Apr 29, 2011 16:01 GMT  ·  By

At a little over two months since Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 hit general availability, the first application compatibility update for the upgraded operating system is now available for download.

In all fairness, KB 2492386, namely the Redmond company’s April 2011 Application Compatibility Update is not provided only for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, and their RTM Builds, but also for all supported versions of Windows, including: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008.

Following the integration of KB 2492386, customers will be able to enjoy improvements in terms of compatibility for a specific list of applications.

The refresh is being served automatically through Windows Update, but at the same time is available for users that want to install it manually. Check below for the download links.

As far as Windows 7 SP1 is concerned, the software giant detailed the changes that this particular update will introduce:

“Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0 - Updates the application’s functionality. After you apply this update, incorrect custom actions in the NGenRemoveNicPFROs family are disabled when you install the Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0. Therefore, you can successfully install the .Net Framework 4.0, when incorrect custom actions were not cleaned up.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 or Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 - Updates the application’s functionality. After you apply this update, the “Auto run” shim is not included in the module list when you start the Visual Studio 2010 or the Visual Studio 2008 solution file.

Home and Small Business Server (HSBS) SKUs - Puts a hard block on HSBS SKUs in Windows 7 Service Pack 1.”

With a hard block in place, HSBS SKUs will not be able to run on Windows 7 SP1, a measure considered necessary for severe incompatibility scenarios.

KB 2492386 download links:

All supported x86-based versions of Windows XP

All supported x64-based versions of Windows XP

All supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2003

All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003

All supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2003

All supported x86-based versions of Windows Vista

All supported x64-based versions of Windows Vista

All supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008

All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008

All supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2008

All supported x86-based versions of Windows 7

All supported x64-based versions of Windows 7

All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2

All supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2