Microsoft is kick-starting the process of serving Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to all users of its latest iteration of the Windows client. Although, officially, the deadline for the delivery of the RTM version of Vista SP1 remains set by the end of the first quarter of this year, the Redmond company is laying out the ground so that the service pack will find nothing but fertile soil when it ships. In this context, users of the Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs of Windows Vista are the first to get a taste of the pre-requisites for SP1, with the 935509 update designed to improve the reliability of the implementation of the service pack on the editions that feature Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption. But, although the update was addressed exclusively at the Ultimate and Enterprise editions, apparently other SKUs also got it. Microsoft has rectified this issue.

"We had a small number of early customer reports, that in some cases, this update (KB935509) was being offered for installation on all Windows Vista editions vs. just Ultimate and Enterprise. A quick adjustment of the applicability logic was released shortly there-after to refine the edition offering behavior. For systems set to download and install updates automatically, the update will not install even if it has already downloaded, so most people will not be affected by this at all. Customers who installed the initial release of the update on editions other than Ultimate or Enterprise should not be concerned as the update will have no negative impact on their systems - it was designed to install on all versions of Windows Vista, it is just not required on any of the others for SP1", reads a message from a member of the Microsoft Update Product Team.

Despite the fact that indications point to early February 2008 for the availability of Windows Vista SP1, Microsoft has not diverged from the official SP1 timetable and continues to point to the first quarter of this year. 935509 can also be grabbed manually, for both the 32-bit and the 64-bit editions of Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate. The two versions of the update are available for download via the following links: 32-bit Vista and 64-bit Vista.

"The update, KB935509, is a prerequisite to Windows Vista Service Pack 1, which will be coming later this quarter. The update is being released this week, for Windows Vista Ultimate and Enterprise editions, so that the required reboot will be bundled with other updates requiring reboots", the MU member addded.