If your itching to get your hands on the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 you could try the following fool-proof method that downloads the new service pack right from the Microsoft Windows Updates server. Currently, only a beta version for Windows Vista is available but that is probably better than nothing at this time.
Apparently, all you need to do is to install a small registry fix which will then display the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta as an available update at Windows Updates. The Service Pack 1 adds a watermark to your screen saying ‘Evaluation copy, Build 6001′ which can be removed with another script as well.
You should be aware that this is a beta version of the Service Pack for Windows Vista which means that it could harm your computer or files. I know that some of you guys still want to give it a go and I can fully understand that. Everyone else who is probably working with a Vista computer right now should probably better wait until the Service Pack is officially released by Microsoft.
Downloading Windows Vista Service Pack 1 from Windows Updates:
Removing the Evaluation Copy message:
Several websites claim that this is the legal way to download Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta. I’m not a lawyer and can only use my judgment here but I really can’t see a huge difference between downloading the Service Pack from Torrent sites or the Microsoft website. Both are not really authorized downloads somehow.