# Windows 7 Release Candidate: Rumors and Such



## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Lots of buzz lately about Windows 7 Release Candidate. Competing web sites are publishing every whisper heard, but Microsoft itself is silent (normal for them). Lots of speculation, much of it wrong.

The latest build of Windows 7 is 7068 (at this writing) and it was released to selected testers on March 21st 2009. 

The best original estimate for the release candidate was mid April 2009 and that is most likely a little early. Intelligent estimates would put the release candidate in the early half of May with an earlier release to MSDN and TechNet.

Couple of other things are known: Microsoft has told the hardware guys that any computer purchased with Vista after July 1, 2009, will be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7. This is the equivalent of a "90 day warning bell" indicating a release on or before October 1st.

Obviously the Beta testing has gone well. Buzz is very good for the OS with Gartner Consulting making for them the unprecedented announcement that enterprise clients should begin planning Windows 7 deployments now and NOT wait for service pack 1 as is the norm. On an Enterprise timetable that would put adoption of Windows 7 at the enterprise level out to the latter half of 2010. The recommendation is to continue programs that are testing for Vista and let them naturally fold into Windows 7.

There are still some issues out there to be dealt with, at least as far as those of us running the public beta. VPN software as a rule isn't working but this will probably be remedied fairly quickly. 

A number of security apps don't work. This too, is self repairing.

I am already receiving numerous driver updates for Windows 7 as manufacturers are getting an early start this time, perhaps to avoid the embarassing fiasco's at Vista's release (HP are you listening).

Generally Windows 7 has, at least for me, been a "lean, mean, fighting machine" and I am using it daily in a production environment with the only exception being when I need to run a VPN.

Internet Explorer 8 has been a problem. The version in Windows 7 Beta is the equivalent of IE8 Beta 1. There has been a IE8 Beta 2, RC1 and Final release, none of which will run on Windows 7. We won't get a new version of the browser until the release candidate comes out. I suspect this is because you can completely remove IE 8 from Windows 7 and have no Microsoft browser installed. This is not possible on XP or Vista.

IE8 has been annoying but not impossible and the versions I am running under Vista are excellent.

Bottom Line:

1. Windows 7 is doing very, very well in testing.
2. The release candidate is close... Mid May for the public and a little earlier for MSDN and TechNet subscribers.
3. The RC build number will be higher than "7068"
4. Activity involving Windows 7 by other vendors should be well under way.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Among the whispers, Softpedia is reporting here that RC1 will be available in May and won't expire until 6/1/10. /steve


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

LarryFlowers said:


> The latest build of Windows 7 is 7068 (at this writing) and it was released to selected testers on March 21st 2009.


Isn't this the one that was supposed to be made available only to OEM's, but has subsequently escaped into the wild?

Looks to expire 3-2010


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

In the past, Microsoft has made the final RC good for 180 days, but you never know. Windows 7 has NOT followed the normal testing pattern.



Steve said:


> Among the whispers, Softpedia is reporting here that RC1 will be available in May and won't expire until 6/1/10. /steve


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

Thanks for the information Larry, as usual. I am looking forward to the RC.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

Thanks Larry... 

Any word on a fix for VPN issues?


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

My question is - does Win7's Media Center recognize h.264 files (the ones with the .MKV extension) out of the box *now*? 

This is the one gaping hole in the HTPC I'm trying to put together. Vista has not been very nice int his regard and the third party solutions will play MKV files but they're not integrated into Media Center (even though the Blu-Ray player IS)


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

djlong said:


> My question is - does Win7's Media Center recognize h.264 files (the ones with the .MKV extension) out of the box *now*?
> 
> This is the one gaping hole in the HTPC I'm trying to put together. Vista has not been very nice int his regard and the third party solutions will play MKV files but they're not integrated into Media Center (even though the Blu-Ray player IS)


If you are asking if media center will play stored blu rays as mkv files, from my experience, it has worked for me.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Windows 7 does support H264, but there is no evidence of any support for MKV at this time. This could change by the time it is released, however... while I realize there is an MKV user base out there, MKV has failed thus far to gain the support of major vendors. Three hardware manufacturers who had announced support subsequently released product without it. Hopefully, MKV will find it's way into Windows 7 thru 3rd party vendors.

