Windows 7 beta testers urged to clean install Release Candidate
Those lucky people who are currently running the latest builds of Windows 7 are doing so for the good of Microsoft and the mainstream who will be buying the new OS when it is released. Occasionally though, it seems Microsoft feels the need to remind them of who is in charge.
Windows 7 gets nearer to release every day. The Release Candidate, the last version to be released to testers, is expected in the next month or so and the RTM (Release-To-Manufacturing) should follow a few months later.
Microsoft is eager to gain as much knowledge of the experience most people are going to have when installing Windows 7 so it has requested (ever so politely) that beta testers don’t upgrade directly from the current version to the RC. In fact, it’ll be impossible to do so unless you follow a highly convoluted set of instructions in order to bypass the requirement.
In a post on the Engineering Windows 7 blog, Microsoft explains the need for this heavy-handed approach. The chances are that most new users of Windows 7 will be either upgrading from Windows Vista or installing the OS from scratch (a clean install). That will be a requirement for anyone still using Windows XP because Microsoft isn’t supporting upgrades from the old-but-still-popular OS to the new one.
So that’s what it wants beat testers to do as well. And this makes sense because Microsoft will gain no new knowledge from the beta testers who are too lazy to go this route and instead just upgrade. Microsoft does realize there will be some who refuse to toe the line and is offering an out.
Following a seven-step guide it is possible to do what Microsoft urges you not to do but there’s an, “IF YOU REALLY REALLY NEED TO,” bolded and capitalized just so you are aware you’re being rebellious. And many will ignore the warning and do it this way regardless.
The same steps will also be required for those upgrading from the RC to the RTM versions of Windows 7.
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April 24th, 2009
Uh, oops. I meant it’s a great article.