My Experience with Installing Windows Vista SP1
I was obviously not the first user to download the Service Pack 1 and install it but I am sure I am the (un)lucky one to have such a bad experience with the installation and the issues I faced afterward. Due to a slow connection at my Home I downloaded Service Pack 1 standalone installer at my Office despite knowing that it is not the one I need to install. Still I thought of giving it a try. It was a big 450 MB file contrary to the one at around 75 MB offered through Windows Update. I came home inserted the thumb drive with Vista Sp1 installer and started installing. Did I mention I am running Windows Vista Ultimate edition?? Halfway through the installation my first encounter with an error “An internal error occurred while installing the service pack.“. Luckily Microsoft is aware of this error so I am not the only one, was bit relaxed to find the Microsoft Article that addresses the exact error. Religiously followed all steps in that and restarted my PC Several times but no go. Wasted 4-5 hrs doing the same steps again and again.
Finally performed a Scandisk with the followingoptions:
- Automatically fix file system errors.
- Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
Guess what, I was smiling at the moment as installation was completed successfully and PC was restarted. 
But I never knew that the smile was efemeral till I see the desktop. My Vista Ultimate PC with Experience Index of 3.2 is looking like a Windows 2000 PC (picture in left). No Aero feature and Dream Scene was disabled (the sole purpose for which I upgraded to Ultimate). The main thing that came to my mind was the graphics driver. Downloaded the latest graphics driver fro my G33 Express chipset and got back my Aero and Dreamscene. With the rest of the hardware I have not noticed any other issues during or after the installation.
After installation:
Before installing Service Pack 1, Vista was not detecting the 4 GB of RAM I had. It was
only showing 3.23GB. But now it shows whole 4GB of Memory installed. The File copy speed has increased over 30%. I was expecting to see a couple of extra dreamscene videos I will check with that and also some other changes in my System and keep posting.
If you have this kind of experience, please share with us… Thanks
Comment by Baby Names on 22 March 2008:
A real pity that it had to take so long to install. The products been offered by Microsoft these days are losing their quality.
Comment by skip on 23 March 2008:
Im using xp. lots of my friends ask me to change it into vista. But im not ready for it yet. Is vista already driver compatible worldwide? ive got a bad experience before in upgrading my windows version. So i think better to wait for it.
Comment by Harpreet S on 25 March 2008:
I am still waiting to install SP 1 for Vista. I have heard lots of bad as well as good news regarding SP1. So, I will wait for couple of day or a week and then I will install it on my computer. However, reading the article I feel that I must do it to increase the performance and rating of my computer. If drivers for graphic and other are the problem then I should wait for some time and check what Microsoft does for these issues.
Thanks for the info dude.
Comment by erp on 26 March 2008:
I’m still using window xp cauze vista requirement is beyong my computer requirement but i do like the aero,dreamscape function and 3D flip
Comment by Blog review exchange on 26 March 2008:
Sincerly, I hate vista. I prefere XP because it works fast than any other windows. And that’s what I need right now.
Comment by Tech Blog on 26 March 2008:
I’m still new to vista and am having fairly trouble free usage surfing teh net and using notepad and photoshop. I think i’ll put this install off until its very necessary.
Comment by Charter Flight on 28 March 2008:
I am going to install vista in my pc.Think it will be a good experience.
Comment by erp on 29 March 2008:
haha, u make me think twice bout installing vista. thank you for telling me experience
Comment by Beecher Bowers on 30 March 2008:
Have you noticed any speed increase or decrease overall since your installation of SP1?
Comment by Sunieet on 1 April 2008:
@ Beecher Bowers
Yes, my system performance some how faster after installing SP1. Less UAC prompts and copying speed is also faster…..
Comment by Pure Bulk Nutrition on 1 April 2008:
I hate vista. Correction…LOATHE. It’s such trash. No Thanks, Microsoft!
Comment by Svakanda on 1 April 2008:
Damn you MS…making us all start to switch over!
Comment by Chris on 13 April 2008:
I’ve been contemplating as to whether or not I should update to SP1 as I’ve heard ppl complain that their system runs much more sluggishly than before. I’ll hold off for a while!
Cheers,
Chris
Comment by Vehicle Transport on 6 May 2008:
Well that stinks. I have heard a lot of other people complain about the same thing!
Comment by ivy on 10 May 2008:
Okay, so I’ve been wanting to download the Service Pack for Vista but every time I go to Windows update page, it says that my system is already up to date? How come? Does regularly updating my Vista means that I have already downloaded all the updates included in the SP1?
Comment by sunieet on 11 May 2008:
@Ivy…..
Hey bro, you can check with your system properies whether SP1 is installed or not….
Right Click at My computer > Properties…. u can see there whether SP1 is installed or not… if it is not installed, u can download and install the standalone version….
Comment by psi guy on 12 May 2008:
I have been thinking about doing that myself. Thanks for the info.