Also it has been announced there will be no native support for Blu-Ray in Windows 7. The license cost of $30 per unit is out of the question. It will be the job of 3rd party Disc manufacturers to supply the software.



djlong said:


> My question is - does Win7's Media Center recognize h.264 files (the ones with the .MKV extension) out of the box *now*?
> 
> This is the one gaping hole in the HTPC I'm trying to put together. Vista has not been very nice int his regard and the third party solutions will play MKV files but they're not integrated into Media Center (even though the Blu-Ray player IS)


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

Thanks for the info Larry. I'm assuming MS recommends starting fresh with a new install, but what's the story with upgrading over Vista - any feedback on that yet?


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Drew2k said:


> Thanks for the info Larry. I'm assuming MS recommends starting fresh with a new install, but what's the story with upgrading over Vista - any feedback on that yet?


They also have posted a means to install over XP. (Though I don't recall the exact process.)

Cheers,
Tom


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## cmtar (Nov 16, 2005)

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/ne...download-page-goes-up-early-coming-in-may.ars


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## Jasqid (Oct 26, 2008)

I've been running Win 7 since the Beta release on a "Frankenstein PC".
I put 7068 on it Saturday and since it seemed to run so good, put it on my main home PC. (Thats serves Playon and TVersity for my HR).

I have to say... playing with TVersity lastnight running on Win 7, it seems quicker. AND the best part is that I did not have to install the TVersity Codec pack! (MS has included codecs)


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

Tom Robertson said:


> They also have posted a means to install over XP. (Though I don't recall the exact process.)
> 
> Cheers,
> Tom


I have an older (3 years old) dell laptop with XP and I would like to install windows 7 over XP, though I cannot get the machine to install the new OS. I may do a google search now that I know it is possible.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Ya, it looks like you can upgrade XP to 7, but it's not pretty. Unless there's another way to do it, you first need to upgrade XP SP3 to Vista SP1, and from that point, you can upgrade to Windows 7.

It supposedly works, but I can't imagine what your registry might look like after that! And you'll need a legit copy of Vista, which I'm sure many folks (like me) who stuck with XP don't have. /steve


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

Steve said:


> Ya, it looks like you can upgrade XP to 7, but it's not pretty. Unless there's another way to do it, you first need to upgrade XP SP3 to Vista SP1, and from that point, you can upgrade to Windows 7.
> 
> It supposedly works, but I can't imagine what your registry might look like after that! And you'll need a legit copy of Vista, which I'm sure many folks (like me) who stuck with XP don't have. /steve


Yeah, I knew that I could do it that way, I will wait for the XP upgrade version.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

dave29 said:


> Yeah, I knew that I could do it that way, I will wait for the XP upgrade version.


So you think they'll definitely offer XP>7 in the RC or final version? I hadn't read anything about it. /steve


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

Steve said:


> So you think they'll definitely offer XP>7 in the RC or final version? I hadn't read anything about it. /steve


Hmmm, I thought I read it somewhere, but I could be wrong.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

You will be able to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 as far as purchasing a license is concerned, however I believe there is not a way to do the actual upgrade without doing a clean install.

Installing a new OS on top of an old one isn't a good idea anyway.



Steve said:


> So you think they'll definitely offer XP>7 in the RC or final version? I hadn't read anything about it. /steve


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

LarryFlowers said:


> You will be able to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 as far as purchasing a license is concerned, however I believe there is not a way to do the actual upgrade without doing a clean install.
> 
> Installing a new OS on top of an old one isn't a good idea anyway.


