when will they release Windows 7 RC build?any Microsoft MVP's who can answer my question? Pao

This is currently unknown, and we don't even know if the RC will be available to the public.

Hi Pao Here is the official response to this question. The feedback we get in the early stages of Beta will help enable us to discuss the next Windows 7 milestone. Our goal with Beta is to collect feedback and refine the features so we can deliver a great product that meets our customers needs. Hope this helps. Ronnie Vernon MVP

thank'z for the reply Ron. Pao

I wonder if they will have a revision for purchase near end of beta before Aug 1st because I believe this is worth buying by itself for my laptops instead of just getting a laptop installed with a windows OS... :)

I just hope the upcoming Windows 7 RC build will still be distributed to the publicso anyone can participate to the improvement of the final release of Windows 7. Pao

ronnie,if rc1 becomes available,should you upgrade or do clean installdj

Hi djps55 The answer is, it depends? During a beta, you never know what upgrading to the next beta version will require. We just have to wait and see. Regards, Ronnie Vernon MVP

From what I have heard around the grapevine, RC1 was built last week and is "around". not here yet for technet preview but i am hopeful it will be very soon.Does anyone in M$, know if our beta key will work for the RC when it comes out?And FYI.. build is 7048 for RC.

Sorry, but your third-party informationalsources are wrong.Carey Frisch

I have a question Carey,is it true that the Release Candidate of Windows 7will be expected this February, I just red it from a news in the internet.I just want to confirm, could you provide me an answer?thank'z in advance! Pao

HiPaoAnything that you read about release dates, is just speculation. Journalist play a game of lottery, they all take a guess and then write an article based on that date. One of them is bound to be either right, or close to the actual date when the release actually occurs. The one that is the closest wins and he/she will have the bragging rights, until the next time. :)I have read articles that have predicted that the RC will be available by the middle of February 2009 (now) and others that it will not be released until early 2010.Seriously, nobody really knows for sure. Even the powers-that-be who run the program don't know until the results of the internal and externaltesting indicates thatthe beta code isat the RC level of stability that they have set for the OS. At that point, all of the preset plans for distributing the RC will kick in and then they will make the announcement.Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Beta Ronnie Vernon MVP

A friend of mine just downloaded a "new" version of the Beta from torrent sources. I didn't look at them as I'm happy with my official beta but what could this "new" version be if not RC1 and why is there no mention of it here?Cheers.

Ian M. Walker said:A friend of mine just downloaded a "new" version of the Beta from torrent sources. I didn't look at them as I'm happy with my official beta but what could this "new" version be if not RC1 and why is there no mention of it here?Cheers. Probably Build 7022 since every blog has "omg leaked 7022" posts. There's no mention here because it hasn't been officially released. You were smart not to follow your friend.

Ah, thank you. :)

Everyone seems to want a RC or Beta 2 now. And, from reading the posts in this forum, a lot of those using the beta seem to have forgotten that it is beta, not taking any precautions or backups, and complaining rather than reporting issues.Why the push for a release candidate? There is a saying, particularly applicable and appropriate for software development: If you want something really bad, that is how you are going to get it.Patience, time, and testing will make the product a success.Doc

Hi IanAdditional information. There are always many internal builds being used by the developers during the beta process, there could be several every week. These are used by the developers to immediately test bug fixes andnew code. Some of these interim builds are shared with outsideorganizations, usually major third party software or hardware developers,for their own internal testing. These builds have not undergone the usual, extensive internal testing before being released to these organizations.Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for one of these builds to be occasionally 'leaked' to the public and placed on Torrent sites.Anyone who downloads and usesany of these builds is at risk, since they could contain malicious code that was added to the program before being placed on the Torrent site. This is very common. Whoever the person was who leaked one of these builds is of dubious character, since this violates every contract and agreement designed to keep these interim builds private.Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Beta Ronnie Vernon MVP

Thank you for the replies.I'm certainly not one of those in a hurry. I would dearly love them to get this one "right" so that we don't have the huge out-cry we had over Vista (which I've been happily using since Beta as well). At home I have Vista 64 on my gaming machine (W7 64 briefly but I couldn't live without my surround sound, heh), W7 on my browsing / media machine and XP on my laptop (so that I can remind myself about it when I have to troubleshoot for my family over in England. hehe) and these do me just fine. I do like W7 so far but I'm in no hurry for it.I also had no intention of downloading anything from the torrents. I was just curious as to whether I had missed an important update or something. :)Cheers.

