R2 vs SP2

[seeker]

I'm hoping that someone can clarify something for me. WS2K8 R2 is scheduled to be released at the same time as W7 RTM, and I have both OSs installed. I installed WS2K8 Standard Retail, after installing SP2, which is a beta, it branded the desktop with the ID that it is an evaluation copy. I have been expecting a regular release of SP2 so that ID would be removed, but if I understand R2 stands for a rollup, not a SP.

In a MS email that I received yesterday, it said:

For those evaluating Windows Server 2008 R2 for the first time, check out the Resources page for content on R2’s key new features, including Hyper-V with Live Migration, the new File Classification Infrastructure, the updates to IIS 7.5 and the new “better together” features you can access by combining Windows Server 2008 R2 with Windows 7.

This doubly confused me, not only because of it being labeled R2, instead of SP2, and the mention of combining WS2K8 and W7. I doubt that I would want to combine the two of them, because WS2K8 is more sluggish than W7, and I really only have WS2K8 installed for the sake of curiousity.

The questions then are does R2 equate to SP2, and is there any good reason to combine then, if one really doesn't need server operations?

[nekrosoft13]

Originally Posted by seeker

The questions then are does R2 equate to SP2, and is there any good reason to combine then, if one really doesn't need server operations?

no

Server 2008 SP2 is based of Vista Sp2, both are NT 6.0. And are very closely related. SP2 update is the same for both Server 2008 and Vista.

Server 2008 was first released along side with SP1 for Vista.

Server 2008 R2 (Release 2, aka Second Edition) on the other hand is related to Windows 7, both are NT 6.1. And that is also why I call Windows 7, a Vista Second Edition.

MS didn't change the server 2008 name, because there was no need. They changed name of Client OS because of bad rep that Vista got.

[seeker]

Originally Posted by nekrosoft13

no

Server 2008 SP2 is based of Vista Sp2, both are NT 6.0. And are very closely related. SP2 update is the same for both Server 2008 and Vista.

Server 2008 was first released along side with SP1 for Vista.

Server 2008 R2 (Release 2, aka Second Edition) on the other hand is related to Windows 7, both are NT 6.1. And that is also why I call Windows 7, a Vista Second Edition.

MS didn't change the server 2008 name, because there was no need. They changed name of Client OS because of bad rep that Vista got.

That partially clear the water, but I'm still confused. Is there any point in keeping WS2K8 installed? In other words, would W7 combined with WS2K8 offer everything that having separate OSs installed would?

Secondly, if SP2 is the same for both Vista and WS2K8, why was the one that I got for WS2K8 a beta, when I don't think that the one for Vista was?

[nekrosoft13]

Originally Posted by seeker

Secondly, if SP2 is the same for both Vista and WS2K8, why was the one that I got for WS2K8 a beta, when I don't think that the one for Vista was?

you probably downloaded the wrong file

[seeker]

The SP2 that I have was the right file back when I downloaded it many months ago, but somehow the release of the RTM of it got by me. That's a bit puzzling, because it has never appeared on Windows Updates, as I thought that it would...but I have it downloading now.

Do I need to uninstall SP2 beta before installing this or not?

[nekrosoft13]

if you have beta installed, RTM version of SP2 will not show in Windows updates

and yes you have to uninstall the beta SP2 before installing final SP2

[seeker]

I got the beta uninstalled okay, but I'm having the dickens installing the RTM. First, I tried using the .exe, but it popped an error dialog. Then I burned the .iso, but it wouldn't boot. Thinking that this might be due to the fact that I failed to select a write speed and it burned at full throttle, I tried again at x8, but that didn't work either. Twice more with the same results. Viewing the disk content from a file manager, the first disk had a setup and separate files for different system types...pretty much as expect. Those that followed only contained one monolithic .iso.

The best that I remember, I used the same procedures for all of them, with the exception of write speeds. I suspect that the problem is myself, but I would better understand that, if I had ended up with similar results on all of the disks. Shouldn't Nero automatically handle the manner in which it deals with .isos?

[nekrosoft13]

run the windows update, before final SP2 can be installed you have to install sp2 prerequisite. or do some google searches, the sp2 prerequisite is a KB hotfix about 80-90MB.

[seeker]

That worked! I'm a bit surprised, because I saw a bunch of updates that apparently disappeared after uninstall the beta, but I figured that the RTM would contain them itself...but as usual, I was wrong. I now have SP2 installed, thanks.

The problem now with WS2K8 is that when the beta uninstalled, it apparently broke the player for my TV tuner, because when it starts it pops a series of errors about DShowHelper, and access denied dialogs, and my cable connection isn't available in the player's configuration, even though I just installed the update to the program, that works perfectly on W7. I guess that I will just have to do some more fiddling, but at least I'm ahead of where I was.