So, the RC will have the option to do a clean install on an XP machine? My beta version won't let me, or am I doing something wrong?


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Everything I have read says no upgrade install from XP. They did have some KB article I think about how you could use the user state tool to somehow bring some pertinent info into 7, but I have no idea what the complete process will be. My guess it would be easier to start from scratch anyway.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

What do you mean by a clean install? Insert the disk in the disk drive and boot the computer or are you talking about the type of clean install you can do in Vista?



dave29 said:


> So, the RC will have the option to do a clean install on an XP machine? My beta version won't let me, or am I doing something wrong?


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

LarryFlowers said:


> What do you mean by a clean install? Insert the disk in the disk drive and boot the computer or are you talking about the type of clean install you can do in Vista?


_Insert the disk in the disk drive and boot the computer_
I have had no success on installing windows 7 on my XP machine this way.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Arghhhh! My Technet sub expired about 7 days ago.


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

dave29 said:


> _Insert the disk in the disk drive and boot the computer_
> I have had no success on installing windows 7 on my XP machine this way.


 Format your HDD then put the disk in. Then boot from Disk. It worked for me on an old laptop. The Pc says "Designed for XP" but runs W7 better


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

TBlazer07 said:


> Arghhhh! My Technet sub expired about 7 days ago.


I wish I could get a copy of the 64 bit version too


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

MIAMI1683 said:


> Format your HDD then put the disk in. Then boot from Disk. It worked for me on an old laptop. The Pc says "Designed for XP" but runs W7 better


OK, will try now.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

MIAMI1683 said:


> I wish I could get a copy of the 64 bit version too


Me too! I have 3 machines on the beta now, maybe 4 if I get this old laptop to take.


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

dave29 said:


> Me too! I have 3 machines on the beta now, maybe 4 if I get this old laptop to take.


 I hear that. I have 3 here also. I like it sooo much that on older P4 with 2gb's of ram runs it. I put a new graphics card in the machine and it looks awesome on a 26" LCD.


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

MIAMI1683 said:


> The Pc says "Designed for XP" but runs W7 better


I found the same thing on an old laptop. Runs W7 very nicely overall.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

MIAMI1683 said:


> The Pc says "Designed for XP" but runs W7 better


...and probably won't run vista at all.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Hansen said:


> I found the same thing on an old laptop. Runs W7 very nicely overall.


Agree. A bit "snappier" than Win XP SP3. Definitely runs as well, if not slightly better, in as little as 512 MB memory on machines that can't run Vista.

Had Microsoft waited a bit and introduced 7 first, we would never have seen those Mac vs. Vista commercials, IMHO, and corporate America would have had no "hardware upgrade" reasons to stick with XP. /steve


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

"Desktop Wars: The Empire Strikes Back"


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

Just installed it on my old XP laptop, sorry for hijacking the thread Larry.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Steve said:


> Agree. A bit "snappier" than Win XP SP3. Definitely runs as well, if not slightly better, in as little as 512 MB memory on machines that can't run Vista.
> 
> Had Microsoft waited a bit and introduced 7 first, we would never have seen those Mac vs. Vista commercials, IMHO, and corporate America would have had no "hardware upgrade" reasons to stick with XP. /steve


I would argue that such a thing would be impossible, that Vista was the only thing that it could have been given its release date being so delayed, and that the only reason Windows7 is better than Vista is the extra effort put forth by the programmers due to the issues with Vista. Add to that, performance issues notwithstanding, compatibility issues tend to be a bit less pervasive when it's two years later.


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## drded (Aug 23, 2006)

Everything Microsoft has posted indicates you cannot upgrade from XP to W7, only do a clean install. That means reinstalling all your applications and settings. To me, a serious blunder by MS. Who wants to go through all that trouble?

