When the retail version of Windows 7 arrives in October, will we be able to upgrade a machine running Windows 7 RC b. 7100?
Have Microsoft released any information on the upgrade process from the Windows 7 RC to the retail version?
In an ideal world you would just enter your retail version serial number, but I get the feeling it’s not going to be that easy.
This is for the Windows 7 machines my step-dad’s office is running.
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The RC and the Beta both require a clean install.
Only Vista can be upgraded.
Here’s a chart (albeit a confusing one) that shows the upgrade paths. It doesn’t include the beta and RC, but I’ve read from various sources that a clean install is required.
“I get the feeling it’s not going to be that easy.”
/headdesk
you must do a clean install.
one thing they shouldn’t have copied from apple
The official requirement is that you do a clean install, this will avoid any problems. However, if you absolutely have to upgrade, you can follow these steps:
1. Copy the contents of the ISO or DVD to a separate storage location (such as a bootable USB storage device, a separate partition or whatever)
2. Open the file \sources\cversion.ini in a text editor and modify the MinClient number to a number lower than the version Windows 7 that you want to upgrade from – so for the beta you would set this to something like 6900.
3. Save the file and then run the install routine from the location with the modified file.
@UTChris Thanks Chris, that’s an interesting approach. We’ll probably try that on one machine and see how it works out.
@UTChris Is that confirmed for Retail versions of Windows 7? I know people were doing that for upgrading from the Beta to the RC, but I was unsure if it was an option for upgrading to the RTM.
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