There’s been some confusion about what is included in Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. For example, I saw somewhere that Hyper-V is supposedly added to Windows Vista in this release. It is not.
Here’s what’s new:
Windows Vista
- Inclusion of Windows Search 4.0 for improved indexing performance, broader indexing scenario inclusion, as well as new Group Policy integration for Windows Search
- Integration of the Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless which contains Bluetooth v2.1 support, the most recent specification for Bluetooth wireless technology
- Some graphics enhancement to reduce glitches when streaming high def content with specific hardware configurations
- Setup & Deployment improvements to detect incompatible drivers blocking service pack installations
- Provides a Service Pack Cleanup tool which helps restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting previous versions of files updated by SP2
Windows Server 2008
- Inclusion of Microsoft’s Hyper-V technology for Server
- Backwards compatibility with Terminal Services licensing keys
- Better manageability features with DFS/FRS console, and Storage Resource Manager (i.e.: Quota Filter and File Screening Filter)
- Improved error reporting in DFSR to help identify incorrectly configured deployments which lead to failed replication
- Updated power policy driving significant Power Management improvements
Just to be clear, the final version of Hyper-V is added to Windows Server 2008 as part of SP2; the original shipping version of Server 08 (“SP1”) included a pre-release version of Hyper-V.
In short, don’t believe everything you read.