Dave


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

drded said:


> Everything Microsoft has posted indicates you cannot upgrade from XP to W7, only do a clean install. That means reinstalling all your applications and settings. To me, a serious blunder by MS. Who wants to go through all that trouble?
> 
> Dave


Especially with so many computer being shipped without disks so the pre-installed software is impossible or very difficult to re-install.

Cheers,
Tom


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Yes but on the other hand, I really advise people not to upgrade OS's, just to stay with what you have and if it won't run your program of choice, perhaps a hardware upgrade is just the thing. 

I'm still bruised from the upgrade from MS-DOS 3.3 to MS-DOS 4.0 ...


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Upgrading an OS is a bad idea... it always has been. You are dragging along all the bad baggage in the old OS. A Clean install of a new OS insures that you haven't brought along anything from the old OS. Besides, the time you will save with a clean install vs an upgrade may well offset much of the time necessary to reinstall everything.

I have for years used a 2 drive system in my PC's. Drive C is strictly OS and software. Drive D is everything else. I can do a full rebuild in short order and just reconnect my files to the new system.



drded said:


> Everything Microsoft has posted indicates you cannot upgrade from XP to W7, only do a clean install. That means reinstalling all your applications and settings. To me, a serious blunder by MS. Who wants to go through all that trouble?
> 
> Dave


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

LarryFlowers said:


> I have for years used a 2 drive system in my PC's. Drive C is strictly OS and software. Drive D is everything else. I can do a full rebuild in short order and just reconnect my files to the new system.


Exactly what I do as well. Works like a charm. What's especially nice is any network or other hardware drivers you may need that are not part of Windows are immediately available on your "D" drive.

You just have to remember before wiping "C" to grab any bookmarks or desktop items you may want to save.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

LarryFlowers said:


> Upgrading an OS is a bad idea... it always has been. You are dragging along all the bad baggage in the old OS. A Clean install of a new OS insures that you haven't brought along anything from the old OS. Besides, the time you will save with a clean install vs an upgrade may well offset much of the time necessary to reinstall everything.
> 
> I have for years used a 2 drive system in my PC's. Drive C is strictly OS and software. Drive D is everything else. I can do a full rebuild in short order and just reconnect my files to the new system.


This definitely was true up to now. However I wonder if ms has finally got the upgrade proceedure right with 7. I did an upgrade install from 7000 to 7068 and the process as much better than before. My dog even screwed the process up by knocking the usb drive off the desk causing the as card to eject partway through the process and it recovered back to the desktop and even told me the system was restored. I started again And no issues. Looking at the steps in the upgrade process it looks like it spends a fair amount of time finding the current state of everything on your machine before proceeding.


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

How do I get this Window to come up?
I installed 7068 last night and activated it, but I'm not seeing an expiration date anywhere.
This image is from another website - not mine.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Click on Start>Run and type winver.exe, click OK.



deltafowler said:


> How do I get this Window to come up?
> I installed 7068 last night and activated it, but I'm not seeing an expiration date anywhere.
> This image is from another website - not mine.


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

deltafowler said:


> How do I get this Window to come up?
> I installed 7068 last night and activated it, but I'm not seeing an expiration date anywhere.
> This image is from another website - not mine.


Dumb question on my part. How do I find a copy of Build 7068? I'm wondering if that might fix my IE8 issues in Win 7.


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

My question is if we have build 7068 will our assigned lic. keys work for it, or do we need new keys?


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

The current Beta Keys work with 7068 and have worked with every build so far. You will have to re-input it after the upgrade install.


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

Thanks, Larry!
It had been so long since I'd used that command I had completely forgotten about it.
Looks to be good until 3-1-2010.

(Mod Edit: image removed)


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## turey22 (Jul 30, 2007)

Dumb question...Why are Windows 7 requirements so simple compared to Vista?


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## cmtar (Nov 16, 2005)

looks like build 7073 is out


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Not a Public Release... there will not be another public release of Windows 7 until the Release Candidate.



cmtar said:


> looks like build 7073 is out


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

turey22 said:


> Dumb question...Why are Windows 7 requirements so simple compared to Vista?


