My windows 7 RC is about to expire and I need advice

valtonray said:

animex said:

valtonray said:

i think the OEM practice of allowing it to be switched over after a bit of hasseling will soon change. MS is starting to take a firmer stand on the fact that OEM is for system manufacturers and not home PC builders, and they have the right to refuse the key once tied to particular hardware.

the way i got microsoft to give in was simply to remind rather i am selling, giving away, or keeping the computer i built with or without a business license by the definition of manufacturing i am a manufacture. i may not have built the parts from scratch, however i did use the parts to build the end product.

and this is why MS is starting to make a stand against it and has made an official statement that home builders will not be considered OEM manufacturers. it's an abuse of their software and they have the right to enforce this.

the abuse is on microsofts end. not our end. easy work around though.

Ok so it finally finished downloading, but now it gives me an option which says "Launch Install". The problem is I don't want to install it until after I get an external HDD to back-up my data onto. I'm just wondering if it will be ok to close the window that says "Launch Install" for now. I'm just worried that I won't be able to launch the install later on if I close this page.

Also, do I need to burn the iso to a disc or can I? I'm wondering because I thought you needed a disc for the full version to do a clean install.

I would greatly appreciate help from anyone who is experienced with MSDNAA.

Look at the download location and see what exactly it downloaded. If it is an .iso file then burn it to DVD using ImgBurn at 4x speed with Verify - it never fails.

If it is files, first compile into ISO using this: Bootable ISO - Create from Installation Files

If it is student download, use this: Make bootable iso from student d/l

ImgBurn at 4x is, as already said, a sure bet.

If you've still got a working Win 7 system around, then just clickk on the .iso file and you will be prompted to burn to DVD. Win 7 sure has made life easy.

Thanks. I believe it's correctly burned to the DVD. It shows this image when I insert the disc:

I'm still not 100% sure if it's the full version or the upgrade. When I look at the files on the disc it says:


I noticed there is a folder that says upgrade. Do the full retail releases have that folder? Since I'm running the RC it needs to be the full version (without a work around) so I don't want to wipe my HDD just to find out that I can't install my copy of Windows.

Sorry for all the in-depth questions. I just want to get this right. I've had too many bad experiences in the past with PC's lol.

DocBrown said:

What is the size of the .iso file ? 3,149,108 KB ?


I have these 9 files & folders on my TechNet download.

I'm not sure. It was always showing a different number. When it was downloading it stopped at around 2.1GB, but then when I looked at the file it was only 1.03 GB and then when I burned it to a disc I think it was a little over 3GB like yours

LobsterEar said:

DocBrown said:

What is the size of the .iso file ? 3,149,108 KB ?


I have these 9 files & folders on my TechNet download.

I'm not sure. It was always showing a different number. When it was downloading it stopped at around 2.1GB, but then when I looked at the file it was only 1.03 GB and then when I burned it to a disc I think it was a little over 3GB like yours

To be on the safe side redownload the ISO.

theog said:

LobsterEar said:

DocBrown said:

What is the size of the .iso file ? 3,149,108 KB ?


I have these 9 files & folders on my TechNet download.

I'm not sure. It was always showing a different number. When it was downloading it stopped at around 2.1GB, but then when I looked at the file it was only 1.03 GB and then when I burned it to a disc I think it was a little over 3GB like yours

To be on the safe side redownload the ISO.

Why would I need to do that? It seems to have burnt the iso onto the disc just fine. I mean, it has all those files on the disc. On the site it said the download was 2.1GB and it did download 2.1 gigs. It was just afterwards when looking at the downloaded file it showed it as 1.03, but I know the full 2 GB was downloaded.

I just assumed it had to do with the way the files were compressed or unpacked at certain stages because after it was on the CD it was 3 GB.

Would it be ok to insert the disc and then double click the disc icon without it automatically installing it? I'm just worried that it will install now when I dont want it to. I just want to make sure the Windows 7 is on the disc completely and I assume that if a menu pops up telling me to install it then it was correctly burned onto the disc.

Verify the DVD against ISO using ImgBurn to make sure.

Load ISO to make sure it says "bootable" in text at left, then insert DVD to verify against ISO.

Burn again if necessary using ImgBurn at 4x with Verify.