Windows 7 Rc About To Expire

[Mobi]

I have had Windows 7 RC on my Lap top since last year, and was given to understand it would be not be discontinued until June 2010, and that I would be given good notice of it's pending shut down.

Suddenly, out of the blue, I get a message that it will be shut down in 3 days!

I am the first to admit that I haven't followed this matter very closely, but this is the first time I have received any notification on line of it's withdrawal, and only 3 days notice seems to be a bit harsh.

I have always planned to take up the real version when the RC expires, but now I am wondering the most economical way of doing this.

Does anyone know of any special online deals I can take advantage of, given I have been using the RC version and providing feedback for a long time, or do I just buy one in a local PC shop?

Thanks for any input on this

[Jdietz]

Did you use your three extensions yet?

* Step 1: Click Start, All Programs, Accessories. Right-click Command Prompt and choose Run As Administrator. Enter your administrator password.

* Step 2: Type the following command and press Enter:

slmgr -rearm

Note the space after slmgr and the hyphen in front of rearm.

* Step 3: Restart Windows 7.

Once the OS restarts, the Properties dialog described above will indicate that Windows 7's activation grace period has been reset to a full 30 days.

You can run the -rearm trick a total of three times. If you perform a -rearm at the end of each 30-day period, you end up with 120 days of full, unfettered Windows 7 use without having to supply an activation key in the interim.

[Mobi]

Did you use your three extensions yet?

* Step 1: Click Start, All Programs, Accessories. Right-click Command Prompt and choose Run As Administrator. Enter your administrator password.

* Step 2: Type the following command and press Enter:

slmgr -rearm

Note the space after slmgr and the hyphen in front of rearm.

* Step 3: Restart Windows 7.

Once the OS restarts, the Properties dialog described above will indicate that Windows 7's activation grace period has been reset to a full 30 days.

You can run the -rearm trick a total of three times. If you perform a -rearm at the end of each 30-day period, you end up with 120 days of full, unfettered Windows 7 use without having to supply an activation key in the interim.

Did Steps one to three, but I don't understand "properties dialog box described above". Where is this described? Where do I find this box?

Thanks

[Jdietz]

it was described above the piece I quoted, it means just check how many days you have left now, after you did this command, should say 30.

To see how many days you have left, click Start, right-click Computer, and choose Properties. At the bottom of the dialog under Windows Activation, you'll see the number of days left in your trial period.

[garyh]

The warnings have been coming up for a few weeks now, not just the last 3 days. Even so you will still be able to use it for a little while yet as it will begin shutting down every 2 hours. So even if you don't rearm it you won't be completely high and dry on 1/3/10.

[Mobi]

it was described above the piece I quoted, it means just check how many days you have left now, after you did this command, should say 30.

To see how many days you have left, click Start, right-click Computer, and choose Properties. At the bottom of the dialog under Windows Activation, you'll see the number of days left in your trial period.

Done that.

Under Windows Activation it says: "Windows is Activated" and underneath that is the Product ID.(key) Number.

There is no number or anything about number of days left.

For some reason, I am now running Windows 7 Ultimate, Version 6.1 (Build 7100), Not RC. It must have upgraded automatically at some point in the past.

I did everything you said, but I don't know for sure if I now have another 30 days.

[lopburi3]

The RC version will start shutting down every two hours in March but can still be used until June if you can live with that. If not you need to revert back or obtain a new released version.

[Supernova]

For some reason, I am now running Windows 7 Ultimate, Version 6.1 (Build 7100), Not RC. It must have upgraded automatically at some point in the past.

Build 7100 is the RC.

The final version is build 7600 -- that is, 7600.16385.090713-1255.

[Mobi]

Well I followed the steps as advised by Jdietz but haven't managed to extend the grace period, as I am now being informed I have only 20 hours left.

I believe I qualify for an update rather than a new installation for W7.

Can anyone advise how and where I go on the web to get my upgrade, bearing in mind I am based in Thailand, and presumably should not have to pay the US or UK price for this software?

(I previously downloaded a genuine XP version from Microsoft Singapore, but this was a few years ago.)

Thanks for any suggestions

[Mobi]

I must have been doing something wrong, because I think I have now re-armed it.

