Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to retail

ThraxThrax ๐ŸŒAustin, TX Icrontian
edited December 2011 in Science & Tech
ยซ13456713

Comments

  • djmephdjmeph Detroit Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    Thank You! Now my boss will spare my life.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    This article is going to make many RC users very happy.
  • edited October 2009
    Great tip! Now I know why I left a big empty partition when I first loaded 7RC.
  • edited October 2009
    This definitely works for RC to RTM, but only for Ultimate as the article disclaimer indicates:
    Lastly, be aware that the RC-to-Retail upgrade process only works with the retail edition of Windows 7 Ultimate. A technique which opens the upgrade process to Windows 7 Professional or Home Premium hasnรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt been developed yet. We are, however, exploring possibilities; should one bear out, we will update this article with the necessary steps.

    That should be displayed more prominently imo, as the price of Ultimate jumps drastically for all versions and the pre-order deals in June were only for HP and Pro.
  • ButtersButters CA Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    Did this when Win 7 was available to Technet. It works great!
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    Hey Chizow, I know something you don't!

    /me sings.
  • ThraxThrax ๐ŸŒ Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    <b>UPDATE:</b>

    This guide now includes the steps necessary to upgrade from the Windows 7 release candidate to any retail version of Windows 7.

    We have certified the steps by successfully converting an RC install to the retail version of Windows 7 Professional.

    Enjoy!
  • chrisWhitechrisWhite Littleton, CO
    edited October 2009
    This. Is. Awesome. Great work Thrax!
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    Robert, you're my hero.
  • edited October 2009
    Thanks this will save me the hassel of having to install from sratch along with all my program files!
  • edited October 2009
    I concur - this is great info just in time for the release. I will be installing the European version of W7 which I think does not allow an upgrade at all. Does anyone have any experience with this release relative to W7RC. Given that an upgrade may not be possible, what's the next best (least worst) route?
    Thanx in advance for your help - Al
  • edited October 2009
    This is great! I'm assuming that this will work for Upgrade retail disks as well as Full (not-upgrade) disks? There's a big difference in price between the two.
  • ThraxThrax ๐ŸŒ Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    @Allan: For Euro users, a clean install is unfortunately the only way. I do advise making a backup of your current user profile using Windows Easy Transfer... This will save all of your desktop settings, favorites (for both Firefox and IE), documents, SOME program settings, and more. You'll have to reinstall drivers and any programs that were lost in the reformat, but the WET file will save you a lot of time.

    @CyberBob: As far as I am aware, it will work for upgrade and FPP discs just the same. :)
  • edited October 2009
    Ive done this 2 times now and some applications will work that came with windows... but other things like firefox or even installers for programs will not launch.

    Any suggestions?
  • ThraxThrax ๐ŸŒ Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    There are SO MANY variables that could lead to the problem you are experiencing. Some users on another forum were experiencing the same symptom (with a clean install)... Bad memory for one person, overheating processor for a second, a virus scanner for a third person was gumming up the works.

    What I can tell you is that I had no troubles on my end. The PC happily browsed on firefox, etc. I wish I could be more help, but there are simply too many variables to consider to give you a concrete answer.
  • Nic
    edited October 2009
    Hi to all. my rc win7(watermark says win 7 evaluation copy build 7100) but the minclient reads=7077.0 and minserver=7000.0. Can i still do the upgrade. IF not what do i do? and on a final note where do get the serial and product key to activate(surly the rc keys wont do job). And if some one could provide them or a link or even a crack would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time.
  • Nic
    edited October 2009
    Sorry previous post is meant to read; my release candidate copy of windows 7. Thanks for the great post and help again:)
  • ThraxThrax ๐ŸŒ Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    Nic wrote:
    Hi to all. my rc win7(watermark says win 7 evaluation copy build 7100) but the minclient reads=7077.0 and minserver=7000.0. Can i still do the upgrade. IF not what do i do? and on a final note where do get the serial and product key to activate(surly the rc keys wont do job). And if some one could provide them or a link or even a crack would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time.

    1. Yes, it will still work.
    2. You buy Windows. We're not here to help you steal.
  • Nic
    edited October 2009
    Hi i am sorry, i dont want to steal or do anything illigle but i am concerned that with the rc i could not even get into the trail with out the activation key, which i got from microsoft but will it be the same with the rtm where i dont know where to get a key from? PLEASE dont think i want to do anything illigle but i was and i still concerned. Thank you so much for your reply.
  • ThraxThrax ๐ŸŒ Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    The RTM is the final retail copy purchased from a store. The key comes with the product, and it'll be available on October 22.
  • edited October 2009
    The registry tweak to enable upgrade to any RTM version is brilliant! Doesn't really help me as a TN subscriber but will be a great solution for all those pre-order upgraders.
  • Nic
    edited October 2009
    Hi i'v followed your instructions perfectly and have attemted 3 times but i still have build 7100 but in my cversion.ini the minclient is 7077 and the minserver 7000. PLEASE PLEASE help! am i doing something wrong. what should i do?
  • edited October 2009
    Nic wrote:
    Hi i'v followed your instructions perfectly and have attemted 3 times but i still have build 7100 but in my cversion.ini the minclient is 7077 and the minserver 7000. PLEASE PLEASE help! am i doing something wrong. what should i do?
    Do you have a valid RTM key and installation disc/image? This isn't a magical hack to transform a RC install into an RTM install, it simply tricks the RTM installer into thinking the installed RC version is compatible for upgrade to RTM.
  • edited October 2009
    Curious whether you've tried this on the 90 day Enterprise trial. I've just spent many hours loading up a 64 bit Win 7 trial with all my office software to confirm compatibility before deploying to a production environment. Very impressive, positive result. All the software works magnificently, some of which is very poorly coded and crash prone. All my printers, scanners, etc perform using Vista 64 drivers. No issues with SBS 2003 or MS Exchange.

    I set up the trial build knowing that it would be good only for a short time, so have used trial versions of all the applications. Now you've got me wondering whether this RC-to-RTM conversion might work on a RTM Enterprise trial to Professional Retail conversion.
  • ThraxThrax ๐ŸŒ Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    I'm afraid I have no data on Enterprise. It seems to me, though, that you could make a VHD of Enterprise, boot it into a VM and try the upgrade. :)
  • Nic
    edited October 2009
    Thanks but I have done some research and have found out my 'rc' version is actualy a pre-rc version and that it says it is build 7100 and is not elegable for this upgrade
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    Negative, ghost rider. The RC for everybody is build 7100. This will work if you're on build 7100 and want to go to retail.
  • Nic
    edited October 2009
    Will it work if i try do a clean instal instead of an upgrade? my minserver reads 7000 what should i make the minclient? Thanks for all the help so far:)
  • edited October 2009
    i have used this three times on machines that I had done minimal testing on an seemed to work great. Am TN subscriber also and dont really want to do a clean install machine that is just used for testing
  • ThraxThrax ๐ŸŒ Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2009
    pigpenz wrote:
    i have used this three times on machines that I had done minimal testing on an seemed to work great. Am TN subscriber also and dont really want to do a clean install machine that is just used for testing

    I'm really pleased this worked for you, Pigpenz! Thanks for posting. :)
This discussion has been closed.