Hi IanI agree, we have a chance to make W7 one of the best.Thanks for the feedback.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Beta Ronnie Vernon MVP

Pao,The only people that 'really' know when the RC release will occur is Microsoft. There are so many dates flying arounfd at the moment for when RC will 'officially' be released (according to so called sources close to Microsoft) that all this is causing is total confusion. That is why it is simply best to just sit back and wait.John Barnett - Windows XP Associate Expert; Windows Desktop Experience. - Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk; Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org; Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

thank'z for the advice John. Pao

Hey John,For us power user that use overclocks 4-5ghz. is MS planning to fix that 3184mhz limitation windows 7 has. I'm running 4.6ghz in Bios , and my system utility. But windows refuses to show anything over 3.184ghz. Is there something to turn off, or on in win7?

Firerx said: Hey John,For us power user that use overclocks 4-5ghz. is MS planning to fix that 3184mhz limitation windows 7 has. I'm running 4.6ghz in Bios , and my system utility. But windows refuses to show anything over 3.184ghz. Is there something to turn off, or on in win7?This isn't going to be a brilliant response, but: what 3.184 GHz limit?I920 at 19X200.It's reported at 3.8 GHz in Win 7 X64 7048. I believe that the same was true in Build 7000.Maybe things wouldget wonky above 4 GHz, but I don'texpect that I'llever try to get there with air cooling.

Firerx said: Hey John,For us power user that use overclocks 4-5ghz. is MS planning to fix that 3184mhz limitation windows 7 has. I'm running 4.6ghz in Bios , and my system utility. But windows refuses to show anything over 3.184ghz. Is there something to turn off, or on in win7?oh, yeah - I never noticed that - in System, it says 3.17 for me, though I'm running at 3.762 (per bios, coretemp, cpuz, etc.) I think that was true back in Vista...Kris -------- Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P F7, E7200 2.53@3.76ghz, 2x1gb OCZ Reaper1150@1188, EVGA 9800GTX+ N873 , Win 7 7000

Yeap, that's what I'm talking about. Any solutions?

That's interesting. What Motherboard and Bios are you working with. I'm on build 7048 too. let's compare bios setting and see if I have something turned off by default thats causing this. Thanks for the response.

Firerx said: That's interesting. What Motherboard and Bios are you working with. I'm on build 7048 too. let's compare bios setting and see if I have something turned off by default thats causing this. Thanks for the response.Hi FirerxThese forums are for support of the official Public Beta version 7000.Any later builds are for Microsoft internal use only. Posting information about a leaked version of the beta could cause potential problems if a user were to unintentionally use informationabout the leaked version and apply it to their system.Please do not post any informationabout these unsupported versions.Thanks for your cooperation. Ronnie Vernon MVPForum Moderator

Nevermind,This issue is with the Intel Core i7 956 EE CPU only. Since you can manipulate the multi, and leave the QPI at 133mhz. Windows doesn't see the multi overclock. It see the QPI [formally FSB] set at bclk, and assumes your still at stock Clockspeed. once you raise the QPI freqency, then windows sees the change. I sent feedback on this issue. so hopefully there will be an update fix for this.

Ronnie Vernon said: Firerx said: That's interesting. What Motherboard and Bios are you working with. I'm on build 7048 too. let's compare bios setting and see if I have something turned off by default thats causing this. Thanks for the response.Hi FirerxThese forums are for support of the official Public Beta version 7000.Any later builds are for Microsoft internal use only. Posting information about a leaked version of the beta could cause potential problems if a user were to unintentionally use informationabout the leaked version and apply it to their system.Please do not post any informationabout these unsupported versions.Thanks for your cooperation. Ronnie Vernon MVPForum Moderator Sorry Ron,This issue is for all builds of windows 7. Didn't mean to leak any infoout about the builds.

djps55 said: ronnie,if rc1 becomes available,should you upgrade or do clean install dj Its been my experience that you should do both when BETA testing. Do an upgrade from the privous BETA and do an upgrade from a GOLD OS - this is a BETA testing thing, just to see what happens. However, my personal preference is to always do a clean install of an OS. It's good to clean house, know what I mean?

