SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 is available – this time for sure!
Last week I mentioned in passing that Service Pack 1 is now available, while I was blogging from the PASS Summit keynote. I wanted to put up an official post instead of having it appear as a footnote there (I also updated my April Fools' joke to point to the right place).
Service Pack 1 Details
Service Pack 1 is build # 11.0.3000 and includes 13 fixes to public KB items and 35 other internal (VSTS) items. You can see the list of fixes in KB #2674319.
You can also read about new features included in SP1 (well, first included in SP1 CTP4) on the Analysis Services team blog or in Books Online on MSDN.
You can download Service Pack 1 from the following URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35575
A Caveat for Slipstreamers
The download page currently offers slipstreamed ISOs. However, another knowledge base article claims that, at least at the time of writing, these ISOs do not work. See more info in KB #2783963 – but for now I would suggest just downloading the standard SP1 installer (SQLServer2012SP1-KB2674319-x64-ENU.exe or SQLServer2012SP1-KB2674319-x86-ENU.exe). I haven't tested it, but you should still be able to build your own slipstream installs by combining these standard installers with your existing images, the "old-fashioned way."
Fixes from Cumulative Updates
Due to the length of time that goes into testing a Service Pack, SP1 includes only the updates from Cumulative Update #1 (11.0.2316) and Cumulative Update #2 (11.0.2325). So if you are relying on updates from Cumulative Update #3 (11.0.2332) or Cumulative Update #4 (11.0.2383), you may want to hold off on Service Pack 1 until the first post-SP1 Cumulative Update is available. Typically this is advanced so that you're not waiting an entire Cumulative Update cycle (~8 weeks), so I would expect it well before the end of the year.
Feature Pack
The SQL Server 2012 SP1 Feature Pack downloads are also available:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35580
SQL Server 2012 Express Edition Service Pack 1
If you are looking for Express SP1, general web searches will probably lead you through a bunch of registration brouhaha – here is a direct link:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35579
The most interesting thing about the Express release, to me, is that now the full version of Management Studio is completely free. The Express download page says that it includes Management Studio Express, but I have installed this, and it actually installs Management Studio proper with none of the limitations you are used to. Obviously some of the features that didn't exist before still don't make sense when you're only managing an Express instance (e.g. SQL Server Agent), but now you can use the free version of Management Studio to fully and properly manage all editions. Other tools such as Profiler and the Database Engine Tuning Advisor are now included also.
I am trying to upgrade SQL2012 to 2014 and its giving me an error saying SQL Server 2012 service park 1 is required. I downloaded SQL Server Service Park 1 and reinstalled by the engine couldn't start. Any help please
Ditto, thanks for the direct link.
Thank you for the direct download link!
I had SQL Server 2012 Express installed using the ADV version. I had some problem creating a partially contained database (I could crate but could not log on to). There was a suggestion to upgrade my SSMS from RTM version with SP1. I am not sure there are SP1 for each of database engine, ssms etc. While using the sp1 there were only two options, a new installation or upgrade from a previous version. I had to choose new version. After installation is complete nothing appeared to have changed. The only thing noticed was that version of SSMS had not changed. I had lost connectivity to existing databases on another instance.
I system recovered as it turned out to be a useless exercise.
A quick tip: you may want to apply the latest ReportViewer redistributable on top of any SP1 patched installations. It looks like SP1 does not actually update the ReportViewer controls. So if you are like me and do a lot of ReportViewer dev work on your laptop with SQL 2012 installed, this post should be of interest to you: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/arvindsh/archive/2012/12/11/microsoft-report-viewer-2012-update-a-gotcha-to-be-aware-of.aspx
Hi !!
I have a small issue with the SP1 for SQLServer 2012, whan applying the Service Pack everything works, but when you restart your SQL Server Servie, it will not start, the restart is so that the upgradestep for databases has to be started that way. This is not a fully acceptable behaviour and we found that it most certainly is because the Account used to run SQL Server Service isn´t set up with enough permissions, not in SQL Server, but on the Server, if we add the account to the local Administators group it works. I am interested in how to solve this matter without giving permissions through loca Admin group. Does anyone have any ideas for this????
Solution is not adding the account to Local Admin Group.
Found this helpful as I am doing some patching along with updating to the latest service pack. Also is helping me from a BI perspective on a QA environment. Much appreciated!