Windows 7 Win 7 Beta stops in one week!

[davehc]

Win 7 Beta stops at end of June!

Please note. Most of you have received this Email. PLease do not start posting this as a problem after July 1st. The RC is freely available for download by all.

IMPORTANT REMINDER ABOUT BETA EXPIRATION DATE

Thanks again for your help in testing Windows 7 Beta.

We’re sending this mail to remind you that Windows 7 Release candidate is available and to make sure you plan ahead for when the Beta expires on August 1, 2009. On July 1, 2009, the PC you’re using to test the Beta will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will send you a notice a couple of weeks in advance, and that’d be the ideal time to rebuild your test PC with a non-expired version of Windows, such as the RC or Windows Vista. This will be a clean installation, so be ready to reinstall your programs and data. (Learn more about installing Windows.)

So, if you haven’t already done so, we highly recommend that you download and install the RC from one of the following sites today:
-
Developers
-
IT Pros/Microsoft Partners
-
Tech Enthusiasts/Consumers
IMPORTANT: If you are running Windows 7 Beta you’ll need to back up your data (preferably on an external device) and then do a clean install of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. After installing Windows 7, you will need to reinstall applications and restore your files. If you need help with the installation process, please see the Installation Instructions.

If you have questions or need help installing the RC, you can get help with your Windows 7 questions at http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/category/w7itpro/

 

[stevae]

my bad for using the wrong term. when i asked about upgrading, i wasn't actually meaning trying to upgrade instead of doing a clean install. i just meant from the older version to the rc. so my question still stands, however. what is the best address to use to download the rc??

 

[loathe]

So you tell me now, if in your true opinion, it is worth me throwing all this away to get the latest version.

Thats up to you, if your happy with it your happy with it. Although the RC is by far the best option. You can find it here Link Removed

Short answer.. Yes

 

[stevae]

Short answer.. Yes

ok, so i know that there is a thread for this, but after reading it, i still don't seem to get a definitive answer, so one last question. are there enough drivers available to make using the 64 bit version worth it? and i have a 32 bit version of vista ultimate on another partition, so how do you load a 64 bit version on a machine with a 32 bit o.s. on it?

 

[loathe]

ok, so i know that there is a thread for this, but after reading it, i still don't seem to get a definitive answer, so one last question. are there enough drivers available to make using the 64 bit version worth it? and i have a 32 bit version of vista ultimate on another partition, so how do you load a 64 bit version on a machine with a 32 bit o.s. on it?

Can you please fill out your system details. IMO if your CPU supports 64bit then yes, you should use 64bit. There are plenty of x64 drivers out there.

 

[stevae]

i have a hp pavilion dv9700
core 2 duo t7500 2.2 ghz
4 gigs of ram

what else should i list?

 

[Radenight]

As Loathe said, if your CPU supports 64-bit than by all means, use 64-bit Windows 7.. You won't be disapointed.. If you still can't decide then just take some time to do the research.. Look up your system's components and see if there are 64-bit drivers available.. if there are then your good to go.. if there aren't then waiting might be the best choice for you.. Just keep in mind Windows Vista's drivers are SUPPOSED to work with 7 as well..

 

[fjgold]

i have a hp pavilion dv9700
core 2 duo t7500 2.2 ghz
4 gigs of ram

what else should i list?

According to Intel your T7500 is a 64 Bit processor.
Whether or not you have a 32 bit OS's installed on another partition is irrelevant
to installing a 64 Bit OS on the same machine. The important thing is that the hardware support it.
The BIOS also needs to support the hardware.
In your case the T7500 won't work (even with a 32 Bit OS) without the proper BIOS, this according to Intel.
So you undoubtedly have the right BIOS if you can run a 32 Bit OS.

Anyway just install Win 7 64 to an empty partition and enjoy.
I tried Win 7 64 on my machine, an Acer Aspire 5672 WLMi with a Core 2 Duo T7200 2.0 GHz 64 bit processor, it installed fine with all necessary drivers either installed during instalation or in the case of my video (ATi Mobility Radeon X1400), the drivers were installed during the very first windows update.

