[WinPartners] Getting ready for Windows 7 Service Pack1 - RECOMMENDATION TO WAIT

[Alexander Kozlov]

Good Afternoon,

Microsoft has announced the release of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1). As of February 22, 2010, SP1 is available for download from Microsoft. At some still-not-specified date, Microsoft will deliver SP1 as an update via the Windows Update service for machines running 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7.

IS&T Recommendation
IS&T strongly recommends that Windows users WAIT to install SP1 until it becomes available as an approved update via the MIT Windows Automatic Update Service (WAUS) at http://ist.mit.edu/services/os/windows/updates. If you are not using WAUS, IS&T strongly recommends subscribing to it to prevent your machine from getting SP1 before support becomes available.

IS&T also recommends that IT staff in departments, laboratories, and centers (DLCs) test SP1 in their own environments to ensure it is compatible with their DLC's supported applications and services. IS&T will work with DLCs to help find a solution if there are problems.

If you determine that your environment is not ready for SP1 deployment, you should subscribe to MIT WAUS, or install the SP1 Blocker Toolkit at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=d7c9a07a-5267-4bd6-87d0-e2a72099edb7&displaylang=en. This will prevent the installation of SP1 by Microsoft's Windows Update service. Please note that the SP1 Blocker Toolkit works only with the Microsoft Update site and not with the MIT WAUS site.

If a problem develops after SP1 is installed, you have the option to uninstall SP1 and roll back to original version of Windows 7. To do this, go to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/uninstall-sp1.

Please let the Windows 7 SP1 Release Team know if you discover any issues with SP1 and the applications and services you use for MIT business and learning.

For help or to share your findings with the team, send mail to windows7-release at mit.edu<mailto:windows7-release at mit.edu>.


_____________

Alexander Kozlov
Windows Platform Coordinator
Software Release Team
Information Services and Technology
W92 - 140B
(617) 253-5103