Ronnie Vernon said: HiPaoAnything that you read about release dates, is just speculation. Journalist play a game of lottery, they all take a guess and then write an article based on that date. One of them is bound to be either right, or close to the actual date when the release actually occurs. The one that is the closest wins and he/she will have the bragging rights, until the next time. :)I have read articles that have predicted that the RC will be available by the middle of February 2009 (now) and others that it will not be released until early 2010.Seriously, nobody really knows for sure. Even the powers-that-be who run the program don't know until the results of the internal and externaltesting indicates thatthe beta code isat the RC level of stability that they have set for the OS. At that point, all of the preset plans for distributing the RC will kick in and then they will make the announcement.Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Beta Ronnie Vernon MVP I concure, Microsoft seems to be really working hard to make sure that this platform is working very well, so it may take some time until we see an RCx and definately sometime before an RTM. I'm very happy to see that they are taking their time and working very hard to hear everyone's concerns and feedback. However, I am also salivating for an RC and can't wait for the RTM! (Reason for for this is because BETA 7000 is incredible, bravo!)

Dr. Strangelove said: Everyone seems to want a RC or Beta 2 now. And, from reading the posts in this forum, a lot of those using the beta seem to have forgotten that it is beta, not taking any precautions or backups, and complaining rather than reporting issues.Why the push for a release candidate? There is a saying, particularly applicable and appropriate for software development: If you want something really bad, that is how you are going to get it.Patience, time, and testing will make the product a success.DocI don't really feel bad for those folks. It is a BETA, which means it is a test system. If you are a BETA TESTER you should understand that one day for no reason the system my crash and everything on your HDD may be gone. I've been working with computers since I was 8 years old... I've lost data once. Backup backup backup. These days there is no excuses not to, with the price of external harddrives being so low. There shouldn't be any complaining, only constructivecriticism.

Firerx said: Hey John,For us power user that use overclocks 4-5ghz. is MS planning to fix that 3184mhz limitation windows 7 has. I'm running 4.6ghz in Bios , and my system utility. But windows refuses to show anything over 3.184ghz. Is there something to turn off, or on in win7?My system is overclocked at 3.25Ghz and it shows up fine in Windows 7 BETA (Build 7000).

As this is my first post on this board, I would like to say that it seems like a very pleasant and well run forum. The second thing I would like to say is that out of all the beta products I've seen and tried from Microsoft, Windows 7 is the first one I can stand. heh. I've beta tested Win98, Windows XP, a few office betas and Vista. It would seem that Microsoft is taking some large strides to get everything just right, even with IE8, Bravo! However, here is my question: I sell and repair computers from my shop. Many of my customers want to try windows 7. I like this idea because if I let them try it, they will come back to me to buy it when it's released, given they like it. I only have one key for build 7000 x64. I'm not really interested in the x86 versions as I think 32bit x86 is a thing of the past. What kind of options does Microsoft offer for someone in my position. My customers, mostly, are not adept enough to download and secure a product key for build 7000 on their own, they can't even usually install their operating systems themselves.And I want a sales rush when windows 7 is released. Can anyone help me out?

Huer said: As this is my first post on this board, I would like to say that it seems like a very pleasant and well run forum. The second thing I would like to say is that out of all the beta products I've seen and tried from Microsoft, Windows 7 is the first one I can stand. heh. I've beta tested Win98, Windows XP, a few office betas and Vista. It would seem that Microsoft is taking some large strides to get everything just right, even with IE8, Bravo! However, here is my question: I sell and repair computers from my shop. Many of my customers want to try windows 7. I like this idea because if I let them try it, they will come back to me to buy it when it's released, given they like it. I only have one key for build 7000 x64. I'm not really interested in the x86 versions as I think 32bit x86 is a thing of the past. What kind of options does Microsoft offer for someone in my position. My customers, mostly, are not adept enough to download and secure a product key for build 7000 on their own, they can't even usually install their operating systems themselves.And I want a sales rush when windows 7 is released. Can anyone help me out? Welcome!!!!!This would be inadvisable...I believe you can use the same key for as many installs of the 7000 Beta as you wish.However, unless you put the PP7 patch on, you will need to get their computer back each month to do a rearm. In any case it terminated in 4 months. And besides, 7057 is fast on the horizon and is much more like what RTM will be. (this is all unofficial and I am nobody!)I would humbly suggest that if they are not technically ready and able to download and activate a beta on their own, they really shouldn't be given the keys to the car, as it were... I see your and their attraction to the idea. However it may be short-sighted...Wishing you the best!Kris -------- Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P F7, E7200 2.53@3.73ghz, 4GB (2x2gb) OCZ Reaper1150@1179, EVGA 9800GTX+ N873 , Win 7 7000

KrisM77 said:I would humbly suggest that if they are not technically ready and able to download and activate a beta on their own, they really shouldn't be given the keys to the car, as it were... I see your and their attraction to the idea. However it may be short-sighted...That's how I see it as well. If they can't download, install and manage it on their own, they're totally unfit to run the beta in the first place. If any trouble should arise (which given that it's a beta, is not too unlikely), it would tarnish their impression of Windows 7, even if it's not a finished product yet.

