RSSHow to really test the Windows 7 Release Candidate
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published May 5, 2009, 2:31 PM
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What should you be testing for?
Although Microsoft has published a handy reviewer's guide specifically for the Windows 7 Release Candidate (Microsoft Word file available here), its purpose is to highlight the new and enhanced features of the operating system. That makes sense if you're installing Win7 on a fresh physical or virtual machine; but if you're testing for usability, there will be a lot more to it. Even if you're just trying a test upgrade from Windows Vista and not XP, you will want to experiment with, and make notes about, the following:
- The integrity of your system folders. As you may know, system folders since Windows XP have been convenient aliases for deeply nested subfolders, especially in the case of personal folders. Vista moved personal documents to the physical location C:\Users\username\Documents, and the fact that Win7 has changed the name of the alias to this location from "Documents" back to "My Documents" (as it was with XP) does not impact this location. However, although Microsoft-brand apps and others should have the least difficulty with handling system folder locations (requesting their targets from the API), other software may encounter difficulties knowing where your personal documents are located even though, physically, they haven't moved.
- The integrity of your MP3 and media files. This is another reason you may want to back up your documents and media as well: We all know that Microsoft is testing some new features in Media Player, some of which are...well, surprises. The other day, I encountered some "album art" in my Windows XP physical directories that I didn't put there myself; it just so happened that Media Player 12 in a virtual Win7, on its whirlwind, clandestine trip around the network, started cataloguing files within their native directories. One side-effect that some users of the earlier Win7 betas encountered was the unexpected lopping off the top of their audio files, by Media Player 12 as it adjusted the metadata of MP3 files...again, without notifying anyone. Supposedly this product was fixed by a Media Player update, but that's not to say something similar won't crop up again.
- The efficiency of your security software. So far, this has been a largely unexplored subject with regard to the Win7 betas: How well will third-party security and anti-malware software work in the new system? Though there are no sweeping kernel changes as there was for Vista (Win7 is actually an in-generation Vista upgrade, like Windows 98 was for Windows 95), changes to system folder aliases and the addition of the new shared libraries feature may necessitate behavioral changes to even Vista-era anti-malware software. What's more, the new Action Center feature of Win7 is supposed to coordinate all types of security activities, including with third-party products; and existing products won't be prepared for such a coordinated effort.
- The connectivity of your network components. The Homegroup Networking feature of Windows 7 is geared to connect networking components and other Win7-based computers to Win7-based networks. But you cannot use a Vista-based computer or older as a homegroup member, at least for now (conceivably, Microsoft could come up with a Vista upgrade, though it may simply choose not to). Win7-based homegroup members are supposed to behave better together than ever before, as well as stay compatible with workplace networks to which they may also belong from time to time. But you can only test this with two Win7-based components. However, if you have two computers, you could conceivably run one copy of Win7 in Virtual PC 2007, hosted by Vista or XP. You could then set up your physical Win7 machine as the nucleus, if you will, of the homegroup, and then set up libraries to be shared between the two. You can also then test Windows Media Center on the physical machine, especially to judge how well homegrouping aids in the promise of steadier streaming, especially over 11g and slower Wi-Fi connections.
- The effectiveness of the revised automated troubleshooting. During the beta phase of a product's testing, companies (especially Microsoft) typically forego completing the documentation process, often leaving pages blank. Some type of automated troubleshooting has existed in Windows since XP; but in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft's trying an interesting new strategy, which is only barely alluded to in this document: It's enabling third-parties to create troubleshooting packages for known problems, letting others generate PowerShell and other scripts that could effectuate solutions to known and published problems. We may see the first trials of this approach (if someone other than Microsoft is brave enough to take the first steps) during the RC phase of Windows 7 testing.
Essentially, what you should be looking for during the RC phase is the proper transition path between your old operating system and Windows 7. With an easily restorable backup of your old system in place, and a parallel version running in an alternate partition, you should be comfortable to experiment with ideas that might fail -- for instance, removing older-era anti-malware software, or installing old software you've used before and that you wanted to use with Vista but couldn't. Take thorough notes of your process, and make system restore points frequently. When you do encounter problems, consider them discoveries that you're glad you found now rather than later.
Download Windows 7 Release Candidate 64-bit from Fileforum now.
I installed the beta on a Lenovo R51 and despite not having a native wireless driver for the aged out chipset, it worked perfectly, well the games don't work, but other than that, its fine. I had to install the XP drivers for wireless and it worked. On the RC, I installed last night and they do not support these drivers anymore but after connecting to the interwebs, Windows update gave me the right ones.