I had two issues one with hardware and one with software that caused me to stick with 32 Bit Win 7 at least for now.

The hardware issue is my Logitech Quick Cam Pro 9000 didn't have 64 bit software ready for it at the time I tried 64 Bit Win 7, The camera works with the native drivers but at a much lower resolution from the 2 megapixels the camera can achieve with the Logitech software.

The other issue was GoogleEarth wouldn't work (crashing).

All this was three weeks ago and Logitech said they were working on Win 7 64 Bit support so maybe I'll revisit 64 bit win 7.

I have been using two 64 bit Ubuntu linux distros for a year now, works great.

I'd love to be able to use 64 bit Win 7 so .....

Anyway you haven't anything to lose by trying Win 7 on another partition, go for it.
If it don't work remove it and install 32 Bit Win 7.

 

[stevae]

ok, is there some kind of special way to load this 64 bit op sys. i have it on my external hdd, and when i click the setup file to load it, i get the following error message:

"the version of the contents of this file is not compatible with the version of windows you are running. check your system information to see whether you need an x86 (32 bit) or x64 (64 bit) version of the program. then contact the software publisher."

now, i am trying to initiate it from windows. is there a way to initiate it with out windows interfering? i don't have any writable dvd's, because i do everything from my external. what should i do?

 

[loathe]

ok, is there some kind of special way to load this 64 bit op sys. i have it on my external hdd, and when i click the setup file to load it, i get the following error message:

\"the version of the contents of this file is not compatible with the version of windows you are running. check your system information to see whether you need an x86 (32 bit) or x64 (64 bit) version of the program. then contact the software publisher.\"

now, i am trying to initiate it from windows. is there a way to initiate it with out windows interfering? i don't have any writable dvd's, because i do everything from my external. what should i do?

You need either a DVD or a USB drive to boot to.

If you have a usb pen drive you could do itLink Removed way.

 

[fjgold]

ok, is there some kind of special way to load this 64 bit op sys. i have it on my external hdd, and when i click the setup file to load it, i get the following error message:

"the version of the contents of this file is not compatible with the version of windows you are running. check your system information to see whether you need an x86 (32 bit) or x64 (64 bit) version of the program. then contact the software publisher."

now, i am trying to initiate it from windows. is there a way to initiate it with out windows interfering? i don't have any writable dvd's, because i do everything from my external. what should i do?

What version of Windows do you have installed?

 

[stevae]

i have two usb drives, and both of them are 16 gig drives. so i have plenty of room. how do i do it? but my external hard drive is also usb, and it is 1 terabyte. but that is the drive that it is on. what am i missing?
i am currently running win 7 on one partition, and win vista ultimate on the other.

 

[fjgold]

i have two usb drives, and both of them are 16 gig drives. so i have plenty of room. how do i do it? but my external hard drive is also usb, and it is 1 terabyte. but that is the drive that it is on. what am i missing?
i am currently running win 7 on one partition, and win vista ultimate on the other.

Ok, try this from your Win 7 or Vista install.


Copy the Win 7 64 .iso file to a convenient location on the Win 7 (desktop maybe)

Download the freeware Virtual Clone Drive from the site below

[URL=\"http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html\"]http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html[/URL]

Install  the software. 
Note: You can uninstall Virtual Clone Drive using Add/Remove  programs after creating your install flash drive.
I chose to keep my Virtual  Clone Drive installed, it's handy when you want to look at the files in a  .iso.

This will create a Virtual drive that you can use to mount your Win  7 64 bit install .iso.

This will allow access to the files in the .iso  as though you created and ran a DVD.

To mount the .iso simply right click it and  choose open with. You will see an option to open with Virtual Clone  Drive.
Choosing that option will mount your .iso
Go to My Computer and  note the drive letter Win 7 assigned to your Virtual drive.

Now plug in  your USB flash drive (at least 4GB)

next open an elevated (admin) command  prompt and type and enter
[B]
diskpart[/B] 

This  will start the diskpart program and open a new prompt in your command prompt  window.

type and enter
[B]
list disk[/B] 

this will list all your drives  including the USB drive you have plugged as well as their respective sizes in  GB. Make note of the number associated with you USB drive.

next type and  enter

[B]select disk x[/B]

where x is the number of your  drive as determined by the previous command.

next run each of the  following commands one at a time in the order given by typing and  entering.