 Since they are built on the same platform consider it Vista on roids.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

MIAMI1683 said:


> Since they are built on the same platform consider it Vista on roids.


Really more XP on 'roids, IMO. Vista feels like bloatware. 7 feels "lean and mean". /steve


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## turey22 (Jul 30, 2007)

Steve said:


> Really more XP on 'roids, IMO. Vista feels like bloatware. 7 feels "lean and mean". /steve





MIAMI1683 said:


> Since they are built on the same platform consider it Vista on roids.


Thats funny. Haha, I dont like Vista at all and I miss XP. I dont like the requirements for Vista. I am glad the requirements for Windows 7 are so simple that you can put it on older laptops or even desktops.


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## turey22 (Jul 30, 2007)

MIAMI1683 said:


> Since they are built on the same platform consider it Vista on roids.


You mean same kernal? and aren't they all?


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Windows 7 is based upon the kernal developed for Vista. That kernal is different than the kernal used for XP/Win 2000. Think of Win 7 as having nearly the same DNA as Vista. Kind of like siblings.



turey22 said:


> You mean same kernal? and aren't they all?


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

Hansen said:


> Think of Win 7 as having nearly the same DNA as Vista. Kind of like siblings.


More like incest. :lol:


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

Hansen said:


> Windows 7 is based upon the kernal developed for Vista. That kernal is different than the kernal used for XP/Win 2000. Think of Win 7 as having nearly the same DNA as Vista. Kind of like siblings.


 Kernal or "platform" you get it. Like brothers or something. I like Vista too though. XP we never a good OS in my opinion. Glad there's options for everryone


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

MIAMI1683 said:


> Kernal or "platform" you get it. Like brothers or something. I like Vista too though. XP we never a good OS in my opinion. Glad there's options for everryone


Have to disagree with you about XP. I think most will agree that up until 7, it's been the most stable and best-performing O/S from Microsoft since DOS.

I love 7, but I have to be honest that even now, from a performance/usability standpoint, my two XP SP3 desktops still give my 7 desktop a run for the money. I could easily live with either. Just my .02. /steve


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Windows XP is a great platform and has served its users well over a long period of time. It remains a viable operating system. 

Windows 7 is going to represent the next long lived Microsoft OS. It is designed around the Vista SP1 kernel. The core code was changed in Vista SP1, which as many of you may remember was the reason that SP1 was installed from the command line (restarted and % counts as it rebuilt itself). This was done to bring it in line with Windows 2008 Server kernel.

As Windows 7 reaches the marketplace, and Windows 2008 Server makes it's presence felt in the Enterprise, you will begin to see some of the vast changes from the XP/Windows 2003 Server world. 

For users, Windows 7 is a lean machine capable of running on many varied platforms, with relatively basic requirements. Many of the new Netbooks are being designed specifically to run on Windows 7. Lower power consumption (longer battery life) and the ability to do more on less hardware is going to be a hallmark on this OS.


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

Steve said:


> Have to disagree with you about XP. I think most will agree that up until 7, it's been the most stable and best-performing O/S from Microsoft since DOS.
> 
> I love 7, but I have to be honest that even now, from a performance/usability standpoint, my two XP SP3 desktops still give my 7 desktop a run for the money. I could easily live with either. Just my .02. /steve


 Cool


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## HIPAR (May 15, 2005)

Here's my transition plan:

First) I'm not going to rebuild my XP desktop computer .. Windows XP is set up so I can use it. Everything, apps, devices, peripherals work perfectly. 

Second) I bought a second hard drive and installed the release candidate for VISTA on it a few years ago. I promptly removed that drive and relegated to the shelf where it's been collecting dust. So, the plan will be to use that drive to evaluate Windows 7 with my current hardware.

