News

Vista SP1's 'Endless Reboot' Problem Fixed

Microsoft reported today that it has fixed a problem that caused some users upgrading to Vista Service Pack 1 to enter "an endless reboot cycle."

• By Kurt Mackie
• April 7, 2008

The glitch was associated with installation of a prerequisite called Servicing Stack Update (SSU), or KB937287. Microsoft had stopped releasing the SSU pending an investigation. However, starting Tuesday, Microsoft plans to release the SSU again through automatic distribution. In addition, Microsoft plans to issue a "pre-SSU update" to prevent the rebooting problem associated with the SSU.

The SSU actually "contains the Service Pack 1 installation program," according to a post on the Microsoft Update Product Team blog The problem stemmed from "a few unknown and rare events during the middle of the installation of the update that could cause the update to think it needed a reboot to complete the installation," the post explained.

The pre-SSU update is intended for those "who have not already installed the SSU," according to the blog.

Microsoft emphasized that those who have already installed the update do not need to remove it and install these latest updates. In addition, those users who have Windows Update set to automatically install updates will not have to take further action.

Those using the Vista SP1 standalone download will not be affected by these problems, the company said.

Vista SP1 availability was formally announced on March 18. Microsoft plans to distribute Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) via automatic updates approximately in the middle of this month, according to Chris Flores of the Windows Vista blog The distribution, in five different languages, is slowly being offered to users provided that their system is ready for the update, according to Flores.