Want an Easy Upgrade to Win 7 RC? Upgrade from Vista, not Win 7 Beta
Want an Easy Upgrade to Win 7 RC? Upgrade from Vista, not Win 7 Beta
Posted 04/07/2009 at 3:14pm
| by Mark Edward Soper
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That's the message that Microsoft announced today on its Engineering Windows 7 blog, Cnet's Ina Fried reports.
While Microsoft says you can upgrade from Win7 Beta to RC when it becomes available, it prefers that you upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 RC. Why? As the E7 blog entry points out:
The RC...is about getting breadth coverage to validate the product in real-world scenarios. As a result, we want to encourage you to revert to a Vista image and upgrade or to do a clean install, rather than upgrade the existing Beta. We know that means reinstalling, recustomizing, reconfiguring, and so on. That is a real pain. The reality is that upgrading from one pre-release build to another is not a scenario we want to focus on because it is not something real-world customers will experience.
This reasoning makes sense from Redmond's standpoint, but since the same blog post acknowledges that millions of users (including, I bet, a lot of Maximumpc.com fans) are using Windows 7 Beta as their "full time" operating system, Microsoft has outlined a way to bypass the usual installer checks. Here's how, direct from the E7 blog entry (which also includes a screen shot for Steps 4 and 5):
- Download the ISO as you did previously and burn the ISO to a DVD.
- Copy the whole image to a storage location you wish to run the upgrade from (a bootable flash drive or a directory on any partition on the machine running the pre-release build).
- Browse to the sources directory.
- Open the file cversion.ini in a text editor like Notepad.
- Modify the MinClient build number to a value lower than the down-level build. For example, change 7100 to 7000.
- Save the file in place with the same name.
- Run setup like you would normally from this modified copy of the image and the version check will be bypassed.
Note that Microsoft warns that "If you do follow the steps below, you might run across some oddities after upgrade," such as needing to reinstall some devices.
When Windows 7 RC is released, what are your plans? Are you going to try the beta to RC upgrade method, or go back to Vista and upgrade it to RC? Hit Comment and share your plans.
More like this
457R4L
April 25, 2009 at 2:46pm
I changed the min client to 6999.0 because I had 7000 when trying to upgrade it would hang on 96% during file installation. It could have just been a bad dvd burn but I just formated and did a full install on a non modified ISO.
horzo
April 08, 2009 at 2:57pm
"Upgrading" is always a mistake. Just bite the bullet and do a clean install.
dedgar
April 08, 2009 at 11:31am
I did a clean install of the Beta when I got it. I will try the Beta to RC 'upgrade' first. If that doesn't seem to be working correctly, I'll do a clean install of the RC.
Morpheous416
April 08, 2009 at 8:20am
Straight clean install.
With all the issues I've ever run into, myself or helping others.. an "upgrade" from one OS to the other has never been a good idea. Ubuntu has had a more seamless upgrade from one version to the next, but it still has it issues.
Even though you might be using the Beta as a full time OS ( I am on our machine ), you shouldn't have installed so much, or kept so much on the machine to risk losing it all. Much less risk losing it all on a perilous trip down Microsoft's deadly "upgrade" alley.
Baer
April 08, 2009 at 8:27am
I am running WIn 7 on my newly built rig (i7 920 OC to 4 Ghz, 6 Gb Corsair Dom GT TR3XGT 7-8-7-20, Asus Rampage II Ex, BFG GTX 285, 2X300 Gb V-Raptors in RAID-0, 1 TB WD RE3, Corsair HX1000W Etc, Etc).This is a test rig for me as I use my QX6700 set up for work and play. I love Win 7 so far. Best OS since DOS 3.0 :-) I plan on starting clean with the Win 7 RC1 when it is available.
P.S. Blasting MS because they are not spending the time and money to make it easy for crybabys to use a new, free (for now) RC1. Stop weining and using language like a 14 YO if you want to be taken seriously.
PS 2, I have been running Vista on one machine since day one, it was really buggy at first but then so was Win 3.0, 3.1, 98 Etc. Since SP1 it has been rock solid. Stop beliving all you read from the Stelth Apple fanbois. It is a good OS but Win 7 has the potential to be great.
DBsantos77
April 07, 2009 at 7:34pm
Probably a stupid question, but if I do upgrade to the RC (which I want to do badly and avoid Vista like the plague), how long will it be until I have to buy a full version? How does that work? Thanks
pagen64
April 07, 2009 at 4:12pm
I'll do a full install. I have evrything i need backed up on a seperate hdd, i have'nt used vista since i downloaded windows 7 beta 1, Now i'm running windows 7 build 7068 64 bit. Way better than vista IMHO. Have not had 1 single problem with this os. Love it
Netram
April 07, 2009 at 3:51pm
Slightly off-topic, but I lost my OEM Vista disc for my PC a while back, but the CD-key is stuck on the side of my PC, if I download Vista and burn it to a disc, then install it like that (giving my CD-Key) will it work or say the CD-key is invalid?
Also, I heard a while ago that 32-bit vista keys work with 64-bit vista, will my 32-bit OEM key with the 64-bit vista download?
ALSO (Last one, I promise) if I send a mail to the guys who made my PC (In my case Cyberpower UK) will they send me a Vista OEM disc? Despite me having this machine for about 2 years?
ty
PS: Fuck Microsoft, why can't they just let us upgrade from W7 beta to W7 RC without all the hastle? I swear they're fucking retarded
patrickmaher
April 07, 2009 at 5:29pm
The sticker with the product key that is stuck to the side of your computer is your license. Call Cyberpower to get a replacement disc. They will probably ask you for the serial number of your computer to verify you are their customer and so they can see which version of Windows shipped with your computer. Most companies like Dell, HP, etc will charge a small shipping fee to send you the disc.
mini6090
April 07, 2009 at 5:23pm
Obviously, from the questions you don't know much, so either make a better operating system then microsoft or come up with better questions
upgrading from and to the same exact operating system has to be a bit tricky if you think about it, they are also doing that for testing purposes
Altek
Asus P6T
Core i7 920
9gb Corsair Dominator 8-8-8-24
4x10,000RMP raptors (2xStriped Arrays)
EVGA GTX260
Fatl1ty X-Fi
mls067
April 07, 2009 at 3:46pm
Will the RC be available from the same site that we were able to download the beta from?
Granpuff
April 07, 2009 at 3:23pm
Since I just finished building a new bleeding edge PC and installing an OEM copy of Vista Home Premium 64 Bit I would like to be able to just upgrade my current fresh Vista install to Win7 RC without starting from scratch.
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