This morning, Steve Ballmer announced the beta release of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1). We are very pleased to tell you that SP1 is now available on Microsoft Beta Place.

To participate in the beta program, you need to:

1. Go to http://beta.microsoft.com. 
   (Note: You need a Passport account to sign in.  If you don’t have one, BetaPlace will help you create one.)
2. Once logged into Beta Place with a Passport account, provide vssp1BetaTester as the guest account. This will take you to the nomination page for the SP1 beta.
   Note: The Guest ID is both case and space sensitive and must be entered exactly as shown.  The most common reasons for a “Guest ID is locked out” or “invalid Guest ID” error message is because you either incorrectly entered the Guest ID or you entered a space before or after entering the Guest ID in the Guest ID field. 
3. Follow the directions on this page to nominate yourself. You will receive an e-mail notice when you've been accepted into the program. About 24-48 hours after you receive this e-mail, you will be able to log in to Beta Place and download the SP1 beta, read the documentation, etc.

SP1 provides support for 64-bit host operating systems including 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP, performance enhancements, built-in support for network installations of guest operating systems, and several other features.  We look forward to the participation of a large group of beta testers as we complete the development of this product.