As the title says - can a W7 RC1 PC be directly upgraded to the full release version or will it entail a full reinstall?
Does anyone know?
I need an answer on this a.s.a.p. as it affects a purchasing decision for 200 PCs that we need to place today!
Thanks.
well you are legally not allowed to install windows 7 RC1 on that many machines in a corporate environment (which schools fall under) in the first place. So you would have to buy vista business with the windows 7 upgrade!
Not so!!!Originally Posted by nephilim
We have permission in writing that we can install RC1 if we so wish but I can't find out if we can then upgrade from RC1 to full release.
I'm pretty sure it will be possible, people are upgrading to some of the leaked RTM escrow builds around the web with no hassle.
But, I'd really avoid this if you can, the RTM is barely weeks away so it makes no sense to rush the RC version onto pc's and cause yourself hassle with any issues that may occur. It will be completely unsupported by Microsoft so it's not a great idea anyway.
Just wait until the summer.
Problem is we must roll out 200 new PCs over the summer break, W7 is not released Until October.
Vista is a total no-no and if we roll out XP then we have upgrade issues later on.
I think it is possible (certainly from beta to RC) by following these instructions
Windows 7 Beta To RC Upgrade Instructions | Windows 7 News
It may change for the final version, but i would recommend a fresh install (every time!) when changing from Beta/RC to RTM versions..
October is retail release date, but it's likely going to RTM within the next few weeks. If it's anything like Vista we will get it on MVLS within days of RTM (November 2006), despite Vista's retail release date being Feb 2007.
It will take you much longer upgrading each PC (which you will have to do by hand) from the RC to RTM than it would just to reimage them en mass when it's released.
Even if your forced to stick to XP, it's not going to take you long at a later date to update them to 7, i.e a suite a night.
If you do go ahead with it, expect all sorts of wild bugs that MS will just laugh at you about if you go to them for support. Considering the EU versions of windows 7 will come without IE8 installed at all, I doubt you'd be able to do it anyway.
Forgive me if this comes across as rude, it's just I'm at a total loss as to why you'd even consider this, it seems pretty insane to me and would never be approved in a business environment.
I know I am not the recipient to this comment but you are bang on. Who would approve this?! lol
How long would it take you to upgrade those 200 PCs. Maybe its worth waiting as long as you can during the holidays (make it the last job) and install the latest Win7 OS available at that time.
Both with Vista and XP Microsoft released the OS onto MSDN, TechNet, Volume licencing before the actual release date - I don't know any dates but they have done that up to 2 or 3 months before.
A.
I'm with the naysayers on this...
It might seem like a time saving exercise now but I could see this being one massive support nightmare culminating in a return to Vista or XP and potentially someone losing their job.
I'd have thought the time would be better spent, setting up a small number of machines testing deployment scenarios, checking application/hardware compatiblity and compiling a long list of issues would be more in order.
You could also get ahead of the game by creating training packs/videos using Camtasia, etc... on the common tasks showing what's changed so you can get teachers and staff up to speed when the changeover finally comes.
As I said though I would have thought you're looking at technical fraticide if you go ahead with an RC1 deployment as suggested.
I'd agree with this you at the very least need to make very sure that all of your apps work very well with Windows 7, if you need support most companies will just say they don't support it. Also if you have to explain that a load of unforseen issues are due to you upgrading the entire network to pre release software the governors/parents/teachers will be less than impressed.
If I was you i'd stay with XP untill after the release unless you have a very good reason to move to Vista/Windows 7.
I've just asked someone on an early adopter program and yes, you can upgrade from RC1 for the final release. From previous experience there will be details about this at a later date.
As for why you would want to use RC1 and then upgrade .... it may be part of an early adopter program, it may be down to a major upgrade of the domain structure based on server 2008 and Win 7 and the only time to really do this is this summer ... and having to roll out XP and then roll out Win 7 next summer could be too much work and too much change for a school to deal with, but it is a calculated risk.
I can think of reasons to do it and not to do it .... and more production environments have gone for RC1 then any previous RC of a windows OS. There is a large scale program for this and the support varies from those who have been left to get on with it and are self-taught, to those who have had significant support from MS and other partners.
Not really, businesses seem to manage fine and most are 24/7, we're just lucky that we have gobs of time when people aren't using the network. It's not that difficult to spend an evening or so per room upgrading it. It also gives you time to iron out each room/area at different times so your support desk isn't overwhelmed all at once.and the only time to really do this is this summer
I don't see how? It's likely they already have XP on every other workstation so putting it on new kit isn't really a "change"and having to roll out XP and then roll out Win 7 next summer could be too much work and too much change for a school to deal with
As I said above, you probably won't be able to upgrade from the RC version to the EU version of 7 anyway, considering our version won't have IE by default.
Not to mention that the Windows 7 version you'd want to deploy on a production network is the Enterprise version (for MAK activation) which currently as far as I can tell you can not download, even in RC form.
So it's likely you'd have to reimage all the systems anyway which removes a benefit over XP.
As for offical support from MS, as far as I know you have to be a member of TAP, which I really doubt anyone here is.
There is no logic whatsoever in doing this. I am at a loss as to why anyone would support this as a viable option. Seriously just wait a few months, it's not worth putting your job at risk.
As i mentioned in my post, I have checked and you can.
The issue is one of design. Putting in server 2008 and Win7 is different to server2003 (even on R2) and XP. You can design for Win7 and make it backwards compliant but going the other way is a pain.
The significant downtime in the summer to do the work is a guess, but one based on the fact that this is how many here do it when implimenting large scale changes.
There may not already be a server 2003 / XP setup in place ... or at least not a vanilla one. It could be CC3 based, or classlink ... or others! I know we are all making some presumptions based on the limited info from the OP but to answer the OPs question, you can upgrade ... but to follow your point, there may be limitations of only upgrading to particular versions of Win7 ... the same way that I would not have expected to upgrade Vista Ultimate to Vista Home when going from RC to final release. Removing feature on this sort of upgrade (or even whole browsers) is likely to be a factor. Something else for me to go and ask I suppose.
Essentially MS have disabled the upgrade option when going between pre-release versions of 7, and from the RC to the final release. They've not tried to prevent people using workarounds as mentioned earlier in the thread. Very little testing (ie probably almost none) has been carried out for upgrading, as they're focussing on upgrades from Vista, which will be the situation for most people come release. They've also decided that upgrading from XP won't be possible either, as there are simply too many differences between the versions (you'll still be able to buy an upgrade licence, but it'll require a clean install).
Stephen
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