Third) If I like it and when the final version is released, I'll buy new hardware and build a state of the art computer. I'll gradually transfer 'what works' from the XP machine.

So, assuming Win 7 RC1 will boot from a CD, will it reformat my 'test and evaluation drive' and do a fully clean install?

--- CHAS


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## turey22 (Jul 30, 2007)

deltafowler said:


> More like incest. :lol:





Hansen said:


> Windows 7 is based upon the kernal developed for Vista. That kernal is different than the kernal used for XP/Win 2000. Think of Win 7 as having nearly the same DNA as Vista. Kind of like siblings.


I didn't know about that. I thought they were all backward compatible and using the same kernal. I guess I was wrong!!!


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Vista was a big leap forward, but... Microsoft scrapped several years of work and started over on Vista, and that put Vista's development behind schedule, despite having 5 years to work on it. Vista as originally introduced was very slow on older hardware, and as always, when moving to a major new OS version, driver support was a problem.

In fact, driver support was HORRIBLE because most 3rd-party vendors had downsized most of their driver-writing staff since XP had been in the marketplace for so long. They only needed enough staff to write drivers for any new hardware they produced. Then, around the time that Vista was going to be released, those companies looked at all the work they would need to do, and most decided it would make more financial sense just to write drivers for very recent hardware, and abandon anything older than a couple of years. The idea was that it would force people to buy replacement hardware (and they'd make money) instead of "wasting" money writing new drivers for stuff they'd already sold.

Well, that didn't work as well as hoped for many manufacturers, most of whom were eventually forced to go back and write Vista drivers for a lot of older hardware due to massive pressure from their customers. But that didn't help Vista's image on launch day; lots of stuff didn't work then.

By the time Vista SP1 hit, updating Vista to the Win 2008 Server kernal, most driver issues had been worked out, and Vista SP1 is actually quite good. But since Win7 isn't a huge leap forward, but rather a refinement of Vista, Microsoft has had time to work on performance and optimization that they just didn't have time for with Vista. That really helps on older hardware for sure, but still provides the necessary support for NEW hardware that XP just doesn't have. Plus, Win7 uses the same driver model as Vista, so most drivers won't need to be changed. A few things, like graphics drivers, probably need some tweaking, but again, nothing major. That means that Win7 will ship with support for most hardware currently in use.

I agree that people are going to look at Win7 much like they did XP: fast, stable, modern, and no one is going to want to give it up for a good while.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

IIP said:


> [...] That really helps on older hardware for sure, but still provides the necessary support for NEW hardware that XP just doesn't have. [...]


Curious. What hardware currently falls into that category?

If anything, I'm bumping into the opposite issue. Apparently no Windows 7 driver for my HP PSC 2510, e.g. /steve


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

Steve said:


> Curious. What hardware currently falls into that category?
> 
> If anything, I'm bumping into the opposite issue. Apparently no Windows 7 driver for my HP PSC 2510, e.g. /steve


is there a Vista driver? If so use that. It has worked for me every time


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

HP was one of the big screw-ups with Windows Vista and multifunctionprinter/scanners and stand alone scanners were particularly hard hit.

They at first announced they weren't going to support many of these products but the public outcry reversed the decisions they made.

If you have an HP product and are running Windows 7, try the Vista DRIVER only for that product, not the whole software package and that usually will fix the problem. HP software has a nasty habit of looking at software version numbers as "only" instead of "greater than" as well as looking for a fixed location for certain folders. I ran into a problem the other day on a PSC printer when the HP software couldn't wrap it's head around the fact that the "Desktop" folder was on the "H" drive instead of the "C" drive.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Thanks! I'll give it a shot. I had a problem with the Vista network installer, but will see if I can find a driver-only version. /steve


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Came across this comprehensive list of Windows 7 Services, in case anyone's interested:

http://www.blackviper.com/Windows_7/servicecfg.htm

Note they say instead of running "msconfig" to disable a service, run "services.msc" instead. /steve


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Steve... when you download the software (there is no driver only for yours) create a folder labeled HP on the C drive and save the software there. Make sure you run it as administrator. If you run into problems with it, PM me and I will send you a set of instructions that may well help.



