The first five points to install Windows 7 must know

From May 5th, Microsoft officially will begin to allow downloading of Windows 7 RC. Previously, users of MSDN or TechNet had already been tried. We have been installing and upgrading RC on a variety of systems, as well as many domestic and foreign netizens and blogs. Next, I want to organize and share the lessons of Windows 7 installation, I hope to help everyone.

Download: Windows 7 Release Candidate(RC)

1. Choose the installation method

Now you have downloaded the ISO image and burned it to DVD. Next you have two options to run the installer. The performance of the Windows Installer depends on which method you choose.

If your system already has Windows XP, Vista, or an earlier version installed, you can launch the installer from the Windows operating system. Alternatively, you can boot the system from the installation media. Either way, you will see a dialog box.

What is the difference? If you run the installer in Windows.

1. You cannot run a 64-bit installer on an x86 version of Windows.

2, install Windows 7 and the existing Windows version of the same volume.

3, must use the existing partition, can not be changed, the installer does not recognize the unallocated space.

If booting from a Windows 7 DVD:

1. You cannot upgrade an existing Windows version, you can only customize the installation.

2, you can delete an existing partition, create a new partition, extend an existing disk partition, or specify an unallocated space as the installation location.

3, install Windows 7 and the existing Windows version of the same volume.

Also, if you launch the installer in Windows, you can choose to run a compatibility check on your existing system.

Second, how to install a new

If you plan to do a clean installation, it is recommended that you back up first, then launch the installer from the Windows 7 DVD, eliminating any existing partitions. Because this will save you time and reduce some trouble. Now assume that you have already made a backup. Because all the data will disappear, so be sure to save it before you start.

There are four steps to the new installation:

1. Start the program from the Windows DVD, follow the prompts to select a custom (advanced) installation, and then click Next to enter the screen;

2. Click Drive Options (Advanced) to display all available disk management tools;

3. Select a partition from the list and click Delete;

4. For others Any additional volumes are repeated until nothing is left except for the unallocated space.

Now you can complete the installation with all the unallocated space on the drive.

Third, find the old driver without fear

In my tests, so far, windows 7 is very detailed on the driver. But it's not perfect, some devices are blank, or replaced by generic drivers.

If you have already installed an earlier version of Windows Vista or Windows 7, you do not need to use a special program to back up the driver from the old system. Windows Vista and Windows 7 save a local copy of all drivers in a folder called FileRepository, which is in a subfolder of the DriverStore folder. The full path is C:WindowsSystem32DriverStoreFileRepository.

In a clean Windows 7 X86 installation, the FileRepository folder contains more than 900 MB of files. If you add some new devices or updates, this number can easily exceed 1GB.

After you have completed the new installation of Windows 7, you can use Device Manager to install or update any driver, or just click on the old driver you saved to install.

Four, no fear to overwrite old folders

When you instruct Windows Installer to do a custom installation, it will use the old Windows, Program Files, and User Folders (Documents and Settings) Move to a folder called Windows. Old. The new installation creates a new set of top-level folders on the current system drive: Windows, Program Files, and Users.

The benefit of this is that when a single disk on a system has only one partition and a large amount of free disk space, it is completely new and does not lose any data. A new, non-destructive installation gives you a new start, and old data files are safely hidden in the Windows.old folder.

To perform a clean and non-destructive installation, you can launch the Windows 7 installer on Windows or from the Windows 7 DVD, click on the installation steps, select the Custom (Advanced) option, and then, in the list of available disk partitions, Choose a partition that contains your current Windows installation. For most people, it is drive C.

When you click OK, you will see a warning dialog.

After completing the setup, when you first start Windows 7, you will see that all your data and program files are in the Windows.Old folder. If you have any old data files to retrieve, you can find them in the Users folder (Windows Vista) or Documents and Settings.

V. Hard disk capacity requirements return to the original

Under the current standard, you do not need a lot of disk space to install Windows 7. Microsoft announced the RC minimum hardware recommended 16G free disk space. But that's not a hard requirement. After installing Windows 7 Ultimate on a 10G drive (9.9G format) virtual machine, I still have 3.95G of free disk space.

Later I noticed that the full installation of Windows 7 Ultimate x86 requires 6 to 9G of space. Obviously, this amount will increase when you install additional programs or create data files. But how big should the system partition be? According to the author's experience, 15G is a minimum scale, but sooner or later it will become tight, so if you have enough spare disk space, it is recommended to reserve at least 30G.

Finally, the author also collected some general knowledge about Windows 7 RC, share it:

RC is the latest test version of Windows 7 development process. Available in x86 and x64 formats. It is the last version before Microsoft officially released Windows 7. A full installation of Windows 7 RC should be completed in one and a half hours. As for the slower machine, it can be completed in two hours.

Although it is possible that Microsoft will add some new desktop background or screen saver. But currently Windows 7 RC is already a full-featured version. Microsoft's work from now on is to fix the final error, most of which will be related to the original equipment manufacturer's configuration and hardware support.

The RC version is like a trial version and the public will be able to download and install it. No need to pay any fees.

Windows 7 cannot be installed on top of Windows XP. Windows 7 must be installed as a net, or installed on a Vista-based basis to migrate data and personalization settings from XP.

Virtual machines have special uses, and virtualized hardware does not support Aero graphics features, so a real desktop experience is not possible.

Most mainstream commercial and entertainment programs that run on Vista can run on Windows 7.

You will be prompted to enter your product key during the installation process. If you leave this box blank, the installer will continue and there are no restrictions on your Windows 7. But before you activate, you must enter a valid product key. By default, it will be activated automatically within 3 days after installation, or it can be disabled during the installation process. If you don't activate during the 30-day grace period, you can continue to use RC, but you must endure troublesome screens and force black backgrounds. Windows 7 RC will stop working on March 1, 2010, which is a long time.