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Windows 7 RC 1 officially available: Ready, set, go!

May 5, 2009, 12:04 AM EST

Microsoft has officially opened the flood gates on their most refined Windows build to date, Windows 7 Release Candidate 1. The release was anticipated to show on the 5th of May, and Redmond has kept their word, making it available late Monday evening. Can’t jump on the download right now? No worries. Microsoft plans to keep the RC available through July or beyond, and there is no cap on the number of downloads or product keys. Best of all, the RC isn’t set to expire for over a year, on June 1st 2010.

Along with the download, Microsoft has provided a brief set of instructions that should be thorough enough to get your installation up and running. If you’re not quite ready to let go of your precious XP or Vista installation, check out our dual boot guide. For additional assistance, don’t hesitate to swing by the TechSpot forums.

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captain828 on May 5, 2009 2:04 AM	Looking at the screenie, a pity Firefox doesn't yet support tabbed Aero peek. ;( I got me the x64 ver. a while back via a private tracker... very impressed so far. The only nasty issue is an apparent memory leak when installing apps with InstallShield, but a reboot fixes that. And also the annoying x64 signed driver enforcement, but there is also an app that helps with 'signing' whatever drivers aren't signed. Compatibility wise, nVidia's Vista drivers work great and they've even started making W7 drivers. So far only TuneUp Utilities 2009 and Daemon Tools won't work, and StarCraft is messed up (textures went wild). Also, couldn't get the x64 Virtual PC (with WinXP mode) to install. It just says 'failed' at the end. BTW, Strongly recommend using Switcher 2.0; it greatly improves the Aero experience.
Matthew on May 5, 2009 2:22 AM	I've played StarCraft a few times on the x64 RC with no issues whatsoever. Going to check out your software recommendation later on or tomorrow, thank you.
black_adder on May 5, 2009 2:34 AM	Downloading a copy of x64 and x32 right now... Using W7 Beta atm, and im impressed, had no serious issues since using it, and I hope the RC will prove to be as good. BTW, ATI also have had W7 drivers for a while now... and they're stable on every game ive played... so no worries there
*StarDagger** on May 5, 2009 2:52 AM	starcraft 1?!?!?! Dudes, join us in the 21st century!! If this plays all my games and has DX11, I'm in! [Edited by Star*Dagger on 2009-05-05 02:58:46]
Matthew on May 5, 2009 3:05 AM	Haha, harsh. It's a classic .
captain828 on May 5, 2009 3:09 AM	Originally posted by Matthew: I've played StarCraft a few times on the x64 RC with no issues whatsoever. Weird... made a thread here if you feel like checking it out.
captain828 on May 5, 2009 3:11 AM	Originally posted by Star*Dagger: starcraft 1?!?!?! Dudes, join us in the 21st century!! If this plays all my games and has DX11, I'm in! Uhm... I also play CoH, DoW2, SupCom, TF2, L4D, CoD4, GRiD, Crysis etc. You, sir, have no tastes for classics!
Julio on May 5, 2009 3:45 AM	I have been using Windows 7 RC1 since it became available . Seriously though, it's the best Windows OS you will stumble upon until it's finalized. Due to the time Microsoft has had to polish the OS it feels more like a final build than a release candidate. It's considerably snappier than Vista which combined with some refinement and feature fine tuning is the kind of OS Microsoft had to deliver to get back on track after so much bad press.
hamsteyr on May 5, 2009 4:11 AM	It mentioned in the latest Daemon tools release that it has support for windows 7. Have you tried that?
captain828 on May 5, 2009 4:31 AM	Originally posted by hamsteyr: It mentioned in the latest Daemon tools release that it has support for windows 7. Have you tried that? Nope... not for RC1, just for build 7077, but PowerISO works well. [Edited by captain828 on 2009-05-05 05:01:54]
BMfan on May 5, 2009 6:09 AM	I'm very impressed with W7,in fact i'm so impressed i am going to buy this one,just hope they don't mess it up at launch. Just wish VIA could sort out some audio drivers for 7 because i use optical instead of the normal 3.5mm jack.
burty117 on May 5, 2009 6:15 AM	Is anyone having problems downloading the RC? I try to download it but I get "fatal error occured - download not avalible" it allows me to choose where to save it just before that appears? Any help would be great! cheers,
gobbybobby on May 5, 2009 2:08 PM	I just finished downloading, can I run it with VirtualBox instead of creating a partision?
Per Hansson on May 5, 2009 2:36 PM	Just as a FYI neither Chrome or Opera was able to bring me to the step where you fill in the details for the download to commence As soon as I tried with IE8 it worked alright, currently downloading with their ActiveX thingy at ca 500kb/sec
Matthew on May 5, 2009 4:05 PM	@Per Just for the hell of it I tried to retrieve the download in Firefox (3.0.10), which worked. Can't say that I have tried Opera or Chrome, though.
skitzo_zac on May 5, 2009 7:31 PM	Yeah I tried to get it with Opera and didn't have any success, IE (8) also failed for me though. But my ISP has got the isos (x86 & x64) hosted on their file mirror now, so I am downloading them from the mirror with my download manager currently.
Wendig0 on May 5, 2009 11:44 PM	So far this installation has gone brilliantly. I installed the x64 version of W7, and immediately all of my devices were recognized, including my linksys wireless adapter, without having to install additional drivers. The speed is incredible and I am very impressed so far. Finally, a version of Windows that makes installation simple and handsfree!
Kastan on May 7, 2009 6:49 AM	There is a daemon tools version that works with 7. Im using it with no problems so far. Also 7 is now my primary OS, don't know how long it will stay so but my XP needed to be replaced anyway so why not keep using it some time. It found all my drivers so i didnt have to install anything myself, only problem with it is that my front panel audio ports don't work, but it shouldn't be hard to fix that..