Windows 7: from release to final?

sorry if this has been asked before, but can i upgrade the release candidate to the final version i will receive in a couple of days in my mail, or do i have to do a complete clean install?
regards,
markus

Microsoft essentially forces you to fresh install, and you probably should.

If you absolutely must upgrade, you can alter the cversion.ini file in the sources folder on the install media to allow a lower minimum build.

More info at the following if you need it:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3075/...s-7-rc-to-rtm/

it would be a lot better if you did a clean install - i will be, and i'm sure a lot of others will be too...

I upgraded just to do it, then did a clean install LOL.

ok - so how would you go about having the software&applications&settings available you're using at the moment?
-> backup and then restore in the new Windows 7 ?
or do i have to go all the way back to the start and install one after the other?

The best path is to do a clean install after backing up your apps and data. If you really, really want to do an upgrade, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

The release candidate is a version of Ultimate. Unless you have bought the retail version of Ultimate, you're going to have to mod the registry.

Here's a link to an article on upgrading from the RC to any version of the retail:

Icrontic » Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to any retail version

I just have a list of what I need and what I use, format, reinstall, and go down the list. I never really worry about importing anything except Outlook emails and my DVD database. I Have the My Documents folder on a separate physical D: drive, and the first thing I do is point Windows to it. I use an Outlook addin called Personal Folders Backup, which imports the .pst for me, and Ant Movie Catalog which imports my DVD database. Other than that, the rest is freeware.

As for Steam, it and all the games it contains are also on my separate D drive, I just install the Steam client there, and poof, no downloading needed.

No tedious mucking about with backup or anything, takes me an hour to be back up and running.

Oh! Nice find Schaft! I posted the link for upgrading from RC to RTM, but that little registry trick is NICE. Thanks for that.

personally, i have all my documents stored on a separate partition, so that they will survive a reformat and reinstall of windows.

then i go about tweaking settings and installing all my software again, it's a bit tedious, but hey-ho, there you go...

you can automate the process a bit by using windows easy transfer.

just start typing 'windows easy transfer' into the searchbox at the bottom of the start-menu to run it.

So anyone took the plunge and upgraded from RC to retail box version, using the cversion.ini method?

going to get the OEM ultimate this weekend and install over my RC.
That method worked when I upgrade beta to RC.

If nobody tried it, I guess i'll be the first guinea pig

As I noted above, I used the method posted here to see if it would work, and it worked perfectly. I then formatted and did a fresh install, because that is always best.