so far can see no discernable changes or imptovements - that is for Windows 7.
Other than that, fear not. It does no apparent harm!

P.S. Word of caution. It requests that you uninstall any foreign language packs. It will not proceed before you do that.

 

[Nibiru2012]

P.S. Word of caution. It requests that you uninstall any foreign language packs. It will not proceed before you do that.

Rats! That means I'll have to uninstall both my Lower Slobovian and Sumerian Language Packages! LOL!

 

[davehc]

Agreed. I had to uninstall the East London Cockney! Blimey, Wot a turn on

 

[Nibiru2012]

Here's a faster download link for the Windows 7 SP1 Beta from Softpedia. They've broken it down into 3 RAR files for the x64 and 2 RAR files for the x86 versions.

Much faster, probably because Softpedia has a lot more servers.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 / Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Build 6.1.7601.16562 Beta: Free Download

NOTE: Microsoft already confirmed officially that Windows 7 SP1 will deliver no new features, while Windows Server 2008 R2 will evolve with such additions as RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory.

 

[Veedaz]

Thanks for the info Dave / Nibs :top:- I will uninstall mobile phone txt speak (I need that to understand what the hell the wife is texting me )

 

[Nibiru2012]

I just finished installing the SP1 Beta package.

Install took right at about 22 minutes with two restarts.

Using "winver" in the Start Orb search bar shows this:

Right-click on: Computer/Properties/ show the following:

So far everything is running okay. I'll defrag here in a little while.

 

[TorrentG]

I didn't want to do it, but I'm installing this on my downstairs machine P4 non-hyperthreaded 1.5 gHz, 768 Mb RDRAM, NVIDIA 6200A-Le right now.

It's a slow machine so it'll be a while but it is still excellent for the family watching youtube videos, doing e-mail, browsing and Facebook etc...

That's all they do anyhow. heh heh

 

[catilley1092]

Here's a faster download link for the Windows 7 SP1 Beta from Softpedia. They've broken it down into 3 RAR files for the x64 and 2 RAR files for the x86 versions.

Much faster, probably because Softpedia has a lot more servers.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 / Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Build 6.1.7601.16562 Beta: Free Download

NOTE: Microsoft already confirmed officially that Windows 7 SP1 will deliver no new features, while Windows Server 2008 R2 will evolve with such additions as RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory.

Being that you verified what I had already read (no new features for 7), I'll wait until the regular release, it'll be smaller. But I wouldn't be surprised to see any updates that has been refused incorporated into the final SP.

I was going to install the beta SP on my notebook, but davehc said something about participation is required (feedback or whatever), that's a bunch of bull to have to go through just to install a beta SP.

There are many of you that's here now that ran the RC of Windows 7. Was feedback required from everyone? I've read many of the older posts, there was no mention of it, but I'm curious as to whether it was required or not.

Cat

 

[clifford_cooley]

There are many of you that's here now that ran the RC of Windows 7. Was feedback required from everyone? I've read many of the older posts, there was no mention of it, but I'm curious as to whether it was required or not.

When I first downloaded Windows 7 Beta back in Feb 2009, (from what I could tell) Microsoft had already quit monitoring feedback.

 

[davehc]

" but davehc said something about participation is required (feedback or whatever), that's a bunch of bull to have to go through just to install a beta SP"

That was a quote from an MS Email, Catilley. The download then comes from a different source and the quote was referring to past participation, not future. A reward for services rendered, you could say.
If you download and install the SP, from any reliable/trusted source, there is no other participation required.

 

[clifford_cooley]

For the impatient, the SPs (64 and 32Bit)have been put up for download

I think I will wait for the official release.

 

[catilley1092]

" but davehc said something about participation is required (feedback or whatever), that's a bunch of bull to have to go through just to install a beta SP"

That was a quote from an MS Email, Catilley. The download then comes from a different source and the quote was referring to past participation, not future. A reward for services rendered, you could say.
If you download and install the SP, from any reliable/trusted source, there is no other participation required.

Sorry davehc, I didn't mean to misquote. You are right, it was in the letter, and BTW, I've seen that letter before, come to think of it, somewhere else on this forum.

But, I still don't want any part of it. I'll wait until the final release is ready, there are various posts all over the net where users are stating that the beta SP is causing problems. I don't mind working bugs out of browsers, but not service packs.

 

[davehc]

No offence was taken, Cat. I was just putting the record straight. (I have PM'd you).
The SP has not caused me any problems, except for the "Evaluation" watermark, which cannot be avoided except by hacking.
On uninstall, which takes a while, I got a bsod - the first for many months - but restarting seemed to continue the uninstall where it had been interrupted and everything is fine now.
Opinion? Don't waste your time. I cannot see anything for Windows 7 which is going to blow your mind. Wait for the final release.

 

[TorrentG]

Yep. Confirmed problems here too.

On the first machine, all went well.

So I decided to install on my main machine and what a mistake it's been. From perfection in the OS and the way my pc was running since the betas (all upgrade installs) to bsod 0x51 on finalization of the SP install...on every reboot and not even disabling eveything starting with Windows helped.

That's a registry error introduced with the SP1 install.

My networking would not work before or after going to last known good settings.
I had to fix that with the netsh winsock reset command.

I have services that will not start and I can't check logs because Windows Event is one of them.

My O&O Defrag service will not start even after a complete reinstall of the software. And it takes like 5 minutes to boot to desktop. lol I'm working on things though. I may improve the situation somewhat.

When I try to uninstall the SP in the normal method, it claims it needs to restart to do so. Then it just boots back to SP1 desktop with nothing done. Tried a few times.

Good going here M$. If I have problems like this, imagine.

Both machines of mine had exactly same software installed and upgraded in very much the same exact procedure.

One great, one huge fail.

 

[TorrentG]

lol

Seems that after working on this and rebooting a million times wasn't able to straighten things out....

until my first reboot after the netsh command.

Now everything is functioning 100% perfect again, even with normal, quick boot to desktop.

Time to defrag, heh heh.

Phew...

It would have taken me many days to clean install and then setup all apps and tweaks how I had it.

 

[catilley1092]

I sure hope that MS has their act together by the time this SP is released. I've had to install many, with no problems other than waiting. I'll make sure to have a good, current backup when the final SP is released, because my computer has and is running fine without it. If it screws up my desktop, I'll run without the SP, it's as simple as that. Vista with no SP ran for nearly four years, most likely the next version of Windows will be here before support is dropped for 7, even w/o the SP.

Windows 7 users aren't really getting anything out of this anyway, it's the server that will benefit. Personally, I believe it's a marketing ploy, there's those who refuses to buy a new OS until SP1 is released. Quite a few of them at that.