The debut of 2008 was synonymous with the availability of a new testing milestone of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, on January 9th, 2008. At that time, the Redmond company had gone private with the testing process of the first service pack for Vista. Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC) Refresh - Build 17128 is the evolution from the public RC Vista Build 6001: Service Pack 1, v.668. Initially, the Vista SP1 RC Refresh was up for grabs exclusively via Microsoft Connect, with the company offering no indication that it planned to reopen the beta testing process to all Vista users.

Following the release of the private Vista SP1 RC Refresh is 6001.17128.080101-1935 v.774, the Vista registry script dropped through Connect was leaked to the public. The redirection script is designed to modify the Vista registry in order to permit access to the latest build of Vista SP1 RC. But the hack is no longer necessary, as Microsoft has made the Vista SP1 RC Refresh available for download to the general public. Via the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh Public Availability Program, users of the operating system will be able to get their hands on the service pack through Windows Update.

"You must uninstall any previous versions of Windows Vista SP1 before installing Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh. [Just] open the Programs and Features control panel and select View installed updates. In the Microsoft Windows section, right-click Service Pack for Windows (936330) and select Uninstall.
Your system will now uninstall the previous version of Windows Vista SP1 Beta and may reboot multiple times. Please wait one hour after uninstalling a previous version of Windows Vista SP1 before installing Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh. The installer service needs to clean up and complete the uninstall prior to installing the RC. Failing to do this can result in installation errors when installing the RC version", Microsoft advised.

The Windows Update Experience for RC Refresh Public Availability.exe weighs in at 356 KB and will take your operating system through the now traditional steps associated with the deployment of the service pack. All Vista RTM users will have to deploy the KB938371 and KB937287 updates, with those running the Enterprise or Ultimate SKUs also having to install KB935509. Back in December, Microsoft also served Vista SP1 RC1 as a standalone package available through the Download Center. This is no longer valid, and if you want the latest refresh of Vista SP1 Release Candidate build 17128 you will have to go through Windows Update.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate (RC) Refresh is available for download here.