Thanks Ronnie. I'm sticking with the build I got from the Windows 7 Beta Customer Preview site.

Hey all, newbie to group, oldie to Windows ... been around since DOS 2 days. I am also not in any hurry but it would have been nice, as registered beta testers, to be allowed to download various updates or improvements as they became available so as to show the programmers or developers how these patches work on various platforms, and/or with different hardwares around the globe, different user setup schemes, etc.I have to agree with Ian M. Walker that "I was just curious as to whether I had missed an important update or something".

Isuspect that we will see RC release next month,May 2009

I'd like to weigh in with those who want another intermediate release. I do not mean that the final release should be rushed - that would be a mistake. I do think that many of us are frustrated by filling out the feedback window again and again and not knowing if it makes any difference. Am I reporting a bug that was fixed months ago? Am I writing reports that are never read at all? I'll never know until there are some visible fixes. As it stands, all I know is that one of two things must be happening: Microsoft has already fixed problems that annoy me every day, and they are holding out on letting me use or test them. Microsoft can't fix the problems and is not getting close to a product I want. A "Beta 2" or early "RC1" could prove that number 2 is false and eliminate number 1 as well. I know I'm spoiled because I have only developed software for small companies and I could test the nightly builds every morning. I can't expect that from Microsoft, but some intermediate steps would help all of us see the progress and know that problems we report are still relevant. Even if it's too late to modify the plans for Windows 7, maybe this can be considered for next time. Steve

djps55 - When the RC becomes available, you'll either need to revert to Vista or do a clean install. The programmers want telemetry from people doing a more or less "real world" upgrade from Vista or do a full "nuke and pave". The full information on this can be found here.

Ian.Samson wrote: Hey all, newbie to group, oldie to Windows ... been around since DOS 2 days. I am also not in any hurry but it would have been nice, as registered beta testers, to be allowed to download various updates or improvements as they became available so as to show the programmers or developers how these patches work on various platforms, and/or with different hardwares around the globe, different user setup schemes, etc.I have to agree with Ian M. Walker that "I was just curious as to whether I had missed an important update or something". Hi IanWelcome to the Windows 7 Forums.Yourmessage gives me a chance topost some of my perceptions, as another long time Windows beta tester.The Windows 7 beta is following a completely different model from previous Windows beta's. The only beta versions officially released are the Milestones. A short description of this model is: 1 pre-beta release. (Build 6801)1 beta 1 release. (Build 7000)1 Release Candidate. (Build xxxx)RTM (final) release. (Build xxxx)The interim builds are only released to partners, such as TAP members, OEM's, ISV's, and IHV's. This is so that these companies can test their own applications, hardware,drivers, and systems for compatibility.The reason this new model is being used, the way I understand it, is because in previous windows beta programs, they would release a newbuild approximately once a month. This meant that a sizeable portion of the beta team was kept busy, for as long as 3 weeks, each month, testing and stabilizing one ofthese interim builds so that they could be given to the technical beta testers. This meant that these members of the beta team could not do what they should have been doing, which is working to fix bugs from the current releaseand moving the beta program along to the next milestone. Releasing these interim builds also resulted in the testers wasting time ona lot of duplicate bug reports, which were already in the process of being resolved or had already been resolved in a later interim build.Only releasing the milestones also gives the testersa lot moretime to really wring things out and find what they do and don't like about the product. This alsogives them a chance to request changes for the next milestone.Another way to describe this processis:1. Release beta1 and test, test, test. Report, report, and report more bugs. Request changes.2. When the interim builds reach a pre-determined level of RC milestone quality, releasethat buildand repeat # 1.3. When the RTM milestone quality levelis reached, release the final product.The only occassional updates that are released are security updates or fixes for critical bugs.Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Beta Ronnie Vernon MVP

The interim builds are only released to partners, such as TAP members, OEM's, ISV's, and IHV's......in previous windows beta programs...a sizeable portion of the beta team was kept busy...could not...fix bugs...Ronnie Vernon MVP With Vista, all I heard for two years was that giant vendors like Dell and HP dragged their feet and didn't update drivers. That's what blemished Vista, I'm told. Yet these very OEMs are the ones that get a head start? Something just doesn't piece together.Why not reassign theVista teamto Windows 7 development?

