Windows 7 Rc Ready For Download

[monty]

For those who having problems with download from the MS Server, try direct links to Microsoft's servers. It bypasses their lame download manager and load balancers:

x86: http://bit.ly/RCx86

x64: http://bit.ly/RCx64

You MUST drag and drop this link into your address bar. DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK.

Cheers.

Cool,

finally downloading, and those direct links give me full line speed (340kBps on my 3Mb line), using orbit download manager, so no problems resuming if the internet hicks up...

Estimated download time a tad over 2 hours...

[nikster]

Nikster, listen please: You have to sign up to TechNet or MSN Connect and than you just can download the OS!

LOL, I am a MSDN member, even. I get free keys for all Windows versions (for evaluation use). So that wasn't the problem. The problem was their download manager, unfortunately I didn't have your direct download links at the time, that's exactly what I was looking for.

As it is I tried with my own direct download, and it worked in my download manager until I was at 99.2% - then it stopped with a timeout, and would not restart. Don't know if that's a problem with my DL manager or the download itself. Luckily there is bit torrent and I just got it from there no fuss no muss, just worked.

Installed on my laptop on a brand new hard drive, then installed graphics card driver and trackpad driver, and it's ready to go.

BTW, excellent instructions for installing from USB, Reimar, it worked like a charm.

One positive I already noticed: They put "don't show this dialog again" checkboxes on some of these annoyingly huge dialogs. Progress!

[Plus]

Yesterday installed it on old laptop. No drivers in Win7, but it happily accepted drivers from manufacturer CD, then weirdness started.

I tried to set a user account for daily use, first thing - needed to install video drivers again, I had something else on my mind, so I deleted that account, then later turned on Guest, then settled on good old Microsoft way - admin with no password.

What happened is that it lost video drivers, started reinstallin them, asked for restart, then, on the restart, installed them again, asked for another restart and so on. Eventually I broke out of that cycle by uninstalling video card comletely and settting password to Admin, don't know which one worked. Had no time to see how it behaves after restart, brace myself for another session tonight.

>>>

Assuming video issues are solved - what's the way to set a password free user account that autologins?

[Guest Reimar]

Yesterday installed it on old laptop. No drivers in Win7, but it happily accepted drivers from manufacturer CD, then weirdness started.

I tried to set a user account for daily use, first thing - needed to install video drivers again, I had something else on my mind, so I deleted that account, then later turned on Guest, then settled on good old Microsoft way - admin with no password.

What happened is that it lost video drivers, started reinstallin them, asked for restart, then, on the restart, installed them again, asked for another restart and so on. Eventually I broke out of that cycle by uninstalling video card comletely and settting password to Admin, don't know which one worked. Had no time to see how it behaves after restart, brace myself for another session tonight.

>>>

Assuming video issues are solved - what's the way to set a password free user account that autologins?

Plus:

First at all: Download the latest driver for that Video Card in your old laptop! Check for the latest driver with the Video Chip Manufacturer and try that driver from Them. If the Video Card is an Nvidia or Ati, check for driver in either site: http://www.donotargue.com/ and http://www.guru3d.com while both are have slightly modified Video Driver for Nvidia and Ati.

Regarding the zero Password: Hold down the Windows Key and press R, type Control Userpasswords2 [enter], unckeck: User must enter a username and password for to use this computer ->Apply, type 2 times the password and hit OK. Log off and log on again.

That should do the job.

Cheers.

[Plus]

Drivers are playing up again - they work fine, it's just Win doesn't remember them and tries to reinstall after each restart. Reinstall - need a restart, restart - need a reinstall.

I broke the cycle again, by manually reinstalling the drivers from the CD, restarted, and the same "new hardware installed, need to restart" routine started again.

Broke the cycle again, everything is just fine now, including sendin output to connected LCD TV, but I'm not doing any restarts for now, I want to watch a movie first.

That's an exhausting and time consuming battle, will try to check Intel graphics downloads later, before bed.

>>>

In that Control User passwords - can I set a user, not admin to login automatically? Admin should keep his password, btw.

Have you seen things like that on Linux, and I guess originally on Macs - user is logged on automatically, but, as a user he can't install or do anything to the computer, he needs to provide admin password.

