On March 3, Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 went live on the Microsoft Download Center. A day later, Microsoft was confirming officially that the second service pack for Vista and Windows Server 2008 had indeed been made available to the public, after the bits were initially released to MSDN and TechNet subscribers the past week. SP2 for Vista is packaged both as an .EXE file, and as a standalone DVD ISO, but can additionally be accessed through Windows Update. Users who want to test the WU download and deployment process for SP2 will be able to do so with the Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Release Candidate and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Release Candidate - Windows Update Experience Kit.

“This kit contains 1) A Word document that has instructions and "things to know" before you install; 2) A command script that will set a registry key on your computer that will enable Windows Update to offer you the Service Pack. This installation option is available to computers that have any of the 36 supported Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista languages. Service Pack 1 is a prerequisite for installing Service Pack 2. Please make sure that your system is running Service Pack 1 before you install Service Pack 2,” Microsoft informed.

The software giant is making headway with the development of the second service pack for Windows Vista. As was the case with SP1, the latest release is designed to upgrade both Vista and Windows Server 2008. Of course, SP1 is included by default into Windows Server 2008.

“You can download the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 RC from our Customer Preview Program site or install through Windows Update using our Windows Update Experience Kit,” revealed Brandon LeBlanc, Windows communications manager on the Windows Client Communications Team. “If you have the SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Beta installed, you will need to uninstall that first before installing the RC.”

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) Release Candidate (RC) and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) Release Candidate (RC) are available for download here.