How to Integrate and Slipstream SP1 Into Windows Vista RTM
Microsoft has officially released Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows Vista. Users who wish to have a Windows Vista installation or setup DVD media pre-integrated with SP1 so that users can skip the step to install SP1 manually on future new or re-installation of Vista system, can have the SP1 files slipstreamed into existing RTM version of Vista so that the Vista setup disc image or media contains Windows Vista with Service Pack 1. To slipstream Vista SP1 into Vista RTM retail edition, follow the instruction of the step-by-step guide below.
This guide is an update to the slipstream guide used on initial release of SP1 beta. Microsoft still does not officially support direct slipstreaming of SP1 into a Vista RTM image, due to a “servicing layer” in the Windows Vista and Windows Sever 2008 that allows for easy update installatino with minimal disruptions, but in itself cannot be updated easily, as explain in a TechNet blog. Thus the solution to slipstream SP1 into Vista RTM media is by using “reverse integration” trick where users install the Vista image to a machine, install the Service Pack and then re-capture the image as in the guide below.
- Prepare another hard disk or a drive partition (Guide: Change size of existing partition in Vista).
- Install Windows Vista RTM to the secondary partition or drive (not the main boot or system partition). The primary reason for installing a new copy of Vista in another partition or drive is to ensure that no boot associated files of that computer related to BCD and boot.ini being part of the final Vista DVD image with SP1 integrated.
- After installation finished, Windows Vista will boot into Out of the Box Experience (OOBE), where users will come to the part after setup that requires users to set up his or her user name, password, general settings and etc. Once in the OOBE phase, type Ctrl-Shift-F3 to enter Audit mode.
- The system will reboot into Audit mode, and a SysPrep window will pop up and show. Do not close the SysPrep window.
- Run the Vista SP1 setup installer (e.g. Windows6.0-KB936330-X86-wave0.exe, Windows6.0-KB936330-X64-wave0.exe or Windows6.0-KB936330-X86(x64)-wave0.exe), and let the service pack installation completes.
- Optionally, users can run a new tool comes with SP1 called Vsp1cln.exe to remove older versions of components that have been upgraded to new versions in SP1 to save disk space. To remove these older RTM files, simply run Vsp1cln.exe via Winkey+R (Run command) or via the command prompt after SP1 is installed.
- After the completion of SP1 service pack, the users will come back at the main Vista desktop with the SysPrep window open. At the SysPrep selection dialog, select OOBE, Generalize, and then Shut Down the system.
- Boot the system into a WinPE disk or another OS install (i.e. Windows XP). Do NOT boot back into Vista.
- Run the following imagex command (imagex can be download here or found in WAIK). Note that GimageX (a gui front-end for imagex) is not supported.
imagex /compress maximum /flags "Ultimate" /capture d: c:\install.wim "Windows Vista Ultimate"where d: is the drive Vista is installed on and c:\install.wim is the location to store the new install.wim. Replace “Ultimate” after the /flags switch with whatever edition of Vista installed (supported flags are HomeBasic, HomePremium, Starter, Ultimate, Enterprise, ServerDatacenter, ServerEnterprise and ServerStandardand, all no space between words) to slipstream SP1, and also the drive letter of where Vista is installed and location to save the generated install.wim.
- Once the image has been built, replace the old install.wim in the Vista RTM ISO in \Sources\ with the newly created install.wim using a registered version of UltraISO (Version 8.0 or higher). Save the ISO and you’re done.
You can also rebuild the ISO using vLite by extracting the contents of the Vista RTM ISO to a temporary directory, replacing the install.wim and using vLite’s Vista Burning/ISO creation features. One can also use vLite to remove unwanted features in Vista SP1.
Note that the whole process above is to slipstream SP1 into a single edition of Vista. To integrate SP1 into all the editions of Vista, repeat steps above for each edition and use the imagex /append function to build an install.wim that contains all the editions of Vista, and then replace the original install.wim with install.wim with all editions or editions required in the RTM ISO image as per last 2 steps.
Share and contribute or get technical support and help at My Digital Life Forums.
Related Articles
- SlipStream Windows Vista SP1 into DVD ISO Image by Reverse Integration
- How to Check If A Windows Vista SP1 DVD Media Image Is Official True Microsoft Integrated or User Self-Slipstreamed
- Download Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1) Integrated (Slipstream) x86 English DVD Image (Official MSDN Version) with Torrent
- Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Official Information
- 32-bit and 64-bit Standalone Vista SP1 RC Free Download via HTTP (Supports All 36 MUI Languages)
- 64-bit Windows Vista with SP1 x64 Edition MSDN DVD ISO Download via Torrent
- SHA1 Hash for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 Downloads from MSDN
- Get Free Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 Product Key and DVD Media with Desktop Deployment & Evaluation Kit
- Vista SP1 RC Refresh 2 6001.18000.080118-1840 Standalone Offline Install Package BT Download
- Windows Vista DVD Retail and OEM Price

































February 15th, 2008 23:18
[...] An updated version of this Vista SP1 slipstream guide is located here. However, a method of repacking an install.wim to make a Vista SP1 integrated media image is [...]
February 17th, 2008 09:32
Please make the guide using WAIK.
March 20th, 2008 02:37
[...] After a little reading I’ve determined that Microsoft is retarded. There’s a long method detailed here… __________________ [OCN+a]RonindeBeatrice : Overclock.net CS:S GunGame admin (list here). [...]
March 25th, 2008 07:08
SP1 slipstream tool for Vista
http://rapidshare.com/files/102097902/VUISetupBeta3.rar.html
March 28th, 2008 13:01
Here is the tool called “Vista Update Integrator” beta 3. I tested it with x86 32 bit all five major verson to integrate Service Pack 1. Takes some time but integrate flawlessly. It made with dot net framework. I do not have 64 bit system. Please somebody test it on 64 bit system.
Interface is like “vLite”
Download Here included dot Net 3.5 (requred)
http://snipurl.com/sivaji-2580
Enjoy. Post comment about this.
April 11th, 2008 21:49
[...] used to manipulate and manage Windows setup installation disc image file content, such as to slipstream Windows Vista SP1 service pack into RTM version of Windows Vista image. ImageX comes free with Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK or WAIK). The WAIK version [...]
May 1st, 2008 13:09
[...] do it all the same, if you don’t have access to an SP1 integrated image from MSDN downloads: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/02/15/how-to-integrate-and-slipstream-sp1-into-windows-vista-rtm/ If you don’t have an available partition to do the install, don’t worry: you can use a [...]
May 28th, 2008 15:33
[...] but what if you want to do the same thing for Windows Vista using the recently released SP1? If so, this article walks you through the [...]
August 16th, 2008 02:54
[...] No "Windows" sound in Vista Business 32 SP1 Slipstream Windows Vista with SP1 & Create a Bootable Vista SP1 DVD alternative instructions, mostly the same though… vLite: Tool For Slipstreaming Windows Vista [...]