Early install question

toNka said:

Hey guys, I'm new here but I've been reading and searching for a few months.
I have to say, this forum has helped me figure a few things out here and there, what a great tool!
So now on to my ubern00b question.
Right now I am running W7 RC and I purchased Vista Home Premium with the free W7 upgrade coupon.
I went from XP to W7 RC (fresh install), I never cared for Vista.
So from my understanding, when I get my W7 retail disc, I can do a "custom install" on top of my RC install (which is activated) and it will pretty much be a clean install except it moves all the RC files to "Windows.old".
So I will never actually use the Vista disc they sent me, I'm cool with that.
Now, can I do a fresh install of the RTM release and activate it with my W7 key when I get it later?
How long will the RTM run unactivated?
I'm pretty content with the RC as I have not found many bugs so far.
But if I could be running the RTM legit now then I might as well.
Hopefully that all made sense.

welcome to the forums.

you can run the RTM without a key (un-activated) for 30 days but you can re-arm it (and get another 30 days) 3 times. 120 days in total. There are threads on how to re-arm but if you have problems check back here and i'll tell you how.

toNka said:

So there is no way legally to register the RTM early unless you have a TechNet Plus subscription?

technet or msdn subscription is what you need. otherwise, wait till Oct 22.