Today, Microsoft announced it is making the Vista SP1 RC Refresh available to the public. Vista RC1 Refresh is an improved version of the Vista SP1 RC it made available in December. Unlike Vista SP1 RC, the Refresh version is being distributed only via Windows Update.

Here's How to Order!

To download the script needed to get Windows Update started, go to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh Public Availability Program page and click Download. A 356KB self-extracting .exe archive will be downloaded to your system. Open the file and the extractor starts. By default, it will store the files in a subfolder of your AppData (a hidden folder). Change the path to an easier-to-locate folder, such as the folder you saved the archive to.

What's Inside?

After you extract the contents of the archive, you will find three files:

• A script file called RCRefreshSP1betaprogramsRK.cmd Use this script to start the Windows update process
• Two versions of the SP1RCRefresh_WUReleaseMessage, one in MS Word .doc format, the other in .xps format (viewable in IE7).

Follow the instructions in this document to get the SP1 RC Refresh on your system. You will need to uninstall Vista SP1 RC before you can install the Refresh version. So, even if you skipped the original Vista SP1 RC, you can try this one.

Enjoy!

[edited title on 1-12-08]

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