Win 7 is aiming for the same funcionality, I believe - every program that tries to run, asks for permission, but, as I'm logged as admin already, they don't need my password. It's very easy to agree to install anything this way, especially if it's passing as a plugin or ActiveX control on same gaming site for kids.

Thanks for help, btw, very appreciated.

[Guest Reimar]

Drivers are playing up again - they work fine, it's just Win doesn't remember them and tries to reinstall after each restart. Reinstall - need a restart, restart - need a reinstall.

I broke the cycle again, by manually reinstalling the drivers from the CD, restarted, and the same "new hardware installed, need to restart" routine started again.

Broke the cycle again, everything is just fine now, including sendin output to connected LCD TV, but I'm not doing any restarts for now, I want to watch a movie first.

That's an exhausting and time consuming battle, will try to check Intel graphics downloads later, before bed.

>>>

In that Control User passwords - can I set a user, not admin to login automatically? Admin should keep his password, btw.

Have you seen things like that on Linux, and I guess originally on Macs - user is logged on automatically, but, as a user he can't install or do anything to the computer, he needs to provide admin password.

Win 7 is aiming for the same funcionality, I believe - every program that tries to run, asks for permission, but, as I'm logged as admin already, they don't need my password. It's very easy to agree to install anything this way, especially if it's passing as a plugin or ActiveX control on same gaming site for kids.

Thanks for help, btw, very appreciated.

Plus:

If you like to install quite old drivers, you'll need to set them to compatibility mode. This you can't do with the driver on CD because the CD is Read Only! Do you get that?!

So copy the relevant drivers to the HDD and set them to the required compatibility mode!

Have to try do download a new driver as I had suggested? If not please do that!

***************************************************************************

Regarding the password protection:

If you think logically, you should know that you can set a single user to use the computer without passwords while all or even some others need to use the password.

For other protection get use of Windows by accessing the relevant Sources and Knowledgebase's which you can do for free!

Regarding program installations, for the Normal User the program installation for some programs, which haven't security issues and if they for single user use only, could be installed. All other's will need administration rights. It's also depend on how you set the UAC of Windows!

**********************************************************

I've seen on Linux and Mac's more strange thing than on Windows. But this thread is NOT to discuss about Linux and/or Mac's!

Cheers.

[Plus]

I'm not bashing windows or anything, it's just a security concern.

Perfect example yesterday - went to Intel site, they have a page to determine the best drivers for me. First, ActiveX bar comes up, no big deal - click and away, but this time the activeX downloaded hardware scanning tool and tried to install it, and that's when another, Windows warning came up, about running a program. That's when a regular user should have been prompted for admin password.

Imagine it was a kid "loading" a game but the site prompted him to install some dodgy toolbar loaded with malware - he wouldn't have given it a second thought - click "ok" and continue to the game. That's how most infestations happen. Admin password would have saved him in this case.

Of course I can set up a user account with zero password - the question is: how to get this user to login automatically on start up? Turn the computer on, go get some coffee, come back and Windows is ready. With a login prompt, even with empty password, you wait until Windows loads and takes you to login screen, then you have to click and wait another minute or two until your personall settings are loaded and all user start up programs initialised and the system finally frees its resources for you to start computing.

>>>

Ie8 crashes on Intel's page, btw, in compatibility mode, too. I have to download and install Firefox to try again.

I have some reasonably new drivers backed up on a hard drive already, but their setup crashed a few times even in compatibility mode with admin privileges. I now let Windows install the drivers itself - just point it to the folder where drivers are located.

Intel graphics setup installs not just drivers but the settings manager, just like nVidia and Ati, and that settings manager apparently doesn't work under Win7, and newer, Vista compatible versions, don't have drivers for older chipsets. That's a lot of mucking about for me tonight, unless Win7 builds some sense and remembers the drivers it already installed a dozen times. I think it did a few clean restarts in the beginning, before I started adding users.

Maybe the problem is that on start up Win sees "VGA compatible card" and tries to install it form scratch, not "Intel graphic chipset" - that's how it sees it AFTER intel drivers are installed.

