Windows 7 Ultimate (X64 RTM Edition Build 7600)

Microsoft has finally released the final build of the new operating system Windows 7.
The RTM version of the Windows 7 can be downloaded free by MSDN subscribers for different editions and for X86 or X64 computers.

Let me point on a small and nice issue for first time Windows 7 installers.
Microsoft Windows 7 Product Key can be entered later after the installation of the Windows 7 RTM is completed.
If Windows users want to evaluate the new Windows 7 before they migrate their OS to this new Windows 7, they can install and work for a period of time without entering the Windows 7 product key.

When you start installing Windows7, you will notice that the Install GUI has been improved with better graphichs. I can easily say that besides the better quality images the Windows Install GUI has increased the user experience with the easy and friendly use of the installation screens.


An other most appretiated point about installing Windows 7 installers is that if you are not sure that your computer is capable of running a Windows 7 operating system on it, you can test and see your system can run Win7 by downloading free and running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft Downloads.
By running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, you will get a report if your system can run Windows 7 and list of known compatibility issues if exists.
If those compability issues can be resolved you will also be presented with the solutions of the known problems.

Free Download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

When I have executed the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor on my Windows XP computer;
The advisor creates a report on system requirements, devices and programs.
For example the advisor states that I can not upgrade my system (we also know from Upgrade Chart that Windows 7 upgrade from Windows XP is not supported) and I had to perform a custom installation of Windows 7 then reinstall my programs. So I had to back up my files first.
I learnt that about hard drive free space, I had at least 16 GB of free disk space on my hard disk to install 32-bit Windows 7 installation and 20 GB of free disk space to install 64-bit Windows 7 install.
One major point dissapointing me was Microsoft Private Folder 1.0 is not running on Windows 7 (just like Windows Vista), and I had to uninstall it before Windows 7 setup.

Upgrade or Clean Install (Custom)

When you start installing Windows 7, you will have two options: Install a clean Windows 7 or Upgrade your existing OS to Windows 7.

Upgrade is only an active option if your existing Windows version is available for upgrade to Windows 7. If Upgrade option is available and you choose Upgrade option, you can keep your existing files, settings, and installed programs for the new Windows 7 OS. If the Upgrade option is not available, there is no other option rather than installing a clean Windows 7 or Custom installation.

Custom installation or a clean installation means installing a new Windows 7 operating system.
In this case you will have to choose a partition to setup Win7 and all data on this partition will be deleted. This means data files, programs and settings on the chosen disk partition will be deleted.
It is important that you should take a back up of important files and settings. Other wise you can not restore them after installing Windows 7.
All programs should be reinstalled in clean install cases after the Windows 7 setup is completed.
If you point to an other partition than the current OS exists, you can build a multiboot system.
One important note on Windows 7 Custom installation is if there exists a previous version of Windows on the partition you targeted for the custom install and you don't manually format or delete the partition, all user files are kept in a private folder named Windows.old folder on the partition.
After the Win7 installation is completed, you can copy and paste from Windows.old folder and use your files again without a loss.

For Windows XP users, you can not upgrade to Windows 7 directly from Windows XP to Windows 7.
Windows XP users can benefit from Windows Easy Transfer (WET) to keep their files and settings.
Then they have to perform a custom install of Windows 7, and later transfer back files and settings using WET (Windows Easy Transfer) to new Windows 7 computer.
In fact Windows Easy Transfer grants an easy and alternate method of backing up personal data and settings in order to restore back later.

Before you start installing Windows 7

Before you begin starting Windows 7 installation read the following check list in order to prevent data loss and misunderstandings.
1) First download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to get a report about the capabilities of your system and known compability issues.
1) Decide which edition of Windows 7 you want to install, a 32-bit edition of Windows 7 or a 64-bit edition of Windows 7. If you have decided to install 64-bit Windows 7 edition, be sure that your computer has a 64-bit processor.
2) Then back up your files to a different data storage. This storage can be external hard disks, a CD or a DVD, a USB flash drive, or even a network folder in your environment.
3) If you think of upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 7, connect to internet in order to get the latest updates for your computer.