Windows Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing

All the rumor and conjecture regarding the official release date for Windows Vista's highly-anticipated first service pack can finally be put to bed: Vista SP1 was shipped today to manufacturing and will be available to individual customers in mid-March.

SP1 will initially be available via the standard Windows Update system or for separate download from Microsoft, but only if you manually visit www.update.microsoft.com with your browser. (I'll write a new post the day that the update becomes available, providing the direct link for download.)

SP1 won't begin automatic downloading via the passive Windows Update system until mid-April. So if you want it early, be sure to run a manual Windows Update on launch day.

Fair warning: Microsoft notes that SP1 will not work properly if you have one of a "small selection of device drivers," though no list of those drivers (and the devices they support) has been posted. If Windows Update determines you have one of those drivers installed, it will not offer SP1 to your system.

You can still download it manually, but be warned you may have to reinstall the driver for that product after installing SP1. Good advice for all users: Carefully check all your peripherals after installing SP1 to make sure they still work.

Early reviews and benchmarks of SP1 have previously been posted. (See links for detail.)