Windows 7 RC To Final Upgrade Possible

If i do buy Windows 7 (and I'm thinking i will) i will buy full retail and run dual boot with XP Black as i don't want to give up my XP Black :)

Meh, I just misunderstood it I guess.

myzr7 said:

Spose we will only know what works after the release. I do know I have pre-ordered a upgrade. I do know that I prefer a clean install. I do know that I would like to keep dual booting with Vista as I am now(need Vista for trouble shooting purposes). I do not want to invalidate my Vista License. I do want a valid Windows 7 insulation. mmm

From what i have heard from MS you can do a clean install when it asks for a copy of vista or xp or even put a win7 rc disk in it will continue with the install. Cant be easier. The problems arise when you want to upgrade your current working copy. You can basically do what you want with a clean install ( go up or down) as long as you have another copy of windows (not win 95)
Good luck
Bob

Those of us Beta/RC testers concerned about future installs of the retail upgrade should consider creating a disc image of our working final W7 install. That way if the hard drive crashes we can re-image the activated OS (on a new hard drive) and restore to current condition without the RC activation issue. Doing this monthly, for example, could be a part of our backup strategy.

quickquestion said:

So I can't do a clean install with the upgrade disc? I NEED to keep a "windows.old" folder, or can I choose not to keep anything?

I "upgraded" form Win 7 32bit Ver. to Win 7 64bit Ver. and I deleted the windows.old file with no worries to the OS.

djfirestorm said:

One thing I am not so easy about. If you buy an upgrade based on RC1-RTM and loose your hard disk, what happens when you need to completly reinstall Full after March next year...after all, you cant activate the RC-RTM after that date....Microsoft is not stupid, its a scam, after march/10, if you are using the upgrade edition based on the Windows 7 builds, you will get screwed and have to buy a Retail or OEM copy to use it again. After all, MS is clear that it needs an activated copy of Windows 7 RC/RTM!!! The only way I can think about it is if you buy a small hard drive, activate a RC or RTM and keep it for future reinstall. Just clone your drive, then install via upgrade! Oh but wait, the copy deactivates after March 2010. What is the Fn point of that? Scam Scam Scam. Rape the testers when they discover they can't reactivate their upgrade license after March 2010!

It's not a "scam." They're not offering you some "deal" as a "tester."

They've simply acknowledged that the RC will be recognized as a prior genuine activated system for those using the upgrades, and they're not exactly trumpeting it as some reward for testing the RC or something.

If you ever need to reinstall full in the future, the Windows 7 "upgrade" install on the drive will be the genuine version you're fresh installing over.

You'd only potentially run into trouble if your hard drive utterly fails and you have no prior installation or disc to go from scratch with the upgrade. And if your hard drive utterly fails you're going to be looking at the kind of hardware change that requires you call MS for re-activation anyway, and they'll be able to see you had your key prior activated okay without an issue. People who have genuine installs from OEM's they upgrade and have hard drive failure and can't find their original install / restoration discs are going to be in the same boat.

If you're really freaked out, run your system in RAID 1 and protect yourself against hard drive failure.

But no there's no "scam." If your hard drive fully fails you'll simply need to call them as you would anyway. And if anything it's kind of surprising they're outright allowing people to use the upgrade versions off of the RC.