Windows Server 2008 Service pack 2 has reached rtm!

On Wednesday April 29^th, the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) was achieved! Windows Server 2008 has seen great success and SP2 will make it that much better! SP2 includes all updates delivered since the release of Windows Server 2008, as well as support for new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards.

IT Professionals will see numerous benefits from SP2, the key benefits are below:

o SP2 provides the Hyper-V virtualization environment as a fully integrated feature of Windows Server 2008, including one virtual instance Windows Server 2008 Standard, four free instances with Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and an unlimited number of free instances with Windows Server 2008 Datacenter.

o SP2 improves backwards compatibility for Terminal server license keys

o SP2 includes additional power profile improvements over Windows Server 2008 RTM

Last, but certainly not least, there is a single service pack that applies to both Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista for x86 and x64 versions. Now IT Professionals only have to deploy, manage, and support one package for both client and server!

We understand that some customers may not be ready to deploy SP2 when it becomes available for download, which is why we have the Service Pack Blocker Tool available for you. The Service Pack Blocker Tool allows you to block the installation of SP2 on all or some of the machines in your infrastructure for up to 12 months after general availability of SP2. The download package includes tools for using group policy, remote script execution, or a signed executable to accomplish this. All the pertinent information can be found on the Blocker Tool link above.

Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP2 will be available for download publicly in Q2 2009.

Thanks!

Justin Graham
Windows Server Team