Download Windows 7 RC
Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate) is now available for download. This is a pre-release version of Windows 7 and is made available for free download until 30 July 2009.
Windows 7 RC is a full-featured edition, similar to Windows Vista Ultimate. It is available for free download and once installed, it will automatically send information to Microsoft engineers, to help them check the fixes and changes they made based on Beta tests. As a user of windows 7 RC, you will get to know the complete features of windows 7!!!
What problems might occur on windows 7 RC?
Windows 7 RC is a fully tested version. But you might still face a few problems like,
- Software that doesn’t install or work correctly, including anti-virus or security programs
- Printers, video cards, or other hardware that doesn’t work
- Problems accessing corporate or home networks
- Files may become corrupted
Though windows 7 RC is a pre-release candidate, Microsoft does not provide technical support for it and the computer may crash and you may loose data, as it is not yet the final product.Hence it is advisable to download and test windows 7 RC, only if you are a reasonably experienced PC user, who knows how to back up the computer, format a hard drive, burn an ISO file to DVD, and install an operating system from scratch. You should also be comfortable troubleshooting problems on your own.
It is also better, if you backup all your data before you install windows 7 RC.Even better is to test it on a spare PC and not on your primary home or business PC.
How to upgrade to Windows 7 RC from Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 beta?
If you are already running the Windows 7 Beta or windows XP, you’ll need to back up your data (preferably on an external device) and then do a clean installation of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. After installing Windows 7, you will need to reinstall applications and restore your files. However if you’re running Windows Vista, you can install Window 7 RC, without having to back up and reinstall your programs and data.
If you want to upgrade to Windows 7 later on, you need to do a clean install.
System Requirements for Windows 7 RC:
- 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
- 1 GB RAM (32-bit) / 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
- 16 GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)
- DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
Free download 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows 7 RC in English, German, Japanese, French, or Spanish from here.Note that windows 7 RC will expire June 1, 2010, and the bi-hourly shutdowns will begin on March 1, 2010. Download and enjoy Windows 7 RC until then!!!
Update: You can also download Windows 7 RC via torrent as it has been seeded there by someone. (Note: The above Microsoft download link may no longer work).
Find below the BOTH MD5 and SHA-1 hashes for this torrent download.
MD5:
98341af35655137966e382c4feaa282d x64
8867c13330f56a93944bcd46dcd73590 x86
SHA-1:
fc867fe1ab2e0a9796f9e4d155b44ea6998f4874 x64
7d1f486ca569effffb719cfb48355bb7bf499712 x86
x64 (AKA 64-bit): 7100.0.090421-1700_x64fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culxfrer_en_dvd
x86 (AKA 32-bit): 7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd
Note that you can upgrade from Vista x86 to 7 x86 ONLY and from Vista x64 to 7 x64 ONLY. x86 to x64 is not possible and you must do a clean install.
All computers bought today (mostly with a processor newer than Pentium 4, exceptions may be possible) support the x64 architecture. This architecture has one big benefit over the x86 one, and that is the capabiltiy of using more than 4 GB of RAM, among other benefits like better performance for x64 applications and so on and so forth (XP Mode will greatly benefit from newer x64 processors). If you are unsure what version to get, please get the x86 one – both x86 and x64 processors support it.
