Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is now officially available for download. SP2 includes better Wi-Fi and BlueTooth connectivity, processor compatibility, native Blu-Ray support, and faster search services along with a barrage of security hotfixes and updates. A list of notable changes is available here.
One disappointment is that service pack 2 requires service pack 1 to be installed as a prerequisite which means native Vista slipstreams won’t work without SP1 being installed first. The work around is to install SP1 inclusive Vista media or build a ground up slipstream cd which includes SP1 and SP2. This can easily be accomplished with vLite.
One interesting fact is that Vista Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 are included in the same update file meaning you only need to download a single executable to update both operating systems. This is the first time Microsoft has released a joint service pack.
Vista SP2 will be released to Windows Update on June 30th but in the mean time it can be downloaded from Microsoft Downloads or using the links below.
– Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) for x86 (348.3 MB)
– Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) for x64 (577.4 MB)
– Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) Stand-Alone ISO (1376.8 MB)