egads - Yeah, well... as I posted previously elsewhere, there were some mitigating factors. There were some major changes that came in the wake of the DOJ and EC trials when it came to the relationship between Microsoft and the various OEMs. Some OEMs hid behind a bunch of excuses - one big one was "The driver model is changing too quickly to keep up..." Funny stuff.. Especially when you consider how Nvidia and ATI/AMD were able to keep up fairly well with the video drivers. So either they really went the extra mile, or the driver model wasn't changing nearly as often as these other guys seem to think. Of course, SOME OEMs were using that to hide a few dirty secrets. Like the folks at Creative Labs. It seems their XiFi cards used some rather unorthodox hacks into the OS in order to make them work properly. When Vista changed the driver model, many, if not all of those hacks were impossible to pull off and they couldn't easily produce working User Mode drivers that delivered quality sound.

... The reason this new model is being used, the way I understand it, is because in previous windows beta programs, they would release a newbuild approximately once a month. This meant that a sizeable portion of the beta team was kept busy, for as long as 3 weeks, each month, testing and stabilizing one ofthese interim builds so that they could be given to the technical beta testers. This meant that these members of the beta team could not do what they should have been doing, which is working to fix bugs from the current releaseand moving the beta program along to the next milestone. Releasing these interim builds also resulted in the testers wasting time ona lot of duplicate bug reports, which were already in the process of being resolved or had already been resolved in a later interim build. ... Thank You for testing Windows 7 Beta Ronnie Vernon MVP The first paragraph of my (edited) quote makes sense - stabilizing a build and qualifying it for distribution is expensive, and I can see that monthly was too often. The second paragraph makes no sense to me at all. What generates more duplicate bug reports, a million people using a months-old build, or some (probably smaller) number of people using a build from which many of the most critical and frequently-seen bugs have been eliminated? Steve

The first paragraph of my (edited) quote makes sense - stabilizing a build and qualifying it for distribution is expensive, and I can see that monthly was too often.The second paragraph makes no sense to me at all. What generates more duplicate bug reports, a million people using a months-old build, or some (probably smaller) number of people using a build from which many of the most critical and frequently-seen bugs have been eliminated?Steve Hi SteveThe duplication takes place when the build that is frozen to be processed for distributionis released to the testers.During this processing, the main trunk of the code is still being worked on and bug fixes found and applied. But these bugs still exist in the build that the testerswill receive.The testers will be reporting these alreadyfixed bugs as still being present. It is very frustrating when a tester spends their valuable time finding, documenting and reporting a bug only to get areply that this is a duplicate and has already been fixed in a later version. It is equally frustrating for a beta team member to spend their valuable time tracking down a bug report that they eventually find has already been reported and fixed.Regards,Thanks for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP

Ronnie, Not trying to but in but I have a probem with installing 7100 build. Below you will find the clone sys inf. When I boot the machine, to install 7100,the installer informes me that I need a driver for the DVD/RW,it is a lite-onSHM-165H6S, is there a HCL problem that you know of? This may be a very big problem since I can not report it to microsoft by the means of send feedback.I need help in order to make this machine, that is already runing 7000, to accept 7100 or the final RC that ic schualed in october.JJRHoldings@live.comSystem Information report written at: 06/02/09 23:24:02System Name: JJRHOLDINGS-PC[System Summary] ItemValueOS NameMicrosoft Windows 7 UltimateVersion6.1.7000 Build 7000Other OS Description Not AvailableOS ManufacturerMicrosoft CorporationSystem NameJJRHOLDINGS-PCSystem ManufacturerFUJITSU SIEMENSSystem ModelP5SD2-FMSystem Typex64-based PCProcessorIntel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz, 3000 Mhz, 1 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)BIOS Version/DateAmerican Megatrends Inc. 0403, 10/17/2006SMBIOS Version2.3Windows DirectoryC:\WindowsSystem DirectoryC:\Windows\system32Boot Device\Device\HarddiskVolume1LocaleUnited StatesHardware Abstraction LayerVersion = "6.1.7000.0"User NameJJRHoldings-PC\JJR HoldingsTime ZoneEastern Daylight TimeInstalled Physical Memory (RAM)2.00 GBTotal Physical Memory2.00 GBAvailable Physical Memory1.24 GBTotal Virtual Memory4.29 GBAvailable Virtual Memory2.99 GBPage File Space2.29 GBPage FileC:\pagefile.sys