Find Vista SP level from external editor

DaiNasty · 17-01-2012, 13:32

Does anyone know a way to establish the service pack level on an unbootable Vista installation?
I have access to all files on the hard drive and was wondering if there is somewhere I could look to be certain before I try a repair installation.

TIA.

Acathla · 17-01-2012, 13:50

Open the registry hive and look at:

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: system\CurrentControlSet\control\windows\CSDVersio n

Value: 0x100 = SP1
Value: 0x200 = SP2
Value: 0x300 = SP3
Value: 0x400 = SP4
Value: 0x500 = SP5
Value: 0x600 = SP6

---------- Post added at 13:50 ---------- Previous post was at 13:46 ----------

The file you want to open is Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM.

Open Regedit on your machine
Click on File | Load Hive
Select Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM on your Vista drive
Give it a name
Browse to system\CurrentControlSet\control\windows\
When finished, click on your key and File | Unload Hive

DaiNasty · 17-01-2012, 16:03

Many thanks, that worked a treat. The only difficulty I found was a permissions issue that refused me access initially. By copying the hive file from the disk image onto my desktop I was able to open it and now have confirmed it is SP1.