Windows 7 RC Download

[Ian]

Microsoft have made the Release Candidate of Windows 7 available for download. This is hopefully the final public release in which any remaining bugs can be fixed, but it should be very close to the version we will see in the shops towards the end of the year.

You can download both the 32 and 64 bit versions on this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

You can try it out using VirtualBox if you don't want to perform a full install or dual boot.

Resources :
Windows Team Blog
Windows 7 Homepage
Windows 7 Forums
Wikipedia Entry

 

[Madxgraphics]

Cheers Ian...Just waiting for the 32bit to load up, then download will start....64 bit will follow...Glad it can be run on Virtual box, as I didn't get to play with it when the Beta was released..Was never able to download it...

 

[Ian]

I'm going to try running it as my primary OS - it seems pretty stable, and I'm feeling daring

 

[Abarbarian]

I'm going to give it a whirl later in the month.

What do you recon a good size is for the OS partition ?

I want to run XP, Mandriva and 7 on the same disk. Have Acronis Trus Image and Disk Director. So will I be able to install in that order? I already have XP installed and will have Mandriva installe by tommorow.

 

[Madxgraphics]

I'm going to try running it as my primary OS - it seems pretty stable, and I'm feeling daring

I've been tryingto download since you started this thread, but I just get to a page that says service not available....Gonna keep trying though..There wer probably 10 million people tying to download today...

 

[Anon_F]

I'm going to try running it as my primary OS - it seems pretty stable, and I'm feeling daring

Always one person wanting to be a trail blazer!
Will you still have to pay £££ for the full edition or will you get a discount(

) of some sort?

 

[Ian]

Will you still have to pay £££ for the full edition or will you get a discount(

) of some sort?

Still full price unfortunately!

I've actually back tracked and I'm going to install it dual boot for a couple of weeks first. I don't fancy cleaning up the mess if things go wrong, so I thought it would be best to err on the side of caution after some reflection!

 

[Abarbarian]

Still full price unfortunately!

I've actually back tracked and I'm going to install it dual boot for a couple of weeks first. I don't fancy cleaning up the mess if things go wrong, so I thought it would be best to err on the side of caution after some reflection!

Coward. Where's that great British Bulldog spirit that forged a great Empire gone ?

 

[Ian]

I've done 2 clean installs of Vista in the last month, and I don't fancy making it 3. If there's one bit of advice I should listen to it's "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"... I've learnt that lesson so many times over the years, but sometimes I forget

 

[Abarbarian]

I've done 2 clean installs of Vista in the last month, and I don't fancy making it 3. If there's one bit of advice I should listen to it's "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"... I've learnt that lesson so many times over the years, but sometimes I forget

Lets hope you don't have to do 7 then. Installs that is

 

[floppybootstomp]

I'm up for it

And Windows 7 as well

I'll let it have a hard disk all to itself on machine # 2.

Have three swappable hard disks via caddies on there:

1) regular Win XP Pro SP3.

2) Soon to be Linux Mint, latest DVD version.

3) Soon to be Win 7.

Only question now is 32 or 64 Bit?

Think I may be daring and try 64 Bit.

If I like it and it works well - particularly with regard to games - I may well replace Vista on main machine # 1.

We shall see.

And when the time comes to pay for it hopefully there will be OEM copies available from the usual sources.

 

[guest_9323wk]

I'm up for it

And Windows 7 as well

I'll let it have a hard disk all to itself on machine # 2.

Have three swappable hard disks via caddies on there:

1) regular Win XP Pro SP3.

2) Soon to be Linux Mint, latest DVD version.

3) Soon to be Win 7.

Only question now is 32 or 64 Bit?

Think I may be daring and try 64 Bit.

If I like it and it works well - particularly with regard to games - I may well replace Vista on main machine # 1.

We shall see.

And when the time comes to pay for it hopefully there will be OEM copies available from the usual sources.

Go for 64bit flops the driver support does seem to have got much bettter, and if you have a CPU that is 64bit ready then you might as well get all you can out of it.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Thanks wiz, have just started d/l the 64 bit version, all 3.05Gb of it.

It's actually downloading quite quickly, about five minutes in and at 5%

 

[guest_9323wk]

Thanks wiz, have just started d/l the 64 bit version, all 3.05Gb of it.

It's actually downloading quite quickly, about five minutes in and at 5%

Thats not a bad download speed, considering lots of people are downloading it.

I am gonna download this tommroow and install it as a main os on one my pcs, it will be intresting to see the changes that have been made in the RC.

 

[floppybootstomp]

What do you all make of this then, from the MS site:

Watch the calendar. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use.

Assuming I like Win 7 I was rather hoping to buy an OEM copy as soon as one became available and hopefully just change the code number somehow but it looks as though a fresh install may be called for, which is unfortunate.

I'm also going to assume that Win 7 will auto update constantly from the feedback MS receive from users, meaning that when the time comes for official release MS will have made it as good as they can.

 

[Ian]

You'd need to do a fresh install anyway Flops, as they'll be changing core bits of code by the release. Although you can use the migration wizard to move most of your settings and files - it works really well

 

[Abarbarian]

I'm going to give it a whirl later in the month.

What do you reckon a good size is for the OS partition ?

I want to run XP, Mandriva and 7 on the same disk. Have Acronis Trus Image and Disk Director. So will I be able to install in that order? I already have XP installed and will have Mandriva installed by tomorrow.

Any ideas folks ??

 

[guest_9323wk]

Any ideas folks ??

I would say about 40gb partition would be ok, are you going to be testing games? If so then yo might need a bigger partition.

 

[Abarbarian]

I would say about 40gb partition would be ok, are you going to be testing games? If so then yo might need a bigger partition.

Probably be playing some. Me XP partition is 50 GB.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ok, DVD burnt, will try install tomorrow

Wonders: Why don't MS use MD5 sum checks?