Windows 7 SP1 Beta Leaks to P2P; is Version 7601

The release of the first Service Pack for Windows 7 in an inevitability. Microsoft has already spoken publicly about Windows 7 SP1, stating that it will be coming but it won't be packed full of changes that can't already be had from Windows Update.

Now the first real glimpse of SP1 is here as an early version of the software package has leaked into the internet's various P2P avenues. The build string of the leaked version is "6.1.7601.16537.amd64fre.win7.100327-0053" which indicates that it's a build from March 27.

GeekSmack has acquired a copy and grabbed a number of screenshots and reported that installation is drastically faster than the install process for any of the Service Packs for Windows Vista.

Of course, we don't recommend anyone to download Windows-critical software that doesn't come from Microsoft. Find it and try it at your own risk, and never on a primary-use computer.

_{Images from GeekSmack.}

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Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.

22 Comments Comment from the forums

Bolbi

I can't wait for an official list of the SP1 improvements that are not available through individual updates. Not that Windows 7 RTM is bad at all. I wonder what big changes there will be besides maybe USB 3.0 support and a few others.
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danimal_the_animal

I see you have an i7 920 overclocked to 4.21GHZ
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eddieroolz

Looking good so far. Hope they introduce something useful for the general consumer too.

danimal_the_animalI see you have an i7 920 overclocked to 4.21GHZ
/off topic/
Its not Tom's, it's GeekSmack's.
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tipoo

Honestly I can't think of anything I want fixed with a service pack, thats a testament to the Win7 team. So what is this update packing, anyways?
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cscott_it

I'm with Bolbi, I'm interested in the non roll-up updates that will be included.

Equally important, downloading this is akin to downloading the Catalyst 10.5 alpha. It doesn't really make sense to me. (People report that video acceleration is causing BSODs or Lock-ups, although apparently it improves gaming.)
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ravewulf

drastically faster than the install process for any of the Service Packs for Windows Vista
Well. considering that it doesn't include much of anything that isn't already on Windows Update now, that's not really surprising at all.
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bison88

Awesome! Hopefully RTM hits before summer so I can upgrade my machine from Vista.
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randomizer

I'm glad it's faster than the Vista service packs. They took longer to install than the initial installation of Vista itself. But as ravewulf said, this is just a cumulative update of everything you already have.
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False_Dmitry_II

bison88Awesome! Hopefully RTM hits before summer so I can upgrade my machine from Vista.
If you're one of those guys who just waits for the first service pack it sounds like there's nothing to see here. In which case I think you need to either go for it now and just run the usual updates (which is apparently mostly all this is) or wait till SP2 if it's more major.
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Windows 7 SP1 is mostly a trigger for companies to stop using XP and move to Windows 7. MS has some won't be letting IT shops downgrade their boxes to XP after W7 SP1.

So that fact that is small is due to the lack of updates since 7 came out.
They really don't need a SP at all except to force companies to start using 7.
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