Microsoft starts Vista SP1 auto delivery

Computerworld - Microsoft today flipped the switch to start automatically upgrading some copies of Windows Vista to Service Pack 1 (SP1), the company announced.

Users who have Windows Update (WU) set to automatically download and install important patches, hotfixes and other updates will start receiving SP1 beginning Wednesday, a Microsoft spokeswoman said in an e-mail. "Today Microsoft will begin automatic distribution of SP1," she said. "This means that users with the Automatic Update feature turned on will automatically download SP1 to their PCs."

Not everyone will be offered the update immediately, however, because Microsoft is distributing SP1 in phases, a common practice when it rolls out a major upgrade via its online update service. It is also limiting the automatic delivery to English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish versions of the operating system.

Although Microsoft released the other 31 language packs last week, it will wait until the middle of next month before it adds them to Windows Update automatic distribution, said Chris Flores of the Windows client communications team, in a post to the Vista blog today.

Microsoft had posted Vista SP1 to Windows Update more than five weeks ago, but made the download optional; users had to aim a browser at the WU site and manually select SP1. At the time, the company said it would begin serving SP1 automatically in "mid-April."

Even after today's announcement, however, some Vista users may not see SP1 for weeks or even months because their PCs are using defective device drivers that Microsoft says may cause problems during an upgrade. It is blocking systems with those drivers from obtaining SP1 until the drivers themselves have been updated.

Flores alluded to the delay in his post. "Automatic distribution will only occur, according to user settings, on PCs ready for SP1," he said, and linked to a support document that spells out seven different reasons, including the balky drivers, why some users won't be offered the service pack.

Users can obtain SP1 by downloading a much larger standalone installer from Microsoft's site if the service pack is not visible in Windows Update.

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