I thought I could create a restore point and somehow "freeze" windows in a state with properly loaded drivers, but I can't find "Create restore point" option in Restore System manager. What's up with that?

[Guest Reimar]

I'm not bashing windows or anything, it's just a security concern.

Perfect example yesterday - went to Intel site, they have a page to determine the best drivers for me. First, ActiveX bar comes up, no big deal - click and away, but this time the activeX downloaded hardware scanning tool and tried to install it, and that's when another, Windows warning came up, about running a program. That's when a regular user should have been prompted for admin password.

Imagine it was a kid "loading" a game but the site prompted him to install some dodgy toolbar loaded with malware - he wouldn't have given it a second thought - click "ok" and continue to the game. That's how most infestations happen. Admin password would have saved him in this case.

Of course I can set up a user account with zero password - the question is: how to get this user to login automatically on start up? Turn the computer on, go get some coffee, come back and Windows is ready. With a login prompt, even with empty password, you wait until Windows loads and takes you to login screen, then you have to click and wait another minute or two until your personall settings are loaded and all user start up programs initialised and the system finally frees its resources for you to start computing.

>>>

Ie8 crashes on Intel's page, btw, in compatibility mode, too. I have to download and install Firefox to try again.

I have some reasonably new drivers backed up on a hard drive already, but their setup crashed a few times even in compatibility mode with admin privileges. I now let Windows install the drivers itself - just point it to the folder where drivers are located.

Intel graphics setup installs not just drivers but the settings manager, just like nVidia and Ati, and that settings manager apparently doesn't work under Win7, and newer, Vista compatible versions, don't have drivers for older chipsets. That's a lot of mucking about for me tonight, unless Win7 builds some sense and remembers the drivers it already installed a dozen times. I think it did a few clean restarts in the beginning, before I started adding users.

Maybe the problem is that on start up Win sees "VGA compatible card" and tries to install it form scratch, not "Intel graphic chipset" - that's how it sees it AFTER intel drivers are installed.

I thought I could create a restore point and somehow "freeze" windows in a state with properly loaded drivers, but I can't find "Create restore point" option in Restore System manager. What's up with that?

Regarding the driver, you maybe set ALL files, which you're able to do, to Compatibility mode BEFORE installing or running the driver setup!

Maybe you also download DriverMax from http://www.drivermax.com and install that program. First you'll need to export all drivers before you're able to check for new driver or drivers for unknown hardware. That was working on one occasion for me!

As I had installed Windows 7 on a few old computers from 1999 onwards, I didn't have that problems and on all computers it boot's and work's fast. The slowest machine is an Pentium 3 900 from 1999 with 512 MB Memory only.

So, I didn't understand the problems you have!

Maybe you post the whole spec of your computer incl. Brand, Model and configuration. I'll try to help but I( need as much infos as possible.

Cheers.

[monty]

Anybody managed to get an aircard 775 working?

Can't get it to go for the life of me, Win7 (RC1) detectet it OK, and immediately went on to download updates for the aircard, which then subsequently failed to install properly.

I'm managing for the time being with a PDA used as modem (which installed flawlessly) but I rather use the aircard with its dedicated internet simcard...

In my device manager, the aircard shows with proper drivers installed (tried to update already) but with error message "device failed to start"...

[Plus]

As I had installed Windows 7 on a few old computers from 1999 onwards, I didn't have that problems and on all computers it boot's and work's fast. The slowest machine is an Pentium 3 900 from 1999 with 512 MB Memory only.

So, I didn't understand the problems you have!

Last night the notebook was working fine, in proper resolution 1280x800, and even outputting VGA to a plasma TV. I've watched latest episode of 24 and then went to sleep.

Today, when I get home in a few hours, Windows will find new hardware - VGA compatible card, and start installing the drivers again, check Win update on line and so on. After about five minutes it will tell me the drivers are ready and Windows will tell me to restart, but then it will find new VGA card again, install drivers, tell me to restart, and again and again and again.

Eventually I will break the cycle and get drivers working without a restart, and I will watch some more movies on a big ass plasma, but tomorrow it will start over again.

Why doesn't it remember the drivers it happily used before the shutdown?