Steve said:


> Thanks! I'll give it a shot. I had a problem with the Vista network installer, but will see if I can find a driver-only version. /steve


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

I think when W7 is released I'll upgrade my Vista HTPC to Windows 7 Pro, but right now I have the hack that let's the Vista Media Center record clearQAM ... anyone know if that's supported natively in W7 or will I need another hack?


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I'm leaning towards making the leap directly from XP to WIN 7.


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I'm leaning towards making the leap directly from XP to WIN 7.


That's exactly what I did with my old laptop now running Win 7. Do a clean install even if MS decides to provide people with an installer to allow XP users to install Win 7 "over" XP to keep applications, etc. It's more work but much better in both the long run and short run to do clean installs on this stuff.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I'm leaning towards making the leap directly from XP to WIN 7.


I will definitely end up doing that. In fact, due to work machines being XP, I have yet to use a Vista OS PC except for once or twice just playing in a store.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

I moved from XP SP3 to Win 7 on my primary laptop. I'm a C: System / D: My Documents (and program installers) guy, so I simply wiped C:, formatted and installed 7, and then my apps. Took me about 2 hours, half of it unattended. Except for my printer issue, every other application I use works as well, if not better. I'm going to retry the Vista PSC2510 printer driver install. Meantime, I'm using the built-in PSC 1600 driver, which works well-enough for my purposes. /steve


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I'm leaning towards making the leap directly from XP to WIN 7.


I did that the other day with one of my old XP laptops, now it's like a new laptop


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## Art7220 (Feb 4, 2004)

I heard the Fat32 support needs work. Also the DOS support too.

Any word on a fix for those?


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

What? and Why?



Art7220 said:


> I heard the Fat32 support needs work. Also the DOS support too.
> 
> Any word on a fix for those?


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

Any word on RC1 to the public yet? I am hoping for mid month but waiting patiently


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

FAT32 support would be needed for flash drives and other external media.
DOS support. Beats me.
I do know that there are some businesses and manufacturers out there who still use DOS programs. In fact, I saw one this morning.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

DOS is kind of a misnomer.

For many it means a command line interface and the ability to script stuff that would be pointless to put a GUI on. This is an imperative.

If they're looking for the ability to run the DOS version of an old game or Word Perfect, I can't say I blame them but I don't see maintaining support for various memory managers and VESA graphics emulation so that someone could run an old version of AutoCAD or 1-2-3.


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## cmtar (Nov 16, 2005)

MIAMI1683 said:


> Any word on RC1 to the public yet? I am hoping for mid month but waiting patiently


http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wind...-Complete-Both-32-bit-and-64-bit-106948.shtml


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

There are a myriad of other DOS applications out there in industry.
The one I saw was using a DOS application in conjunction with a durometer to test silicone rubber products.
This was no small operation.
100,000 sq ft. facility with extruding and molding for gaskets, bumpers, seals, etc.
They even make a tungsten steel and silicone wrap for pipes on nuclear subs and ships.
With all of that advanced equipment, they had this little PC from 1992 sitting there running the machine that tests the hardness of the various batches.
They said that as long as that one did the job, they had no cause to spend $15,000 on the upgrade to a Windows setup.
I replaced the PS in the old Samsung and she's humming along nicely again.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Windows 7 supports reading and writing to FAT32 and the Libraries feature will also support FAT32 when the RC comes out. Though I have never tried it, might be interesting to try and install DOS on a modern computer... not sure what it would be useful for but it still could be an interesting experiment.


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## jerry downing (Mar 7, 2004)

LarryFlowers said:


> Windows 7 supports reading and writing to FAT32 and the Libraries feature will also support FAT32 when the RC comes out. Though I have never tried it, might be interesting to try and install DOS on a modern computer... not sure what it would be useful for but it still could be an interesting experiment.