[B]clean[/B]
[B]
create partition primary[/B]

[B]select partition  1[/B]
[B]
active[/B]

[B]format fs=fat32[/B]

Format can be Fat32 or  NTFS, your choice.

[B]assign[/B]
[B]
exit[/B]

Don't  close the Command window.

The command to format will take awhile  depending on you drive size as the format is a complete format and not a \"quick  format\"

After exit command open My Computer and make note of the drive  letters for your Virtual Clone Drive drive and the drive letter that Windows  assigned to your USB drive.

Now run this final command
[B]
xcopy x:*.* /s/e/f  y:[/B]

Where x is your Virtual Clone  Drive drive letter and y is your USB drive letter.

Wait for the work to  finish and voila you should have a bootable Win 7 USB drive installer.

Decide where you want to install and create a suitably sized NTFS partition (20 GB or more) or if you decide to use the partition your present Win 7 or Vista is installed to format that partition to NTFS first. 

Plug in your drive start your computer and make sure to enter you BIOS and tell it to boot to your USB device.
Boot to the flash drive and install from there.

 

[stevae]

ok so i have the iso mounted and all, but my usb drive has other things on it. it is 16 gb's, so i don't want to format the whole thing. is there another way to do it, or do you have to have a freshly formatted usb drive?

 

[fjgold]

ok so i have the iso mounted and all, but my usb drive has other things on it. it is 16 gb's, so i don't want to format the whole thing. is there another way to do it, or do you have to have a freshly formatted usb drive?

Copy the contents to a safe place on your HDD and then run the commands that will clean and format etc.
After you create your install USB flash you can create a folder on the drive to copy your saved files to.
All you really need is 4 GB of flashdrive space for the installer. The rest of the drive can be used as storage but only after creating the install device using the instructions I posted earlier.

 

[stevae]

ok, i will set it up as you have specified. however, i have one more question. i am trying to download the latest rc 32 bit right now, encase the 64 bit doesn't work out for some reason. and i went through the official ms site, but even after getting more than 1 gig of it downloaded, i had a connection interruption and received an error message that the download failed. afterwards, when i tried to continue the download, it starts all over again, instead of picking up at the 1.2 gig mark that it stopped at. what is up with that? why wouldn't it continue from where it stopped?

 

[fjgold]

ok, i will set it up as you have specified. however, i have one more question. i am trying to download the latest rc 32 bit right now, encase the 64 bit doesn't work out for some reason. and i went through the official ms site, but even after getting more than 1 gig of it downloaded, i had a connection interruption and received an error message that the download failed. afterwards, when i tried to continue the download, it starts all over again, instead of picking up at the 1.2 gig mark that it stopped at. what is up with that? why wouldn't it continue from where it stopped?

Not sure stevea, I seem to recall that the beta was delivered via a MS D/L manager of some sort that was supposed to
pickup from an interuption. I don't know if the RC used the same delivery method. I believe I used my own D/L manager, LeechGet 2007 for the RC.

BTW, I just last night installed the 64 bit RC again to see if any of the showstopper issues for me were fixed, they weren't.

GoogleEarth still crashes and still no software for my Logitech webcam.

I gave up on the 64 bit for now and restored the Win 7 32 bit I had deleted to make room for the 64 bit.

This time however I made a partimage restore image so I can reinstall it in the future without having to do a full install from scratch.

I have no doubt that Logitech will fix the camera issue in the near future and probably GoogleEarth will fix with a future update.

