Downloading Windows 7 RC

HumanMage

HumanMage

New Member
I am looking into downloading the Windows 7 RC to see what it's all about. But I have one major question before I continue. Should I put this installation in my partition with Vista, or create a new partition for Windows 7 RC specifically, and if so how much space should I leave for it. I have read a lot on 7 and am intrigued to see what it's all about. I just have never dual-booted OS's before, on my main computer to boot. What do you all think is the correct course of action in order to start using this OS.
 
I would create a partition, unless you don't have huge amounts of files on your current OS.

You can't have Win 7 "with" Vista on the same partition. Vista would be lost,
but like I said, if you don't have tons of saved files, photos, music, etc, then
just install it as normal.

I would, and always do, run secondary OS's on a partition.

Microsoft requires at least 16Gigs of free space to install Windows 7, but I wouldn't cut it that close. I would create at least a 20 or 30Gig partition.
 
Bodaggit23 said:
You can't have Win 7 "with" Vista on the same partition. Vista would be lost,
but like I said, if you don't have tons of saved files, photos, music, etc, then
just install it as normal.

I would, and always do, run secondary OS's on a partition.

Microsoft requires at least 16Gigs of free space to install Windows 7, but I wouldn't cut it that close. I would create at least a 20 or 30Gig partition.
Click to expand...

Agreed with above. At least 20 gigs on a separate partition. If you have a large drive, though, do what i did and give it 70 gigs, even though I have about 45 available on my Win 7 partition atm. :P You may not need all of it, but it's better to create the space now than hassle with extending later if you run out of space...
 
I created a partition dubbed "Windows 7" with "29.2 GB" free space. Is the general rule of thumb to leave 20-40 GB of free space for an OS, and then have the rest on another partition for program files, games, etc etc?
 
HumanMage said:
Is the general rule of thumb to leave 20-40 GB of free space for an OS, and then have the rest on another partition for program files, games, etc etc?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call that the general rule, but it's fine to do that. Just remember that, even if you install all your apps on another partition, some files will still need to be installed into the Windows directory, so you want to be sure to give yourself plenty of room.
 
Well, I'm installing as we speak, I haven't made an ISO file DvD, it never asked me to do so. I just went along with the steps. If worse comes to worse, all I would need to do to start over is to delete that partition and everything's gone? That way I can start over if need be?
 
HumanMage said:
Well, I'm installing as we speak, I haven't made an ISO file DvD, it never asked me to do so. I just went along with the steps. If worse comes to worse, all I would need to do to start over is to delete that partition and everything's gone? That way I can start over if need be?
Click to expand...

Yeah, you just format the 7 partition and reinstall. If you didn't burn the ISO to DVD, what method are you using to install?
 
Well to my knowledge I just installed it using the
"7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd.iso."

I just saved it to that partition, opened up the file using WinRAR and clicked on the application, and followed the steps from there. To my knowledge I'm using Windows 7 as we speak. I do wonder though, how I switch back and forth, or have I lost my Vista installation. (I don't think I have because my "Vista OS" partition is still there"
 
HumanMage said:
.... To my knowledge I'm using Windows 7 as we speak. I do wonder though, how I switch back and forth, or have I lost my Vista installation. (I don't think I have because my "Vista OS" partition is still there"
Click to expand...

You should know if you're using Win 7. It looks a bit different than Vista (the most obvious is the taskbar at the bottom of the screen).

If you still have your Vista partition untouched, then - no - you have not lost Vista. You just need to change the boot file so that when booting your PC, you are asked which OS to boot to.

You can easily change the boot file with programs like:
Vista Boot Pro v3.3
or
EasyBCD 1.7.2

Vista Boot Pro costs 10 dollars. It for sure works with Win 7.
EasyBCD is free. I believe it will also work with Win 7.


EDIT:

Here is a screenshot of EasyBCD on Windows 7 (I just installed it). I marked the important things in red. For the drive letter, select the one where Vista is installed. I won't be C: because that is where Windows 7 is installed (at least while running Win 7, it calls its own partition C).

click to enlarge:
EasyBCD1.7.2.jpg


EasyBCD1.7.2.jpg
 
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That's what I thought, I still have my "VistaOS" partition intact. What surprises me is the fact that Windows 7 is so small? The partition in which 7 is located I allowed 30gb, there is 26.8GB free, Windows 7 is only 3.2 GB? I must have not known what to expect, this is my first attempt at dual booting ( if that's the term)

I have noticed upon further "testing" that I haven't been getting the Counter Strike error message upon quitting the game like I do in Vista, so that's nice :D

****************Edit**************
It seems that I can't switch back to Vista, unless I'm doing it wrong. When I go into Computer/System Properties/Advanced System Settings/Start-Up and Recovery/ Then there's a "drop down" menu to decide which OS I want to use at start up, and Windows 7 is the only option available, why isn't Vista there? Perhaps I just installed Windows 7 over Vista? I'm not to sure. Windows 7 is a nice OS though.
 
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Bodaggit23 said:
You gotta hand it to Microsoft if you can just download the .iso and run the .exe
and get a sucessfull install. :eek:
Click to expand...

LOL - my thoughts exactly. I never would have thought to try that. Although, I must say, I still don't know that I would recommend that method. But, I guess it worked for him. :)
The way I do it is always:
1. burn iso to dvd
2. restart PC with dvd in drive and follow steps to initiate installation
3. follow steps to reformat target partition
4. install on reformatted partition
 
So I guess I went by a "shortcut"? Is there any way for me to swap back and forth now or have I "upgraded" to Windows 7 :D
 
HumanMage said:
So I guess I went by a "shortcut"? Is there any way for me to swap back and forth now or have I "upgraded" to Windows 7 :D
Click to expand...