I get the message "3 days until automatic activation"

I would still like to know the best way to buy the genuine upgrade.

[Spoonman]

you cannot upgrade from RC, you need to do a full install., it is rather painless, ive done 2 this morning.

[lopburi3]

You do not qualify for an upgrade by the fact of using the RC but nobody is going to care as long as it is OEM/Upgrade/Retail full install. But you can not upgrade Ultimate to a lesser edition as far as I know. You would have to do the install without id and then the install with method I believe. Also RC is not designed for upgrade and what you install should be a clean install.

What I did a few weeks ago was buy OEM Home Premium. Used the built-in transfer program of RC to make a copy on external hard drive of settings/documents to save and then installed the OEM version and used the transfer to get settings/documents and list of software to download. All in all a few hours work but not much lost and only a few programs required extra input to get back to normal.

[Spoonman]

for all your messengers/spyware/java/flash stuff go to www.ninite.com nice easy all in one installer for that sorta stuff, just check the boxes of what you want and let it do its thing.

[garyh]

you cannot upgrade from RC, you need to do a full install., it is rather painless, ive done 2 this morning.

You can upgrade, if you use google you will find the way that makes RC appear to be vista to the W7 upgrade disk. Then you can do an upgrade.

[Spoonman]

so a dodgy hack to do an upgrade, thats sound advice.

Whyt not just a do a clean install, its quick and easy and your left with a nice fresh machine to begin clogging back up again.

[Supernova]

you cannot upgrade from RC, you need to do a full install., it is rather painless, ive done 2 this morning.

You can upgrade, if you use google you will find the way that makes RC appear to be vista to the W7 upgrade disk. Then you can do an upgrade.

+1

It can be done, but I don't recommend it. Better to do a clean install.

[Spoonman]

Open the command prompt with administrator privileges and enter “slmgr -rearm“. Now reboot your machine to get 30 more days. This trick can be used for three times and each time you will get 30 days. So totally you will be getting 90 days to take the decision of upgrading to Windows 7.

[whiterussian]

Is windows 7 any more robust?

Is it faster?

Must say, i think Vista is crap. Designed for grannies and retirees to make pretty wallpapers. Dont get me started on the file search and indexing. Load of dumbed down rubbish.

Im seriously considering moving over to a unix system.

Ive even had to use a unix VI emulator to get the job done in Vista (copying/sorting 300,000 images fast enough).

You know they have taken a wrong turn when the most basic operations take forever (file operations) and can be done in a fraction of the time by bypassing the bloated windows procedures.

Why dont they build in a windows 'self destruct' button, save me the effort of reformatting the thing every 6 months to recover a stable system.

I think Windows may have run its course. dam_n thee Bill Gates.

Its just a glorified Ipod now - only good for multimedia and tweeting.

[Supernova]

Is windows 7 any more robust?

Is it faster?

Yes, and Yes.

Must say, i think Vista is crap.

Most people who have used Vista will agree with you here.

[whiterussian]

Is windows 7 any more robust?

Is it faster?

Yes, and Yes.

Groovy! Glad to hear it! Survivors of Windows Vista support group here i come.

I will try and get a copy, repartiton my drive and throw on a UNIX system as a dual boot option. Grrrr..

[Supernova]

^ To put it another way, Windows 7 is what Vista should have been.

So yeah, try it out...

[Abrak]

I must have been doing something wrong, because I think I have now re-armed it.

I get the message "3 days until automatic activation"

I would still like to know the best way to buy the genuine upgrade.

Mobi,

I got the same message as you. If you click on the '3 days until automatic activation' it will say you have 30 days to activate Windows.

[Abrak]

The RC version will start shutting down every two hours in March but can still be used until June if you can live with that. If not you need to revert back or obtain a new released version.

When you say that the RC version will 'start shutting down every two hours', do you mean that you can still use it but after 2 hours it will shut down your PC. That you can then restart it and use it for another two hours etc.

This wouldnt be great but it is not the end of the world. The warnings about deactivation seem to imply far worse.

[cdnvic]

Just a reminder, there's a fine line between being creative and doing something illegal. Please keep that in mind and refrain from posting anything verging on piracy. (I deleted one post)

[lopburi3]

Yes - it shuts down and you can start again - but I am not sure if it saves work in progress. I would not consider it a usable system.