 

[stevae]

OK, i have hopefully just one more question for you guys. I really hope you can help me with this one!!!

so i backed up my entire c partition with acronis, and replaced my 7077 build of win 7, with the 7100 rc, using the technique you listed above. but instead of staying with the 32 bit system, i went with the 64 bit system. and OH MY GOD WAS IT FAST!!!!! i mean my computer didn't wait for anything. everything i clicked on was up before i finished the last click. really, really fast in doing everything, and that was with out any readyboost, or eboostr. that is the good news.
now for the bad news, when i completed all the initial setup procedures, i decided to restore my previous loads settings, so i could have everything just the way i had it, which was perfect. however, acronis kept crashing, and would not even run properly on my new x64 build. so i decided to restart into my win vista ultimate partition, and do everything from there. and while acronis would load and work in vista ult, after restoring everything, i went back to win 7 x64, but nothing worked. instead of the programs being in the "programs folder", the programs restored to a folder called "programs x86", and would not run on the new x64 sys.
now, it was my understanding, that 64bit systems can run 32bit software, but not hardware. so what am i missing? how can i do this? i don't use any really old software, everything is fairly new. so i am perplexed as to why i am having the problems, unless it is just a problem to transfer 32 bit programs from a 32bit system, to a 64 bit system. is that a no go?

more good news, however, is that acronis did perfectly restore my 7077 build, to my c partition, afterwards. so i have my win 7 32bit system running again, but still want to load the 64 bit system.

how can i use acronis to keep ALL OF MY SYSTEM SETTINGS??? i love the way i have my 7077 build setup, and it hasn't given me any trouble at all. but now i am drunk with the speed of the 64 bit sys, and would like to set the x64 up, just like i have the x86. i hope you can help. thanks.

 

[fjgold]

OK, i have hopefully just one more question for you guys. I really hope you can help me with this one!!!

so i backed up my entire c partition with acronis, and replaced my 7077 build of win 7, with the 7100 rc, using the technique you listed above. but instead of staying with the 32 bit system, i went with the 64 bit system. and OH MY GOD WAS IT FAST!!!!! i mean my computer didn't wait for anything. everything i clicked on was up before i finished the last click. really, really fast in doing everything, and that was with out any readyboost, or eboostr. that is the good news.
now for the bad news, when i completed all the initial setup procedures, i decided to restore my previous loads settings, so i could have everything just the way i had it, which was perfect. however, acronis kept crashing, and would not even run properly on my new x64 build. so i decided to restart into my win vista ultimate partition, and do everything from there. and while acronis would load and work in vista ult, after restoring everything, i went back to win 7 x64, but nothing worked. instead of the programs being in the \"programs folder\", the programs restored to a folder called \"programs x86\", and would not run on the new x64 sys.
now, it was my understanding, that 64bit systems can run 32bit software, but not hardware. so what am i missing? how can i do this? i don't use any really old software, everything is fairly new. so i am perplexed as to why i am having the problems, unless it is just a problem to transfer 32 bit programs from a 32bit system, to a 64 bit system. is that a no go?

more good news, however, is that acronis did perfectly restore my 7077 build, to my c partition, afterwards. so i have my win 7 32bit system running again, but still want to load the 64 bit system.

how can i use acronis to keep ALL OF MY SYSTEM SETTINGS??? i love the way i have my 7077 build setup, and it hasn't given me any trouble at all. but now i am drunk with the speed of the 64 bit sys, and would like to set the x64 up, just like i have the x86. i hope you can help. thanks.

Lack of configuration (64 bit) software for my webcam and the fact that GoogleEarth crashes on 64 bit Win 7 is what keeps me from using it.

As for Acronis, have you checked their web site to see if they have any updates.

A great tool (open source and based on Gentoo linux) is SystemRescueCD v0.4.3 (this an older version but the one I'm familiar with)

Link Removed due to 404 Error

This is a bootable recovery disc that contains amongst other things a nifty toll called "Partimage".
Partimage is an imaging that is capable of creating a bit by bit image of any partition on your drive. You can save this image and use partimage to restore it at a later date. The image is a snapshot of the OS install at the time it was taken.
It offers 2 levels of compression to help make the file sizes more manageable. I use the Gzip level and it will create a 5-6 GB compressed image of my 10 GB Win 7 install. It supports NTFS (although you do get a warning that NTFS support is still experimental) but it has never failed me. This tool is not installed but is run from a CD.

If you are interested PM me and I will walk you through how to use partimage based on you system particulars.