Windows 7 BETA has been extended to FEB 10
(thanks wolf2009)

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/...o-end.aspx

Quote : First off: thank you for your interest in beta testing Windows 7! As we near January 24th, we wanted to update everyone again on the next steps for the Windows 7 Beta. The amount of feedback we have received has been amazing and continues to pour in. We are at a point where we have more than enough beta testers and feedback coming in to meet our engineering needs, so we are beginning to plan the end of general availability for Windows 7 Beta. Because enthusiasm continues to be so high for the Windows 7 Beta and we don’t want anyone to miss out we will keep the Beta downloads open through February 10th. Customers who have started but not completed the download process will be able to do so through February 12th. The shutdown of general availability for the Windows 7 Beta will occur in 3 phases over the course of the next few weeks: * Starting January 27th, the Windows 7 page will be updated with a warning that time is running out on downloading the Windows 7 Beta and that we will be limiting downloads shortly. People will be encouraged to register and start the download of the Windows 7 Beta sooner rather than later. * February 10th, new downloads of the Windows 7 Beta will no longer be available. People who have already started their Windows 7 Beta download and have not yet finished will still be able to finish their download and are encouraged to do so. * February 12th, people will no longer be able to complete their download of the Windows 7 Beta. Anyone who hasn’t finished downloading the Windows 7 Beta will be unable to do so. Product keys for the Windows 7 Beta will continue to be available. So if you have the Windows 7 Beta but didn’t get a product key you will be able to do so even after February 12th. MSDN and TechNet Subscribers will continue to have access to the Windows 7 Beta bits throughout the Windows 7 Beta phase. The above dates do not apply to MSDN and TechNet Subscribers.

Windows 7 Beta will expire on August 1st, 2009 even with the key. This is beta test software and there is no support from Microsoft.
System requirements:
The minimum requirements for running Windows 7 are a PC with a 1 Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16 GB of disk space, 128MB of video memory and support for DX9 graphics.

Quote : We have clearly heard that many of you want to check out the Windows 7 Beta and, as a result, we have decided remove the initial 2.5 million limit on the public beta for the next two weeks (thru January 24th). During that time you will have access to the beta even if the download number exceeds the 2.5 million unit limit.

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/01/10/here-s-where-we-stand.aspx

Recommended Download using Internet Explorer and the Akamai download manager active X to pause and resume. Other browsers may or may not work, internet explorer does for sure.

x86 version
hxxp://download.microsoft.com/download/6/3/3/633118BD-6C3D-45A4-B985-F0FDFFE1B021/EN/7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULFRE_EN_DVD.iso
Size: 2.43 GB (2,618,793,984 bytes)
MD5: F9DCE6EBD0A63930B44D8AE802B63825
SHA-1: 6071184282B2156FF61CDC5260545C078CCA31EE

x64 version
hxxp://download.microsoft.com/download/6/3/3/633118BD-6C3D-45A4-B985-F0FDFFE1B021/EN/7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULXFRE_EN_DVD.ISO
Size: 3.15 GB (3,387,009,024 bytes)
CRC32: 8E2FAD39
MD5: 773FC9CC60338C612AF716A2A14F177D
SHA-1: E09FDBC1CB3A92CF6CC872040FDAF65553AB62A5

Verify MD5 and burn at slower speed on quality media (DVD+R/DVD-R)![/size]

If you want to/when you have to remove Windows 7:
How to remove or 'uninstall' Windows 7

More Links:
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/01/07/information-on-downloading-and-installing-windows-7-beta.aspx
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_beta_available.asp
Windows 7 Beta Download Guide

The Windows 7 Beta ISO can be used to either 1) install in an empty HD Primary Partition, or 2) upgrade an existing Windows Vista SP1 install to Windows 7 Beta. No other upgrade path is possible with this ISO.

If you don’t want to mess-up your existing operating system, try running it on a free Virtual Machine without messing up existing operating system. VirtualBox is an open source general-purpose full virtualizer software ( create virtual machines ) for x86 and x64 hardware. This is a free alternative to commercial software like VMware, Virtual PC, Parallels. This runs on Windows, Linux, Solaris, OS X Macs.

Download and Install VirtualBox from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads and create a Virtual Machine (Select Windows 7 ) and mount the downloaded Windows 7 beta ISO and rock on.
Once the OS is up and running, install VirtualBox Guest Additions to get proper graphics and mouse integration. The latest VirtualBox box release (2.1.2) now supports Windows 7 (x86 and x64) and drivers; installing Guest Additions in Vista compatibility mode is no longer necessary. If you're using a 64-bit OS, you can install Windows 7 x64 in a Virtual Machine just as long as you're running the 64-bit version of VirtualBox.

