Windows Vista SP2 is live, ready to download

Face it: in between waiting for Windows 7 to launch and tweaking the XP build on your newly purchased netbook, there's this little thing called Windows Vista that needs to be maintained. Today, Microsoft did its part and released the standalone installers for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Service Pack 2 for Vista and Server 2008. Now it's all up to you. Hit the read links to patch the Wow with a little SP2 Meh.

[Thanks, Justin W.]

Read -- 32-bit
Read -- 64-bit

[Aarun @ May 26th 2009 7:26AM]

Didn't see that one coming. At least not so soon.

[Totalfixation @ May 26th 2009 7:28AM]

Same here.

[ShirkPower @ May 26th 2009 7:49AM]

Anybody seeing performance boosts?

[DR House @ May 26th 2009 8:50AM]

YES !

For people who is wondering what does it add (i'll list what matters to me)

Your wireless Signal wont be super slow after you wake up your laptop from "sleep mode" "i noticed it and always had to restart"
native Blu ray data Disc burn built in windows
New wireless option in control panel that let you connect to wireless networks faster and easier "Windows connect now"
New Bluettoth standard support
Windows Search Engine 4 (Much faster search for files within windows)
Your sidebar gadgets Wont eat ram/cpu like crazy (Now its fixed)
Boost your battery life by about 10% with better power management system
ExFAT format support for HDS
Better Error handling

And overall OS performance boost and better security of course

[kal326 @ May 26th 2009 9:22AM]

I did, been using it since the first part of the month. Technet FTW!

Most have only really noticed that the machine shuts down a lot faster in SP2 versus SP1. Other then that, nothing really worth writing home about other then the new features that you may or may not make use of.

[GingerFox @ May 26th 2009 9:37AM]

Downloading, hope i see an improvement, not that vista is bad, yeah you heard me, vista is pretty good!

[Ghen @ May 26th 2009 10:24AM]

Thanks for that Dr House :) very simple.

[OneLove @ May 26th 2009 10:39AM]

I already have windows vista SP3 (windows 7). ;)

[iphonerulez @ May 26th 2009 3:09PM]

And I thought that Windows 7 was actually Vista Service Pack 2. I guess Windows 7 has now become Vista Service Pack 3.

The people that are currently using Vista are saying it's so good that I can't imagine why it needs a service pack at all. Well, I guess those users who shelled out good money for Vista ought to get something in return. They probably won't notice any difference, but it's always nice to get some sort of upgrade no matter how useless it is.

[AndrewNoNumbers @ May 26th 2009 8:19PM]

Wow, Engadget completely forgot to mention the updates (thanks DR House) and the fact that it requires SP1.

The SP1 requirement is a deal-breaker for me since it failed to install after 3 tries (two by standalone and one my Windows Updates) and almost a whole day added together. Good thing I only use Windows for games now.

[David @ May 26th 2009 9:08PM]

I am happy about this update.

Although, it takes a lot more than one update to make an entire operating system not suck.

[inteller @ May 26th 2009 10:37PM]

from a network perspective this update is glorious. I've never seen such speed on torrents now. Thanks for lifting the 10 tcp connection limit...it was stupid.

I've also noticed that just browsing my LAN is faster than before. They really reworked the networking guts.

[Rupan III @ May 27th 2009 11:39PM]

They are still trying to get us to buy Vista and THEN want us to upgrade to 7. I am starting to get very disturbed by Microsoft's options on what it can allow the OS to run if it wants to.
This is why my main machine is my 8gb 64bit Linux Distro still.
Not feeling windows for the 'safety thing 'right now.
Still, 7 will run some nice games and photoshop can be faster.

[Seven @ May 26th 2009 7:26AM]

LOL @ WOW SP2 MEH

[jakem @ May 26th 2009 7:58AM]

Yeah, it's rich considering that Engadget can't even get the comments section of their site working.

[AVG @ May 26th 2009 8:42AM]

@jakem

Hah... I wouldn't mind Engadget SP1.

[jakem @ May 26th 2009 9:00AM]

I'd be happy for it to just come out of this extended beta. Let's wait and see what bugs we can find in version 1.0 before we call for a service pack.

[roach @ May 26th 2009 2:22PM]

I been testing Engadget SP1 for about a month now. Not good!...my mother's email started getting my comment confirmation.

[Frankenstein Black @ May 26th 2009 1:54PM]

Hopefully this fixes the CRAP Zone Alarm Extreme (64bit) Shutdown bug! Or Zone Alarm (a.k.a Check Point) could, you know, FIX IT!!

PS Disable ZAE on startup, Vista x64 shuts down fine. If ZAE is running, good luck with that 20min, then blue screen power driver error shutdown!

[blueangel00100 @ May 26th 2009 7:27AM]

SWEET!! Downloading now!

[blueangel00100 @ May 26th 2009 7:36AM]

Now installing. Super fast download!

[Revels @ May 26th 2009 7:44AM]

Holy shit! Keep us updated!

[ShirkPower @ May 26th 2009 7:50AM]

Has the download finished?!
Dude update us faster!
:)

[BobTurbo @ May 26th 2009 8:23AM]

What are you wearing while you are doing this?

[AVG @ May 26th 2009 8:43AM]

@BobTurbo

Probably a WoW t-shirt and a beard.

[Wolfticket @ May 26th 2009 8:57AM]

The last 4 replies ftw.

[DWells55 @ May 26th 2009 10:25AM]

Have you started installing it yet?!?!

[alo8a @ May 26th 2009 11:06AM]

Even though the download was very fast, the install process must be taking too long. Perhaps his PC is not starting?

