Vista SP1 Update

Posted on March 20, 2008

Now that SP1 has been available for a few weeks at the corporate level, and just prior to the rollout of SP1 via Automatic Updates, comes the realization(as reported by a number of users), that all is not well with this rollout.

I wrote earlier of the huge size (1.3GB) and install time, 45 minutes minimum. Now there are software issues. A number of audio drivers, for instance, won’t work after the update. I use sound infrequently so after hearing about the driver problems, I decided to check my PC, and sure enough, no driver found. And this is for a pretty generic Realtek on-board device. Other audio devices in addition to Realtek are also affected.

There are also reports of constant rebooting after the update as well as other issues.

Some are saying that the relative number of issues have been few compared to XP when SP1 came out for it. What is not being mentioned is that the Vista update thus far has not been available for the general public, only corporate users. Business users tend to have moves such as this planned out for their organization and have done any stated upgrades or patches to components prior to doing the install. Problems at this level should be fewer in number.

Wait, however, until this gets pushed out via AU and watch things light up.