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Slipstream Vista SP1

So, you want to slipstream Vista Service Pack 1 into your pre-SP1 DVD to have a smooth, integrated installation disc, right?

Forget it.
Fact 1:

The Vista Service Pack 1 executable does not support service pack integration.
Fact 2:

Microsoft had planned to release Vista with a very simple integration feature, which almost everyone on the planet calls Slipstreaming, except Microsoft, who have chosen to call it Offline Updating; an integration feature so simple that all that was essentially required was to copy the update files into a directory and burn your DVD. However very late in the development cycle, Microsoft identified a series of structural dependencies (multiple editions of the OS on a single DVD) that could not be easily resolved, and a number of driver issues were also discovered in the final stages of preparing SP1 for market, which may explain the long delay between SP1 being ready and available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers well before Microsoft's manufacturing arm released it.

So "Offline Updating" went out the window in SP1, however "Offline Updating" may yet make an appearance in SP2.
Fact 3:

These are the only ways to get an integrated Vista Service Pack 1 DVD:
  • Purchase a new upgrade or retail DVD
    • And hope that your dealer isn't clearing out old pre-SP1 discs
  • Become a Microsoft corporate customer
    • Microsoft's corporate clients who use Volume License Keys will receive SP1-integrated DVDs
  • Purchase a TechNet or MSDN subscription and download the integrated .ISO
  • Purchase a new machine with Vista SP1 pre-installed
  • Download the file from a torrent
    • And hope you don't get stung by malware, viruses or an edition that won't accept your product key
So there you have it, and that's the truth.
There is a "reverse integrate" method getting around on the Web that requires you to extract each edition of Vista from the Vista installation DVD to your hard disk and to partially install each edition of Vista on a different disk or partition to the one you booted from. A partial install means you must halt the installation process at a certain point so that you can perform the service pack update for each edition that you want to "reverse integrate". For each "reverse integrated" edition, you must then reboot into a different OS installation environment, such as XP, in order to build your new installation image on disk, and you must repeat that whole process for each edition you want to bring up to SP1 level before re-burning your DVD.

The process is very complex, very involved, very laborious, very time consuming, and prone to user error. You mustn't make a single mistake otherwise you could be looking at starting all over again. Even if the complexity of the process is discounted, because you are doing a partial install of Vista, the working installation that you normally boot from will certainly be affected because the partial installation will write its boot configuration data to your system disk.

Unless you have a corporate environment that has access to a gaggle of software engineers who are skilled in Sysprep image creation and distribution, kadaitcha.cx strongly recommends that you stay away from the method.