I updated my Vista x64 installation with Windows Vista Service Pack 1 the day it came out (March 18, 2008).
Due to the the notoriously buggy nVidia Vista drivers, the small version of the service pack was not available to my nVidia-laden XPS 600 through the recommended ‘Windows Update’ process. So I downloaded and installed the larger 64-bit (x64) version of the service pack here (32-bit (x86) version is here).
Everything generally went without a hitch (though it seems to have turned on a few of the unnecessary security settings I had turned off).
Cleaning Up After the Upgrade
The upgrade leaves remnants behind so that, in the off-chance you want to, you can revert back to the pre-SP1 state. Once you’re comfortable with the upgrade you can free-up some hard drive space by eliminating this unnecessary recovery data by following the following easy steps:
- Click Start
- Click Run…
- Type "vsp1cln.exe" in the ‘Open:" dialogue box
(short for Vista SP1 Cleaner) - Click OK
That’s it. It takes about a minute to process.
Warning: This is irreversible.
Thanks to my Nerds-on-Site nephew Mike for this tip.
Reference:
- Paul Thurrott’s SP1 Announcement
- LifeHacker’s Similar Post
- Digital Inspiration’s Similar Post