Virtual PC 2007 download

If you loved XP over Vista, you may want to check these two articles out. The articles are pointing out some key differences XP users may find hard to adjust to W7. But that doesn't mean you should not try the beta yourself)

1. http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=630&tag=rbxccnbzd1

2. http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=9360&tag=rbxccnbzd1

(note by infin8007: I couldn't stand vista, but i gave 7 a try and decided to have an
open mind and give myself 7 days to get used to it. I like it slightly better than
xp. I'm keeping it on my laptop but leaving xp on my desktop for now. Most of my
interface is using jpsoftware.com takecommand anyway)
Things to do After Installing:[/size]

First and foremost SET A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT

IMPORTANT fix for possible MP3 file corruption[/size]

Quote : MP3 files ( this fix should already be included and not necessary any more for this version of 7) When MP3 files are added (either manually or automatically) to either the Windows Media Player or the Windows Media Center library, or if the file metadata is edited with Windows Explorer, several seconds of audio data may be permanently removed from the start of the file. This issue occurs when files contain thumbnails or other metadata of significant size before importing or editing them. To avoid this, take the following steps: To protect your MP3 files: 1. Before you install this Beta release, back up all MP3 files that might be accessed by the computer, including those on removable media or network shares. 2. Install the Beta release of Windows 7; then install this update (KB961367). You can download the 32-bit (x86) version here and the 64-bit (x64) version here.

Q: How do I make it dual-boot with an existing XP installation? Thanks.
try at your own risk: http://lifehacker.com/5126781/how-to-dual-boot-windows-7-with-xp-or-vista

Q: What is the difference between x86 and x64?
x86 is 32-bit and x64 is 64-bit. If you are asking, there's a good chance you are running x86. You can only upgrade from Windows Vista SP1 x86 to Windows 7 beta x86 and from Windows Vista SP1 x64 to Windows 7 beta x64.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-installation-instructions.aspx

Official info from Microsoft: How to install Windows 7 Beta

Drivers you might need:
For motherboards with Intel Chipsets, you need Intel chipset driver 9.1.0.1007 here: http://freewarelist.net/Intel-Chipset-Software-Installation-Utility.html
For X-Fi users, install the driver in Vista compatibility mode
nVidia video drivers are provided through windows update
ATI video drivers: http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=39069

Internet Security/ Anti-Virus Software:
Several Security providers are offering software for Windows 7. They are:
Norton 360 (Beta-FREE): Go here and sign up: http://www.symantec.com/norton/beta/register.jsp?pvid=n3603beta
or here for the download directly: http://www.symantec.com/norton/beta/downloads/n360_beta/N360-BETA.exe

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Workstation (Beta-FREE): ftp://ftp.kaspersky.com/beta/kavwks8.0_for_windows7/kavwks8.0.0.1015en.exe

Eset NOD32 Smart Security 4.0 Beta 1 (Free): http://beta.eset.com/
Eset NOD32 Antivirus 4.0 Beta 1 (Free): http://beta.eset.com/eav

AVG Internet Security or Antivirus (Non-beta, pay): http://www.avg.com/special-download-antivirus-for-windows-7-mssc
Many claim the Free version of AVG also works: http://free.avg.com/

These are the official providers for Windows 7. If more are added, they will be located here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/antivirus-partners/windows-7.aspx

Additionally, you're welcome to try your favorite free Anti-virus programs or Firewalls, etc... Many of them should unofficially work since there's very good compatability between Vista and Windows 7

Also get some free programs that Windows 7 left out like an email program from here: http://download.live.com/
The email program automatically imports everything from your old windows mail files too.

Please do not post keys, in the wiki or in the thread. The mods are removing them as they're posted.

Addition by Infin8007: (re: 32 bit) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've found that windows installer may crash/be corrupted if you try to install additional software that re-installs net compact framework 3.5. Once corrupted there are only 2 solutions so far, 1> system restore to an earlier point 2> reinstall 7.

It's recommended that you create a first restore point as soon as you install 7. It doesn't create one automatically. Go to START -> System and security -> system -> system protection then click Create.

Then I recommend you do all your tweaks and fav apps installations create another system restore point. Doing this may save you from having to do a complete reinstall from scratch.

If you have a T42 thinkpad, you have to use the xp video driver and install it in one
particular method.

If your computer won't go online because of a missing wifi driver or windows update, you might be
able to use your phone's tethering feature to go online and download all the updates. That's what I did with my touch pro.

Just found a fix to the problem if explorer keeps crashing and windows installer keeps crashing (sometimes after installing
java or any software that tries to install net CF framework, then do the following instead of a restore:

Win+r, regedit
navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\Disabled Sessions
rename MachineThrottling to _MachineThrottling

If you have any software that you install a serial # into you have to run that program a special way before you enter the serial number.
Find the icon of the software you want to run, right click on it, select "run as administrator" then enter your software key into it.
Only this way will it enter the serial number into the registery. (I've found this has to be done for jpsoftware takecommand and textpad 5.20)

If you get an error while trying to install .msi files, such as java
1. Open a Command Prompt as Administrator
2. Type reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions /va /f and press enter
if you are still receiving errors, go into regedit
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions
and make sure there is nothing there except default. if there are other entries there, delete it or run the command line again.

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