I'll feed it some better drivers today, newer versions, maybe get Intel settings program working, maybe this will satisfy it, I don't know.

[Plus]

Re. aircard - just a guess - is the PCI slot it's plugged in properly working? Maybe you should update PCI, too, the same way PCI card readers are updated.

[monty]

Re. aircard - just a guess - is the PCI slot it's plugged in properly working? Maybe you should update PCI, too, the same way PCI card readers are updated.

It's plugged in a PCMCIA slot, and yep, I've updated the drivers for ha one already.Other PCcards work just fine in the same slot.

It just refuses to start up the aircard...

[Tywais]

It's plugged in a PCMCIA slot, and yep, I've updated the drivers for ha one already.Other PCcards work just fine in the same slot.

It just refuses to start up the aircard...

Some other forum members seem to have the same problems. One member said to download the below version of Watcher.

Sierra Wireless

Another also said the below version of Watcher worked for him.

http://tinyurl.com/AirCard880E-Win7

The site was Windows7forums so you might post there also your problem.

[monty]

It's plugged in a PCMCIA slot, and yep, I've updated the drivers for ha one already.Other PCcards work just fine in the same slot.

It just refuses to start up the aircard...

Some other forum members seem to have the same problems. One member said to download the below version of Watcher.

Sierra Wireless

Another also said the below version of Watcher worked for him.

http://tinyurl.com/AirCard880E-Win7

The site was Windows7forums so you might post there also your problem.

No luck...

The device simply won't start (error 10).

Will peruse the widows7forum! Thanks for the heads up, didn't know that forum.

Hey, my win7 is running a whole 7 hours already

[Guest Reimar]

It's plugged in a PCMCIA slot, and yep, I've updated the drivers for ha one already.Other PCcards work just fine in the same slot.

It just refuses to start up the aircard...

Some other forum members seem to have the same problems. One member said to download the below version of Watcher.

Sierra Wireless

Another also said the below version of Watcher worked for him.

http://tinyurl.com/AirCard880E-Win7

The site was Windows7forums so you might post there also your problem.

No luck...

The device simply won't start (error 10).

Will peruse the widows7forum! Thanks for the heads up, didn't know that forum.

Hey, my win7 is running a whole 7 hours already

Monty, maybe you look at this forum as well: http://windows7center.com/forums/

Cheers.

[raro]

Monty, maybe you look at this forum as well: http://windows7center.com/forums/

Cheers.

now mods are referring to other fora...that gets interesting....

anyways....

just flattend the HDD with WIN7 Beta built 7000 on it.

win7 RC1 CD crapped up and doesn't install. Need an axe...

[Guest Reimar]

Monty, maybe you look at this forum as well: http://windows7center.com/forums/

Cheers.

now mods are referring to other fora...that gets interesting....

anyways....

just flattend the HDD with WIN7 Beta built 7000 on it.

win7 RC1 CD crapped up and doesn't install. Need an axe...

Is an bulldozer Ok?

Reburn the DVD and use 4 speed or as slow as possible!!

By the way, I'm NOT an expert about aircards!!

[raro]

ok guys..I am officially fcuked...the only comp around with a working DVD burner has just crapped up. The win7 RC1 DVD is not working properly...only to the point where it flattens the HDD. Once the installation starts ift cannot unpack the files and folders and hangs up. Three times in a row at the same spot.

..off to the pub...

/edit: got UBUNTU live CD running now....but it doesn't come with any burn software afaics

Edited May 13, 2009 by raro

[raro]

okok.....found that old Win XP CD (thanks Reimar.....could have been my idea)...about installing. Stay tuned.

Third beer open.

[Wolfie]

The one thing i will say about the 7000 build is it took an age to install - and seemed to 'hang' for about 15mins at one point - i did the same, rebooted thinking the install had failed but it did it again - out of frustration i walked down the shops to buy some beer and a pack of smokes and by the time i got back the install was happily working away...

... just thought i should mention it

[raro]

that was the XP CD with the lost product key...note to self, toss CDs with lost product keys in garbage cans...proceeding with the other XP CD and the remainder of beer #3

[raro]

Thanks for the moral support, Wolfie!

My Win7 built 7000 installed very smooth I must say, unlike the RC1....