[Spoonman]

RC on shutdown does not save work in progress.

On a lighter slighty dodgy note, my newly "acquired" win7 ultimate passes all the Microsoft update stuff, including the nasty little KB9791033 update (this is the one that detects potentially non genuine software).

[onethailand]

For some people there are good reasons not to do a clean install. You can upgrade from RC to the full version by modifying one line in the .ini file, simply search Google for instructions. There is no reason why this shouldn't be permitted, and certainly not prohibited by Microsoft although they don't make this information public. I bought a genuine Win 7 Ultimate for 7,390 baht and successfully did an upgrade which took roughly 3 hours.

BTW - the rearm command didn't seem to work for me. But irrelevant as in any case I was always going to go buy the full software anyhow.

[lopburi3]

If you want to upgrade to Ultimate it is easy as you say. But most users have no need to spend the extra money for something that is not needed and will be installing Home Premium. Google on that gets:

The Windows 7 beta or RC releases were Ultimate edition, so you’ll only be able to upgrade to the RTM (final) if you are installing Ultimate Edition.

Are you saying it can be done to versions other than Ultimate?

[Mobi]

For some people there are good reasons not to do a clean install. You can upgrade from RC to the full version by modifying one line in the .ini file, simply search Google for instructions. There is no reason why this shouldn't be permitted, and certainly not prohibited by Microsoft although they don't make this information public. I bought a genuine Win 7 Ultimate for 7,390 baht and successfully did an upgrade which took roughly 3 hours.

BTW - the rearm command didn't seem to work for me. But irrelevant as in any case I was always going to go buy the full software anyhow.

Thank you for the information.

May I ask if you bought the software on line or in a computer store?

Also isn't the point that if I buy an "update" (presumably on line), it is slightly cheaper than buying the full software. I'm not too bothered about saving a bit of money, but if it is available I might as well go for it.

But others have said that running RC doesn't qualify you for an upgrade, so maybe that's why they don't actually tell you how to upgrade from an RC version.

Others have said you can upgrade from Vista and you can fool them into thinking the your RC is Vista, so who knows?

Anyway, as I said, I'm not really bothered and at least I now know the price in Thai Baht. Not too bad.

BTW I did succeed in doing the re-arm - eventually, when I re-read the instructions instead of going off half cock

[onethailand]

Are you saying it can be done to versions other than Ultimate?

Not if you're using RC, which is basically RC Ultimate. So if you want to install anything less than Win 7 Ultimate over a Win 7 beta or RC, you should probably do a clean install - although theoretically you could still modify the .ini of a Home or Home Premium, or even Professional, there's no guarantee that the "upgrade" would work since you'd actually be doing a "downgrade".

For the record - my upgrade is working perfectly, no hiccups, no problems afterwards, and this on a notebook which was close to useless running Vista.

Thank you for the information.

May I ask if you bought the software on line or in a computer store?

At a store - ITConnect I think it was called, it's a subsidiary of Hardware House International so any of the HH shops should have it somewhere. Watch the price, I paid 7,290 (cash price), you can get it from Jib for about 7,100. ITCity wanted 8,300, and another place I saw wanted 9,200.

Also isn't the point that if I buy an "update" (presumably on line), it is slightly cheaper than buying the full software. I'm not too bothered about saving a bit of money, but if it is available I might as well go for it.

Updates are not available for the RC or Windows XP - only for Vista. There was a short period during which they had a special price for those wanting to buy an "upgrade" but that's long since passed. Some manufacturers, however, may still have special deals for moving from Vista to Win 7, if you bought your Vista after June 2009 but before end-January 2010.

But others have said that running RC doesn't qualify you for an upgrade, so maybe that's why they don't actually tell you how to upgrade from an RC version.

Others have said you can upgrade from Vista and you can fool them into thinking the your RC is Vista, so who knows?

There are no official upgrades available for Win 7 as far as I know, other than those from manufacturers.

What you're actually doing by modifying the .ini is telling Windows that your version is lower than RC, which is 7100. In my case I simply modified to 7000, which was actually an earlier beta of Win 7.