Microsoft knows that Vista’s kernel wasn’t the best when it was released.  The company is doing what any large company with an almost unlimited budget would do, cover up and replace but not really talk about it.  The original kernel included with Vista will be scrapped when Vista SP1 ships.

There has been a lot of talk about the minWin kernel that will be part of Windows 7 which could use as little as 500MB of memory when used with a fully bootable version of Windows 7.

This is probably not that kernel or any variation thereof.  The Vista SP1 kernel is probably just an upgraded, slimmer and faster version of the original kernel.  Whatever the case, this is as much of an admission we’ll get from Microsoft that Vista wasn’t all it could have been from the start.

APCMag reports there are a few ways to tell if you have the new kernel installed.  However, I think it’s a little more complicated that identifying the build number.  All versions of Vista SP1 from the betas to the final version are Windows version 6.0 build 6001.

Build 6001 seems to include the new kernel but that may only be included with the final version and not the beta.

Microsoft just wants to talk about the improvements and bug fixes that will be a part of Vista.  It would just be easier for the company to say “The old Vista is crap, we’ve basically scrapped the whole thing and are replacing its core with SP1.”  That would do as much as anything to increase sales.

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Related:

Microsoft’s Vista PatchGuard updates not connected to kernel hacks

Microsoft tightens Vista kernel defenses, updates PatchGuard

Preview builds of Windows 7 built on Vista

Microsoft blocks Vista kernel hacking tool

Free utility tool circumvents Vista kernel defenses

Entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 8:31 am under Microsoft, Upgrading, Vista.  Print This Post

Read more entries by Jonathan Schlaffer.