Windows Vista

version of the Microsoft Windows operating system
"Windows NT 6.0" redirects here. For the operating system that ran from 2007 to 2013, see Windows NT 6.x.

Windows Vista is the 6th version of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Microsoft. While it was being made, it was called Longhorn. On July 28, 2005, Microsoft gave out its real name, which was Windows Vista. Microsoft stopped supporting Windows Vista on April 11, 2017.

Windows Vista
Part of the Microsoft Windows family
Microsoft Windows Vista wordmark.svg
Developer
Microsoft Corporation
Releases
Initial releaseJanuary 30, 2007; 14 years ago (2007-01-30) [info]
Stable release6.0 (Build 6002: Service Pack 2)[1] (April 28, 2009; 11 years ago (2009-04-28)) [info]
Source modelClosed source / Shared source[2]
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Kernel typeHybrid
Update methodWindows Update, Windows Server Update Services, SCCM
Platform supportIA-32 and x86-64
Preceded byWindows XP
Succeeded byWindows 7
Support status
Mainstream support: Ended on April 10, 2012. Extended support: Ended on April 11, 2017.[3]
Further reading

Microsoft had worked on Vista for more than five years, so it came with many new features, such as improved graphics, new built-in programs, and stronger defenses against computer viruses. However, Vista introduced many changes to the way the operating system worked, which caused some older programs to stop working.

Vista editions and system requirementsEdit

Vista was released in November 2006 for computer makers and January 30, 2007 for home users. The four main editions of Windows Vista are:

  • Home Basic Edition
  • Home Premium Edition
  • Business Edition
  • Ultimate Edition

There are 2 special versions called Starter Edition, and Enterprise Edition. Starter is basically the same as XP Starter, and is for low budget countries. Enterprise Edition is for big companies that need computers that have good performance. Vista needs at least 512 MB of RAM to run on all computers. Some new parts of Vista need 1 GB of RAM to work and for better performance

Windows Vista system requirements[4]
Vista Capable Vista Premium Ready
Processor 800 MHz[5] 1 GHz
Memory 512 MB 1 GB
Graphics card DirectX 9.0 capable DirectX 9.0 capable and WDDM 1.0 driver support
Graphics memory 64 MB 128 MB
HDD capacity 40 GB 80 GB
HDD free space 15 GB
Optical drives DVD-ROM drive[6] (Only to install from DVD-ROM media)

For stability and performance, more than 1 Gigabyte of main memory (RAM) is always helpful with a large operating system such as this.

Service PacksEdit

Microsoft releases service packs to update software and fix problems.

Service Pack 1Edit

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released on February 4, 2008 alongside Windows Server 2008 to OEM partners, after a five-month beta test period. The first use of the service pack caused a number of machines to continually reboot, making them unusable.[7] This caused Microsoft to temporarily stop release of the service pack until the problem was resolved. The same release date of the two operating systems showed the merging of the workstation and server kernels back into a single code base for the first time since Windows 2000. MSDN subscribers were able to download SP1 on February 15, 2008. SP1 became available to current Windows Vista users on Windows Update and the Download Center on March 18, 2008.[8][9][10] Initially, the service pack only supported 5 languages - English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. Support for the remaining 31 languages was released on April 14, 2008.[11]

Service Pack 2Edit

Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista was released to manufacturing on April 28, 2009,[12] Windows Vista SP2 RTM + Windows Vista SP1 Blocker Tool Removed</ref> and released to Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update on May 26, 2009.[13] In addition to security and other fixes, a number of new features were added. However, it did not include Internet Explorer 8.[14][15]

ReferencesEdit

  1. ↑ "Windows Vista with SP2 RTM Slipstreamed/Integrated DVD ISO Image (BT Download)". Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Windows Licensing Programs". Microsoft. June 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
  3. ↑ Microsoft. "Windows Vista Lifecycle Policy". Microsoft. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Windows Vista Enterprise Hardware Planning Guidance". TechNet. Microsoft. 2006. Retrieved October 26, 2006.
  5. ↑ Windows Vista minimum supported system requirements "Windows Vista: Recommended System Requirements". Microsoft. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  6. ↑ Any optical drive that can read DVD-ROM media.
  7. ↑ "No update from Microsoft on Vista SP1, Media Center problems". Zdnet. 2008-02-18. Archived from the original on 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  8. ↑ "Announcing the RTM of Windows Vista SP1". Microsoft. 2008-02-04. Archived from the original on 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  9. ↑ "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper". Microsoft. 2007-08-29. p. 1. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  10. ↑ "Feb. Launch Now Set for Windows Vista SP1". PC World Magazine. 2008-01-31. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  11. ↑ "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 All Language Standalone (KB936330)". Microsoft Download Center.
  12. ↑ "Windows Vista SP2 RTM + Windows Vista SP1 Blocker Tool Removed - Windows Vista Team Blog - The Windows Blog". web.archive.org. 2009-04-30. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  13. ↑ Oiaga, Marius. "Download Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) RTM". softpedia.
  14. ↑ Mike Nash (2008-10-24). "Windows Vista Team Blog : Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta". Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  15. ↑ "Information about Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2". Microsoft. 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2008-10-17.

Other websitesEdit

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Windows Vista
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Preceded by
Windows XP 		Windows Versions
2007-2009 		Succeeded by
Windows 7
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