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What’s new in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2?

There’s been some confusion about what is included in Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. For example, I saw somewhere that Hyper-V is supposedly added to Windows Vista in this release. It is not.

Here’s what’s new:

Windows Vista

  • Inclusion of Windows Search 4.0 for improved indexing performance, broader indexing scenario inclusion, as well as new Group Policy integration for Windows Search
  • Integration of the Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless which contains Bluetooth v2.1 support, the most recent specification for Bluetooth wireless technology
  • Some graphics enhancement to reduce glitches when streaming high def content with specific hardware configurations
  • Setup & Deployment improvements to detect incompatible drivers blocking service pack installations
  • Provides a Service Pack Cleanup tool which helps restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting previous versions of files updated by SP2

Windows Server 2008

  • Inclusion of Microsoft’s Hyper-V technology for Server
  • Backwards compatibility with Terminal Services licensing keys
  • Better manageability features with DFS/FRS console, and Storage Resource Manager (i.e.: Quota Filter and File Screening Filter)
  • Improved error reporting in DFSR to help identify incorrectly configured deployments which lead to failed replication
  • Updated power policy driving significant Power Management improvements

Just to be clear, the final version of Hyper-V is added to Windows Server 2008 as part of SP2; the original shipping version of Server 08 (“SP1”) included a pre-release version of Hyper-V.

In short, don’t believe everything you read.

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