[brotato @ May 26th 2009 12:41PM]

I just installed 32bit on my desktop and it BSOD'd during the install. I restarted and now it BSOD's when I start up. I would recomend not to install yet untill some of the install bugs are worked out.

[superhobo @ May 28th 2009 11:08AM]

I suppose it must have cause blueangel00100's pc to transform and kill him, otherwise we would've definitely heard from him.


Vista kills again... :'(

[PS360WiiDsPCGamer @ May 26th 2009 7:32AM]

Meh, On Windows 7 RC ATM....

[Stupidiot @ May 26th 2009 7:36AM]

Same here, but I still don't see what the big deal is, or why people make such a fuss over Vista. They've both run equally as efficiently for me.

[ShirkPower @ May 26th 2009 7:49AM]

lucky you,
the rest of us are still having trouble with it.

[superhobo @ May 26th 2009 8:15AM]

Haha, you don't have a PSP!

[JrA 2I9 pSu @ May 26th 2009 9:26AM]

ya, me too; I got the RC this weekend, updated from XP and never looked back. Vista? what's that...

[Phenoum @ May 26th 2009 10:29AM]

@ superhobo

So why dont you you blame Sony's inability to write a proper driver for Vista?

Do ppl blame Apple when peripherals dont work? hell no - but when a Vista driver was badly written by... say... "creative" (soundblaster).... it's an all about feasting about how horrible vista is.

ppl buy the cheapest computers with crap hardware and no-name components and blame microsoft because the drivers (written by hardware/software company) suck balls.

Im getting tired of people's ignorance regarding this issue.......

[Jorvay @ May 26th 2009 11:00AM]

Phenoum hit the nail on the head. As a long-time Linux user, I hear the same crap all the time. Linux doesn't suck for lacking some drivers (though shockingly few these days). Hardware manufacturers suck for feeding the OS duopoly with their drivers. Hell, there are thousands of people ready to write drivers for free if hardware makers would simply provide specs, but that's another story.

Other than that, I never had any real issues with Vista, even though the laptop that I had running it only had 1gig of ram (though Ubuntu and Fedora both ran way better...not that I'm biased).

[Schmooshies @ May 26th 2009 11:05AM]

I get tired of people not reading and just going straight to personal attacks.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the PSP comment referred to the poster's name PS360WiiDsPCGamer with the fact that they do not have a PSP. So quick to judge! How's the weather up there on your high horse?

[Phenoum @ May 26th 2009 11:45AM]

heh - totally missed that one - but my comment still stands on a broader scale. Nothing personal about it.

[superhobo @ May 26th 2009 2:54PM]

What
Does
PSP
have to do
with
Vista
.
.
.
?

[shaunisadirty @ May 27th 2009 3:50PM]

I would both love and hate to see Microsoft create computers the way Apple does by making both the hardware (though Apple doesn't actually MAKE it) and the software.

If Microsoft can create an OS as stable as it is with all these hardware manufacturers writing crappy drivers and making cheap hardware for it, they obviously are good at what they do. I would like to see Apple create an OS that can do the same, they would fail instantly. Hell they can't even always get their own to work right.

However, I would never want to see Microsoft start doing business this way. It's way too much of a monopoly. I prefer my freedom of choice, I just wish everybody knew how to perform simple tasks to keep their computers running well and not just go OOHHH CLICKY CLICKTY CLICK CLICK CLICK on every freaking link on the Internet and then complain that Windows and Microsoft suck.

[Down @ May 26th 2009 7:35AM]

Big deal.

[wrs589 @ May 26th 2009 7:35AM]

Changelog?

[pablito @ May 26th 2009 7:40AM]

Vista + SP2 = ... Windows 6.4?

[Drew Green @ May 26th 2009 7:45AM]

I've had SP2 running for a while (a few pre-release builds and then the RTM) and all of them have caused me to have issues with Media Center. I finally said screw it and uninstalled. I couldn't tell any improvements over SP1, only things broken. That's not to say it's a bad SP, just for my setup, it wasn't worth it.

[jakem @ May 26th 2009 7:59AM]

I've been running the RTM SP2 on my HTPC for the last month and haven't had any problems. If anything it's made the whole thing a bit snappier.

[Chris3567367 @ Jun 2nd 2009 2:15PM]

Got WMC issues too, it intermittently just stops responding. Is yours the same? Please let me know if and how you fixed it.

Googling this problem only comes up with your comment.

I got a case open with MS right now but getting nowhere so I'd appreciate you letting me know.

[Drew Green @ Jun 2nd 2009 5:44PM]

@Chris3567367: Unfortunately, the only resolution I've had is to uninstall SP2. As soon as I did, the problem was fixed. I know it's not just a bad install I have, because I was running SP1, upgraded to the SP2 RC (which had the same issues as RTM). I reformatted my machine at one point and had SP1 running again. This time, I waited 'til RTM to upgrade to SP2, which, as posted earlier, caused issues for me. I said screw it, I'd rather have Media Center working than have SP2, so I uninstalled and decided I'll wait until Windows 7 comes out this Fall.

[Mugen @ May 26th 2009 7:48AM]

people who have installed this, can you please give a feedback about system optimization compared to sp1? how about superfetch?

Currently using Windows 7 on my notebook because vista was a headache using it on this.. not as smooth as Windows 7. and my manufacturer doesnt support operating systems before vista for this device. Unfortunately...

hope to read comments here about the specs or maybe fresh installs with vista sp2

[superhobo @ May 26th 2009 8:08AM]

Be a real Windows users and find drivers from places other than your manufacturer's website.

ARRRR