Vista SP2, Nowhere to Hide Come August 24th, 2010

As with previous service pack releases, Microsoft offered customers running Windows Vista SP1 the option to block automatic upgrades to Service Pack 2 served through Windows Update. The Redmond company made available a new version of the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool, ahead of starting to deliver Vista SP2 through Windows Update and Automatic Updates. The Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool was designed to patch Vista SP1 in order to block the automatic delivery and integration of SP2. Microsoft said from the get go that the blocker would be good just for a single year, and the time is almost up.

“For those of you who use the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool, we want to let you know that the Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 blockers will expire on August 24th 2010. After the expiration date, Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 will be offered through Windows Update on computers that had previously installed the block,” revealed Stephen L Rose, Sr. Community Manager - Windows IT Pro Client.

Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 were released to manufacturing in April 2009, and made available for download in May of last year. Subsequently, the software giant started spreading SP2 through WU and AU, so that all customers running Vista SP1 would be upgraded to SP2. Service Pack 1 is a prerequisite to SP2. At the same time, the company offered the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool to Vista SP1 users that still wanted all the benefits of having AU enabled, but weren’t ready to make the jump to SP2.

“What is the blocker tool? The Service Pack Blocker Tool is provided for corporate customers and IT administrators. It is used to temporarily prevent a Service Pack from being offered through Windows Update. A Service Pack block typically expires one year after a service pack was released on WU. It is useful when client updating can’t be easily managed through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and the IT administrator needs control over which Service Packs are offered through WU,” Rose explained. Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit is available for download here.