SP1 RC for Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2 Ready

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

The Release Candidate for Service Pack 1 is now available to download for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.

Tuesday Microsoft’s Brandon Leblanc said that the company has officially unleashed the Release Candidate (RC) of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) for public consumption. This will be the last public beta build prior to the final Release to Manufacturing (gone gold) build.

"As previously announced, the only new features added to the SP1 are the Windows Server 2008 R2-related virtualization technologies, Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX--please see the Windows Server Division Weblog for more details," he wrote in a blog. "These features will help customers who choose to deploy Windows through Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) by enabling a more scalable and rich user experience."

He added that there are (still) no new features specific to Windows 7. Instead, SP1 will enable Windows 7-based PCs to "take advantage of these server-based features to provide a more scalable and richer VDI experience for end users."

Once installed, Dynamic Memory will allow Microsoft customers to achieve increased density when consolidating physical servers into a virtual realm, providing them with predictable performance and linear scalability. As for RemoteFX, this will allow IT administrators to deliver a "rich graphics experience to end-users through virtualized desktops."

To download the new Service Pack 1 Release Candidate, head here. The minimum Windows 7 system requirements are as listed below:

  • 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
  • 1 GB of RAM (32-bit) / 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
  • 16 GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)
  • DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
  • DVD-compatible drive
  • Internet access (fees may apply)
Kevin Parrish
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Manos
    About time! And Ive been postponing formatting my C: for a while now. Perfect timing actually :) After work cause now its 4am here and i need another 4 hours to get out of work .. :(
    Reply
  • hellwig
    manosAbout time! And Ive been postponing formatting my C: for a while now. Perfect timing actually After work cause now its 4am here and i need another 4 hours to get out of work ..Are you saying you were waiting for SP1 before updating Windows 7, or you just need to re-install anyway and you can add in the service pack at the same time?

    Win7 seemed like a pretty well-baked product (maybe cause it was more of a service pack for Vista?). Anyway, I'll wait till the actual release, and not the release candidate. I'm not sure how you go about correcting an install of a release candidate of a Service Pack, wouldn't that affect the versioning of your system? Wouldn't you need to install the "released" service pack to fix it?
    Reply
  • footsoldier
    hellwigAre you saying you were waiting for SP1 before updating Windows 7, or you just need to re-install anyway and you can add in the service pack at the same time? Win7 seemed like a pretty well-baked product (maybe cause it was more of a service pack for Vista?). Anyway, I'll wait till the actual release, and not the release candidate. I'm not sure how you go about correcting an install of a release candidate of a Service Pack, wouldn't that affect the versioning of your system? Wouldn't you need to install the "released" service pack to fix it?
    I thk what he meant is that it is pain in the neck when you reformat your windows, you have redownload those bazillions amount of updates
    Reply
  • hok
    sweet! new bugs!
    Reply
  • Don_Dana
    hoksweet! new bugs!Not sweet! Windows 7 hater!
    Reply
  • dEAne
    this is a badly needed update if you want rich graphics experience to through virtualized desktops.
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    Excellent news! Maybe I'll go try it out later.
    Reply
  • Travis Beane
    Awesome.
    I'm done with release candidates for the time being, but I'm certainly waiting for the polished product.
    footsoldierI thk what he meant is that it is pain in the neck when you reformat your windows, you have redownload those bazillions amount of updatesAgreed. Can take longer than the actual reformat.

    I love how they say 2GB for 64 bit. Honestly, Win7 64 bit runs just fine with 1GB.
    Reply
  • cookoy
    no new features for Win7, only compilation of security updates and bug fixes. i'll just wait for the final SP1. more exciting for Win Server 2008 R2 admins though. gives them opportunity to test out the new server-related features.
    Reply
  • iamtheking123
    Sounds pretty bleh to me. Maybe all their developers are working on Windows 8 and this was left to the interns:

    "Just throw all of these existing updates into a single file and here's some DLLs from Server to throw in".
    Reply