Windows Vista SP2 (Service Pack 2) has just been released in a private pre-beta to selected testers. As usual, there are those in public who can’t wait to be guinea pig to try out the new updates or software. If you’re one of those who can’t wait to download and install Windows Vista SP2 pre-beta version, the registry hack to enable and turn your PC into a valid target for SP2 distribution and installation has been leaked.

The pre-beta release of Windows Vista SP2 has the build version number of 6002.16489 (lh_sp2beta.080924-1740). The following batch command script will add the necessary registry keys and values into the system registry to allow Windows Update or Microsoft Update to automatically detect and verify the availability of the service pack to the machine.

Download 6002.16489.rar and extract to run the 6002.16489.bat file.

For user who can’t download the file above, just copy and paste the following code to any text editor (such as Notepad), and then save as any filename with .cmd or .bat extension.

@echo off

reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSp2 /f > NUL 2>&1
reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSP2 /f > NUL 2>&1

reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSp2 /v Beta1 /t REG_SZ /d C21A5C64-2530-CC19-042F-9ABDB4ED27F9 /f
IF NOT %errorlevel% == 0 ( goto ERROR)

:SUCCESS
@echo.
echo ================================================== =========
echo Windows Vista SP2 registry key has been set successfully.
echo Please check for updates in Windows Update.
echo ================================================== =========
@echo.
goto END

:ERROR
@echo.
echo ================================================== =========
echo FAILED to set Windows Vista SP2 registry keys.
echo Please run this script by right clicking and selecting
echo "Run as Administrator".
echo ================================================== =========
@echo.
goto END

:END
pause

Note: User may require to run the batch script as administrator.

By applying the registry hack, user will download and install a non-stable version of pre-beta version of upcoming Windows Vista SP2, which is not intended for non-technical person. The Vista SP2 currently may be unstable, and cause more harm to the system rather than solving any problem.

For users who persistently unable or cannot see Vista SP2 been offered in WU, here’s a fix to make SP2 appears in Windows Update.

Update: Windows Vista and Server 2008 SP2 v.113 (6002.16497) has been released.