Notable Changes In Windows 7 And Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1

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Notable Changes in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1

I to ut n
nrd cio

Microsoft® continuously collects feedback on Windows® 7 and Windows Server® 2008
R2 operating systems from its customers and partners. This feedback results in
enhancements that help improve compatibility, reliability, performance, and user
experience. These enhancements are typically made available in the form of regular
updates delivered via Windows Update and, in some cases, the Microsoft Download
Center. All updates are then rolled-up, along with additional enhancements, into a single
package called a Service Pack. By integrating these updates into a thoroughly tested
single service pack, Microsoft aims to provide a single high-quality update that will
minimize both deployment and testing complexity for customers.

Service Packs help ensure that your systems are up-to-date. Updates to the Windows
operating system, including updates released with bulletins from the Microsoft Security
Response Center, are only built for currently-supported service packs. Installing the latest
service pack ensures customers have the maximum support lifecycle for their investment.

Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 includes previously released
updates and will deliver a number of powerful new features for Windows Server 2008 R2
for virtualization and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). New techniques in memory
management with the addition of Dynamic Memory functionality, as well as the ability to
deliver full-fidelity graphic experiences in remote and virtualized environments with
Microsoft RemoteFX™, enable organizations to realize the greatest possible potential
from their infrastructure. The resulting increase in efficiency and functionality allows for
accelerated server consolidation, a more powerful virtualized desktop infrastructure, and
an increased return on technology investments.

The impact of SP1 on the Windows 7 client operating system is considered to be minimal.
Included changes address minor usability issues in specific scenarios, as outlined in this
document.

This document describes some of the notable changes in Service Pack 1 for Windows 7
and Windows Server 2008 R2. Note that many of the updates listed are already publically
available and have been released via the Microsoft Download Center or Windows Update.
This is also not a complete list.


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The following conditions are prerequisites for the installation of SP1:

• Your current operating system must be the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version
of Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 (build 7600).

• Users updating through Windows Update/WSUS must install the Servicing Stack
Update (SSU) that handles the installation and removal of software updates,
language packs, and optional Windows features. This update is necessary to
successfully install or uninstall the service pack; it also improves the performance
and reliability of the service pack installation. This update is part of the standalone
update package and will be offered as a separate package on Windows Update.


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In order to make the improvements detailed in this document, various individual files and
components have been updated. Also, the language-neutral design of Windows
necessitates that the service pack be able to update any possible combination of the
basic languages supported by Windows 7 with a single installer, so language files for the
36 basic languages are included in the standalone installer.

For System Administrators, there is a standalone installation package available. However,
most home and small business users will receive SP1 through Windows Update. Windows
Update utilizes an efficient transfer mechanism to download only the bytes that are
needed, resulting in a download that ranges in size from 44 megabytes (MB) to 96 MB
depending on the system architecture.

Delivery Recommended Usage Download size Download size Download size
Method (x86) (x64) (ia64)

Standalone • Computers without About 537 MB About 903 MB About 511 MB
Package internet access
• System Administrators

Windows • Most home users About 44 MB • About 74 n/a
Update • Many business customers (Windows 7) MB
(Windows 7)
• About 96
MB
(Windows
Server 2008
R2)

Integrated • New PCs n/a n/a n/a
DVD • Fresh Windows
installations
• Vista upgrades

Table 1 Delivery mechanisms for SP1


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Dynamic Memory
Constraints on the allocation of physical memory represents one of the greatest
challenges organizations face as they adopt new virtualization technology and
consolidate their infrastructure. With Dynamic Memory, an enhancement to Hyper-V™
introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, organizations can now make the most
efficient use of available physical memory, allowing them to realize the greatest possible
potential from their virtualization resources. Dynamic Memory allows for memory on a
host machine to be pooled and dynamically distributed to virtual machines as necessary.
Memory is dynamically added or removed based on current workloads, and is done so
without service interruption.

Virtual machines running a wide variety of operating systems can use Dynamic Memory;
for a complete list, see the “Dynamic Memory Evaluation Guide” at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=192444. The guide also discusses Dynamic
Memory settings and usage in detail.

Microsoft RemoteFX
Businesses are increasingly looking to leverage the efficiency and cost savings that can
come from a virtualized desktop infrastructure. With the addition of Microsoft RemoteFX
in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, a new set of remote user experience capabilities that
enable a media-rich user environment for virtual desktops, session-based desktops and
remote applications is introduced. Harnessing the power of virtualized graphics resources,
RemoteFX can be deployed to a range of thick and thin client devices, enabling cost-
effective, local-like access to graphics-intensive applications and a broad array of end
user peripherals, improving productivity of remote users.

RemoteFX can function independently from specific graphics stacks and supports any
screen content, including today’s most advanced applications and rich content (including
Silverlight and Adobe Flash), ensuring that end users maintain a rich, local-like desktop
experience even in a virtualized thin-client environment.