After an hour or so on the phone with Reimar I have the terrible confirmation that the .iso file I downloaded earlier is corrupt. Hangs at the same spot whenever you run it....

Triyng no a bunch of disk tools to recover the formatted C: partition, so far without success

The download of the new .iso is creeping in at 60 kB/sec and less...

Beer #4 is open.

[raro]

at the end of beer #5 I have a fully working XP installation on my laptop and an work tomorrow - with a LAN cable as there are no XP drivers for this ACER WLAN adapter available. That prompted me to go for Vista and later Win7. Otherwise I might still be on Xp and had more fun tonight...

[raro]

Just before falling asleep I remembered that I made an image last weekend from the C: partition. But screwed again! It says successfully recovered but the laptop still boots with CP and I cannot really find the partition with my old win7 installation...

[Plus]

I finally got my video drivers working, haven't seen one "clean" restart yet, but I'm hopeful.

Another accomplishment is sorting out auto login issue - win key+r - Control Userpasswords2 does indeed allow you to set one account logging in automatically, it's in the next prompt after you click "ok".

The easiest way is to create another admin account with a passport, then downgrade your original to user level, then set it to autologin. That way you won't lose any settings in any programs.

The benefits are immediately clear if you poke around your computer - you can't see system files, you can't even go into program files, you can't change any settings, can't even delete shortcuts that are not your own, can't see contents of other users folders, too.

Now whoever is using your computer can't possibly screw it, unless you give them the admin password.

>>

Ubuntu's burning tool is called Brasero, I think, it's in applications/multimedia.

[Daffy D]

One more question - how to set timeout on windows boot menu where I get Win7 and "earlier windows"? It seems I have to hit enter to start Win7. Can I set 10 sec timeout somehow?

Another way to do it is Right Click - My Computer - Properties - Advanced Tab - Startup and Recovery - Settings.

The drop down menu at the top gives the two operating systems, choose which one run first and you can also change the display time.

[onethailand]

Simply fantastic.

Did a straight upgrade from the Win7 beta to RC. Took nearly 3 hours... but everything came up smelling roses.

Then discovered my 4Gb SD card wasn't being used for ReadyBoost, and wasted another 3 hours, only to discover that my HDD was considered so fast that ReadyBoost would not be useful! And it was true - everything was running 3-4x faster than the beta.

The only glitch was the sound - I had to downgrade the sound driver to the one used in Win7 Beta - other than that, so far I consider this the best OS yet.

[raro]

I am happy to report that I have now a running Win7 RC1 installation, thanks to Monty for the CD!

Reimar: You posted somewhere how to get rid of the two tabs of msn in the taskbar...cannot find your post anymore, thanks for directions!

[Guest Reimar]

Just installed the latest version Windows 7 RC Build 7127 64 Bit.

The computer specs:

MB: Asrock Quad Core

CPU: AMD AM2 5000 64 Bit (2 Core only)

Memory: 2 GB DDR2 800 Kingston

HDD: Maxtor IDE 160 GB ATA 133 (5 years old)

DVD: DVD-RW Asus Multi Lightscribe

VGA: PCI-Express ATI X1650 256 MBytes

The installation took 18 minutes only. Now is downloading updates from MS.

Interestingly the installation is faster than with just 2 GB Memory as 64 Bit compare to an High End MSI MB DK790 with AMD AM2 6000 CPU and 4 GBytes of Dual Channel Memory. That installation took 22 minutes, so 20% more time!!

Will see how that works, special again with old software pp.

Cheers.

[Guest Reimar]

Interestingly in the 64 Bit 7127, if you didn't use the computer for some time, he'll automatically down in Hibernating Mode. The startup need app 10-12 seconds. I hadn't seen that in the build 7100 32 Bit yet!

That's a good feature which also saves some power consumption as well.

Given that, there came the question up: What's about Server 2008 R2 because it's running at the same system kernel?! I'll need to check out that and also need to find out if that feature can be disabled. A Server need to run at all time and be accessible as well. So if a Server goes in Hibernating Mode, it need to long time for to startup again and may a connection, special from the web, could be broken.

If anybody have some experiences with that already, please let us know.

Cheers.