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Windows 7 RC

Started by pat, May 05, 2009, 05:30 hrs

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pat

Well folks, looks like it's time to format that Windows 7 Beta drive and see what the Release Candidate looks like.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

Downloading a copy now and most likely won't get a chance to install it till tomorrow. From what I've read this will be the only RC until the new version comes out. I've read anywhere from August of this year till early spring of next year. I'll guess in time for the next holiday season if not sooner. The RC download, again from what I've read on-line, should be available, subject to change, till July. The RC version should last till 6-1-2010 before it will expire.

SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

scuzzy

The more I use Win 7, the more I like it. I certainly prefer it over Vista, despite the similar interface.

I'm downloading both the 32-bit and 64-bit version. I'll likely run with the 32-bit for now, but I want to eventually install the 64-bit on my HP laptop.
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor

pat

I went with the 64 bit version. Last time I downloaded and installed the 32 bit version on an older system, but don't think I will this time around.

SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

scuzzy

I'm not entirely sure what Win7 version(s) I'll ultimately purchase. For now, I plan to test the 32-bit on my main system, and the 64-bit on my HP laptop.

Poking around the net, I found these articles helpful:

32-bit vs. 64-bit Windows
Windows 7: 64-bit vs. 32-bit
64-bit: More than just the RAM

The third article is 5 pages long and very informative (maybe TMI).
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor

scuzzy

So far I've installed Win7 RC 32-bit on my main system's secondary hard drive. That's about as far as I've gotten so far. I'll probably continue this venture next week.

Win XP Pro is installed on my primary HDD. I don't use any type of boot manager. Instead I boot into the BIOS setup and change the HDD priority between primary and secondary, depending on which OS I want to boot. This works beautifully and avoids any boot conflicts.
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor

pat

I installed the 64 bit version last night and tried to use EasyBcd to set up the dual boot. When I installed the Win7, I just unplugged my Vista drive so Win7 wouldn't automatically install a bootloader. I then tried to setup the dual boot with EasyBCD, but no, Win7 won't let it change the file settings. Gives me a message that an unknown program has tried to make changes and if I trust this program to make changes to Windows digital driver settings. This is different than the Beta. I followed the exact same procedure to set the dual boot and it went fine. This could actually be a good thing and Win7 may be a little more secure.

I just reversed the changes I had made and I can boot into Win7 by selecting which drive to boot into using the BIOS. I would prefer to just use the boot menu and will probably just try using EasyBCD from the Win7 drive instead of the Vista one. Most likely I'll ask a couple of questions over in the EasyBCD forum first and may even use the newer EasyBCD 2.0 Beta.   
SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

scuzzy

Change of plans...

After some consideration I opted against the 32-bit version for my main computer. I reformatted the secondary hard drive and installed the 64-bit version. So far it's working well, although my Canon LiDE 60 scanner was not recognized by the OS. I'll have to look for a suitable driver later.

It also did not install the driver for my Samsung printer, but I installed it when I found that it was listed in the optional Windows Update. I'll install my other software, such as MS Office, as I get time.

Pat, what are you using for the video driver? I have a 7600GT and I left it with the default installation. And what are you using for antivirus?
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor

pat

#7
For video driver, I downloaded the one that came up with the Window's update. Haven't checked the Nvidia site yet to see if that is the most current one. I did read that Nvidia had a new release for the RC of 7 so the update site may have the latest release, will check.

No AV yet, still looking into that. May just go with the free AVG, that worked well with the Beta.

If there is a Vista 64 bit driver for your scanner and you can't find a Win7 one, you might give that a try.
SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

scuzzy

Done did that. I found and installed Canon's Vista 64-bit driver and it is working well. I also installed the Windows Update version for my video card.

I too will likely go with the free AVG antivirus. That will probably be my next Windows 7 project, and probably on my next set of days off.
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor

pat

#9
I never could set up the dual boot with EasyBCD from within Vista. I kept getting this message when trying to boot to Win7 although booting to Vista gives no error message.

'A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. If you have a Windows installation disc insert the disk and restart your computer. Click "repair your computer" and then choose a recovery tool. Otherwise, to start Windows so you can investigate further, press the ENTER key and display the boot menu, press F8 for Advanced Boot Options and select last Known Good. If you understand why the digital signature cannot be verified and want to start Windows without this file, temporarily disable driver signature enforcement.

File: \windows\system32\winload exe

Status: Oxc0000428

Info: Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file'


I even went into Win 7 and set it to allow unsigned drivers, but still no joy from within Vista.

I really never got a satisfactory answer as to "why not", even though there were others with this issue, from the EacyBCD support forum. I did get suggestions to insert the Win 7 dvd and repair the Win 7 boot menu.  I suspect this is an issue that more will have.

What I did do was to change drive boot priority in BIOS to boot the Win 7 drive, installed EasyBCD there and set the dual boot from within Win7. This works fine. I did verify that I can change boot order back in BIOS to boot straight to my Vista drive which is most likely what I will do when I'm done with the Vista RC preview. I also installed iReboot to each OS which is a small taskbar item that lets you boot straight to either OS right from the taskbar without having to reboot and pick from the boot menu. The system does reboot, you just don't have to watch for the boot menu.


SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64