Did you install Win7 in the same partition you had Vista? Or did you specifically select a different partition during installation?
 
Well I created a partition, and installed the ISO file to it. From there I just clicked on that partition, while in Vista, and opened the file using WinRAR, and just installed it that way. I can still see the partition with my Vista OS installed (along with the other basic drivers for GPU, sound, etc etc) so I know it's "there" I just don't know where to go to be able to switch.
 
HumanMage said:
Well I created a partition, and installed the ISO file to it. From there I just clicked on that partition, while in Vista, and opened the file using WinRAR, and just installed it that way. I can still see the partition with my Vista OS installed (along with the other basic drivers for GPU, sound, etc etc) so I know it's "there" I just don't know where to go to be able to switch.
Click to expand...

Well, if in Win7 you still see a partition for Vista (which is not drive C: ), you should still have it.
Did you try my instructions in post #9 using EasyBCD?
 
Oh, no I haven't :rolleyes: I forgot about that. I just got carried away. I'll check it out here in the next few minutes.

*****edit*****

I tried the EasyBCD and created another entry like you had shown in your SS, but that didn't work. The problem might be that my VistaOS partition is C:, while the partition I created and placed the ISO file into was labeled G:. Perhaps without thinking I wrote all the Windows 7 files to that C: drive and erased the Vista OS, and overwrote the Windows 7 files on top of them? In that case I would imagine my Vista OS install is lost? In order to get it back I'd have to reformat and start over? Or, is not all lost quite yet?
 
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It sounds like you had labeled your Vista partition "VistaOS". While running Vista, that would have been the C: drive. If back then you installed Win7 on the G: partition, then that partition will be called C: once Win7 is running, and the VistaOS partition will receive another letter automatically (let's just say "D:" for all intended purposes).

That would mean, that while running Win7, you should be able to open the D: partition labeled VistaOS and you should see the directory structure of an operating system. By that, I mean folders such as "windows", "users", and "program files" etc...

Two things to check:

  • If right now, running Win7, your C: drive is labeled VistaOS (assuming that is what you had labelled your Vista partition in the past), then you likely installed Win7 on top of Vista (i.e. you updated it).
  • If right now, running Win7, you don't see any other partition with a folder structure matching that of an operating system, then you likely installed Win7 on top of Vista.
If you indeed updated Vista to Win7, then as far as I know, Vista is gone. You would have to reinstall it if you want it back.

Check those two things and post what you find.

*****************
EDIT:
If I remember correctly, a newly installed Windows 7 should use up about 10GB of disk space. You mentioned earlier, that there are only 3 or 4 GB used on the partition you created for Win7. If that is also the partition you saved the .iso file you downloaded, then my guess is that you installed Win7 on the Vista partition, and the 3 - 4 GB used in the partition intended for Win7 correspond to the .iso file.
 
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I'm thinking that's what I did, is update Vista to Windows 7. I knew it couldn't be that easy :rolleyes:. I might stick with 7 for a little bit and see how it goes. My only real complaint about using it as a "main" OS is that it isn't "real", it's a beta version.

By copying Windows 7 over Vista, do I have 2 OS file groups in one partition, or did the W7 files just overwrite the Vista ones? I'm not totally against redoing the whole thing and starting from scratch because that's what I just did, but I'll give Windows 7 a solid go and see how I enjoy it. So far it's a lot nicer on games and stuff, I average about 20 or so more FPS in CS:S and HL2DM, and on a laptop that's not too bad.
 
HumanMage said:
I'm thinking that's what I did, is update Vista to Windows 7. I knew it couldn't be that easy :rolleyes:. I might stick with 7 for a little bit and see how it goes. My only real complaint about using it as a "main" OS is that it isn't "real", it's a beta version.

By copying Windows 7 over Vista, do I have 2 OS file groups in one partition, or did the W7 files just overwrite the Vista ones? I'm not totally against redoing the whole thing and starting from scratch because that's what I just did, but I'll give Windows 7 a solid go and see how I enjoy it. So far it's a lot nicer on games and stuff, I average about 20 or so more FPS in CS:S and HL2DM, and on a laptop that's not too bad.
Click to expand...


Yeah, Win7 is not the "final deal", but it's pretty nice that we get to test it for a whole year! Of course, Microsoft's plan is that you get so used to working with it, that you won't want to go back to Vista or XP when the trial runs out. :) Their plan might work on me. So far, I like Win7 better than any other Windows OS.

By updating to Win7, you should just have one OS group of files (not 2). Win7 merges itself into Vista and overwrites some of the files. I would continue to test Win7. You can always reinstall Vista if you want (and you can do it on a separate partition so you can dual boot ;)).

On my PC, I can definitely tell that Win7 is faster than Vista - although some articles say that the tested speed difference is close to none. That's all up for debate, but most people agree that Win7 is faster.

I also like some of the new features/designs

  • like the new taskbar, which does not get cluttered when you have lots of things open.
  • I also like the option to drag windows all the way to the side and let go, to stack them side by side. It is very practical when transferring files from one folder to another or when working with two documents at the same time. A double-click on the top window bar restores it to it's original position (or you can click-drag to the side and back out).
  • I like the document libraries layout, where you can select several folders to be included in the "My Docs" or "My Music" or "My Videos" etc. libraries regardless of their actual location.
Anyway, those are just a couple of nice touches, but they make working in Windows a lot faster. I'm not a gamer, so I can't say much about that.
 
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