Now if you could just find a drive that can read those 5 inch floppies.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

If you take them out of the black plastic sleeve they might fit in the CD drive :lol:


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

LarryFlowers said:


> Windows 7 supports reading and writing to FAT32 and the Libraries feature will also support FAT32 when the RC comes out. Though I have never tried it, might be interesting to try and install DOS on a modern computer... not sure what it would be useful for but it still could be an interesting experiment.


I'm not even sure if DOS will install on a modern PC; it may not understand the CPU and it certainly won't recognize most of the RAM. DOS 6.22 also only recognizes partitions up to 2 GB.


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

There's a difference between running DOS and running a DOS program in Windows. All I'm saying is that they need to keep the virtual DOS environment (NTVDM) as an option.
I don't think anyone was expecting to run pure DOS on the new machines.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Agreed, some degree of DOS emulation should be in there, it shouldn't be too hard to achieve and it does come in handy now and again.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

LarryFlowers said:


> Windows 7 supports reading and writing to FAT32 and the Libraries feature will also support FAT32 when the RC comes out. Though I have never tried it, might be interesting to try and install DOS on a modern computer... not sure what it would be useful for but it still could be an interesting experiment.


 tried that.. boots in a few seconds :lol:

was a pain without a floppy drive..


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

I recently booted DOS courtesy of my Spinrite CD. Agree with Smoke. It does boot in the blink of an eye.  And no issues running on an Asus Socket 775 motherboard, at least for that app. /steve


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

So, today, after much testing of Win7, I've installed the 7068 beta on several of my primary PCs, including my Media Center. 7MC has a number of upgrades that really make things nice, including:

- An easy-to-use, 10-foot-GUI way of sharing your Recorded TV folder and/or recording to a remote network drive. This used to take a bunch of hacks to make work, and would be broken by some updates. Now it's designed in, as it should have been all along. So, I can watch my Recorded TV on any PC (3 of which are connected to TVs) in the house, and it works just like the content was local. Nice. It will also allow for several machines to record at the same time.

- Play All. You can now select a Video folder and simply click Play All. I have some folders of music videos, and now I can Play All and have some "Classic MTV" without having to create and maintain playlists. I can also watch a ripped DVD TV series the same way.

- Extended Descriptions. There's a new display window, and on movies, 7MC will find the movie on AllMovieGuide and pull in the extended description, which is usually several paragraphs. Very nice.

If only DirecTV hadn't canceled/postponed the HDPC-20, then 7MC would be the ultimate DVR/Media Center.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Two things. 

One, they are getting closer and closer to the true RC. There are newer builds than 7068out there now as of last night.


Second, how can I configure DirecTV Mediashare to use the Windows 7 Mediacenter? Can it not pick up off of MC? Do I need to also install TVersity or some other sharing client?


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Lee L said:


> Second, how can I configure DirecTV Mediashare to use the Windows 7 Mediacenter? Can it not pick up off of MC? Do I need to also install TVersity or some other sharing client?


The "sharing" has to be done via WMP, not Media Center, though they share the same media database. Tools > Options > Library > Configure Sharing.

But you'll find that while it works decently for pics and music, since the DirecTV receivers only recognize a single type of video (MPEG2 - transport stream), almost none of the video you share from your PC is going to play on your HR. That's why people use TVersity: it will transcode your files to the proper configuration on the fly.

Now, I know Win7 is supposed to do that, to some extent anyway, but I haven't had a chance to try it. Maybe you can, and report back how it goes.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

I will keep playing with it. My only issue is I have never used XP Media Center Edition or Vista Ultimate, so I am starting from scratch. Right now, none of the HRs will even see the thing, so I am going to have to poke around in WMP a little. Currently I use XP with WMP11 and Tversity.


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