RemoteFX also adds mainstream USB device support to virtual desktop computing,
including support for USB drives, cameras and PDAs connected to the client device.
RemoteFX also provides a platform for hardware and software partners to enhance
RemoteFX capabilities in a variety of possible host, client and network configurations.

To use RemoteFX, the virtualization server must be running Windows Server 2008 R2 with
SP1, the virtual machine must be running Windows 7 Enterprise with SP1 or Windows 7
Ultimate with SP1, and the remote client computer must be running either Windows
Server 2008 R2 with SP1 or Windows 7 with SP1. To connect to the virtual machine, the


remote client computer requires an updated version of Remote Desktop Services
(included in the service pack for all editions of Windows 7).

Enhancements to scalability and high availability when using DirectAccess
DirectAccess is a new feature in the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating
systems that gives users the experience of being seamlessly connected to their corporate
network any time they have Internet access. In Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1,
improvements have been made to enhance scalability and high availability when using
DirectAccess, through the addition of support for 6to4 and ISATAP addresses when using
DirectAccess in conjunction with Network Load Balancing (NLB).

Support for Managed Service Accounts (MSAs) in secure branch office scenarios
SP1 enables enhanced support for managed service accounts (MSAs) to be used on
domain-member services located in perimeter networks (also known as DMZs or
extranets).

Support for increased volume of authentication traffic on domain controllers
connected to high-latency networks
As a greater volume of IT infrastructure migrates to cloud-based services, there is a need
for higher thresholds of authentication traffic to domain controllers located on high-
latency networks (such as the public Internet). SP1 allows for more granular control of the
maximum number of possible concurrent connections to a domain controller, enabling a
greater degree of performance tuning for service providers.

Enhancements to Failover Clustering with Storage
SP1 enables enhanced support for how Failover Clustering works with storage that is not
visible for all cluster nodes. In SP1, improvements have been made to the Cluster
Validation and multiple Failover Cluster Manager wizards to allow workloads to use disks
that are shared between a subset of cluster nodes.

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Additional support for communication with third-party federation services
Additional support has been added to allow Windows 7 clients to effectively
communicate with third-party identity federation services (those supporting the WS-
Federation passive profile protocol). This change enhances platform interoperability, and
improves the ability to communicate identity and authentication information between
organizations.

Improved HDMI audio device performance
A small percentage of users have reported issues in which the connection between
computers running Windows 7 and HDMI audio devices can be lost after system reboots.


Updates have been incorporated into SP1 to ensure that connections between Windows
7 computers and HDMI audio devices are consistently maintained.

Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents
Prior to the release of SP1, some customers have reported difficulty when printing mixed-
orientation XPS documents (documents containing pages in both portrait and landscape
orientation) using the XPS Viewer, resulting in all pages being printed entirely in either
portrait or landscape mode. This issue has been addressed in SP1, allowing users to
correctly print mixed-orientation documents using the XPS Viewer.

Ch n eco m n o t c i nan s r e l t o m
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Change to behavior of “Restore previous folders at logon” functionality
SP1 changes the behavior of the “Restore previous folders at logon” function available in
the Folder Options Explorer dialog. Prior to SP1, previous folders would be restored in a
cascaded position based on the location of the most recently active folder. That behavior
changes in SP1 so that all folders are restored to their previous positions.

Enhanced support for additional identities in RRAS and IPsec
Support for additional identification types has been added to the Identification field in
the IKEv2 authentication protocol. This allows for a variety of additional forms of
identification (such as E-mail ID or Certificate Subject) to be used when performing
authentication using the IKEv2 protocol.

Support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)
There has always been a growing need for ever more computing power and as usage
models change, processors instruction set architectures evolve to support these growing
demands. Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) is a 256 bit instruction set extension for
processors. AVX is designed to allow for improved performance for applications that are
floating point intensive. Support for AVX is a part of SP1 to allow applications to fully
utilize the new instruction set and register extensions.

Improved Support for Advanced Format (512e) Storage Devices
SP1 introduces a number of key enhancements to improve support of recently introduced
storage devices with a 4KB physical sector size (commonly referred to as "Advanced
Format"). These enhancements include functionality fixes, improved performance, and
updated storage drivers which provide applications the ability to retrieve information as
to the physical sector size of storage device. More information on these enhancements is
detailed in Microsoft KB 982018.


Con l s n
cui o

Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 represents Microsoft’s
continuing commitment to quality. While many of the updates contained in SP1 are
available as individual downloads, the integration of these updates in SP1 enhances the
ease of deployment for IT administrators. This functionality, coupled with advanced new
virtualization features such as Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX, demonstrates how SP1
provides the ongoing improvements customers and organizations alike have grown to
expect from Microsoft.

Notable Changes In Windows 7 And Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1

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