Surfing is all I do on this but I do have office 2007 on it. I did not do an upgrade, but a new install. I like it but it looks like UAC is going to be just like Vista. What I would like (and I submitted this to MS) is to have certain controls for UAC. If you have ever installed Ubuntu, it does similar things (the UAC that is). I changed some of the settings after it annoyed me enough to look for them and was very pleased with the few things I let it prompt me for.
Its likeable, but we shall see what the MS fairy brings in the full release. likely it will be marginally better than XP and that is ok I guess.
Oh and i used the easy transfer wizard. it was easy.
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|"What I would like (and I submitted this to MS) is to have certain controls for UAC."
Control Panel - users - UAC. You can select from one of I believe 5 options in there top to bottom, the top being the most secure.
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|I think most people that choose windows xp over vista for there own personal reasons, usually would know that a windows upgrade is not advisable anyway, fresh install is the only way really, corporate and businesses depend heavily on upgrading,
But home users can easily (and should) prepare for and install a new OS from scratch,
although the consensus so far is Win7 is a lot faster than XP, let me just remind you that many testers, and bench mark reviews also said the very same thing about Vista, even when nearly all home users who done there own tests said this isn't so, for quite a while there was a lot of conflict between the truth and what actually is, personal judgement and natural Bias was taking place, and of course the way the bench marks were being done, the benchmark reviews would tell you the rigs they would use, but wouldn't list what drivers they installed (versions) with the exception to graphics, but most know that chipset drivers are even more important,
All I’m saying is, do your own benchmark, there are a lot of demo's software out there, and for the home user that's all you need, (remember to use the latest versions)
this is the only way, because I found that even some of the most respectful reviewers out there claimed windows Vista was faster then XP, it's surprising 2 years later how they too have changed there tune, without any explanation of there previous claims, been paid off (Ohh, did I say that out loud) and the thing is, every system is different, and Vista has proven to be very touchy when it comes to individual system, mainly because of it's very limited Driver database, meaning general drivers will be used by default.
so do your own tests with win7, but like I said, the consensus so far is Win7 is a vast improvement over it predecessor, and like wise can beat XP in some things, but still falls behind in others (will not list what, not looking to starting a debate), however it is agreed that although Win7 uses resources more friendly (thanks to heavy optimizing of Windows code), the windows footprint is still just as big, and needs just as much as memory as Vista (shame).
one thing I will add, if the operating system has grown to need such amounts of memory, 2GB minimum for Vista and above, what will happen in the future, 32bit Operating system have a limit of 4GB, I guess 64Bit will be forced on everyone one at some point out of necessity, (although I’m fine with that, x64bit is far more stable, just not that much more efficient as one would expect, usually only a 5-8% increase in performance over it's x32bit counterpart. i find this so shameful, with x64 bit CPU's, and full x64 bit windows, we just are not seeing the performance that mathematics should say we should be getting, tried doing some research on this issue, but didn't find much material, only that x64 programming is still being written using x32 bit thinking (philosophy is not my thing), i wonder why x64 bit programming is not that much better)?
even Microsoft was surprised that x64 code didn't offer that much of an improvement, i remember when MS was working on x64 bit to begin with, how they said what it would be able to do, 30% faster then x32bit, on paper it should of been, i wonder what Win7 x64 will be like, looking forward to trying it out,
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|"let me just remind you that many testers, and bench mark reviews also said the very same thing about Vista, "
Let me get this little gem off the record for ya:
Google Search, by date, Vista Beta.
You will notice 2 things: Prior to starting from scratch (WinFS was still there, the old core was still there) the reviews were rave and popular. After the change-over to the new kernel and starting over, the popular culture around the OS quickly turned sour. Popular review sites began commenting on the numerous bugs, incompatibilities and other issues the new build introduced and that none of the builds actually seemed to *solve* any issues from previous builds.
FWIW: I completely missed that as well when Vista was nearing release. Blinders and all that. ;)
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|Suggestion:
If you are going to use the "Second Drive" Scenario: Unplug the power to your "XP" drive prior to install. This will *force* Win7 to install everything (even boot code) to the second drive. There hacve been cases in my own experience where the OS will write the boot code to the first drive *regardless* of where you choose to put it. Just remember to plug it back in once the install is finished.
The only caveat: You'll have to select your boot drive from the "boot menu" of your POST, instead of through any "Windows boot menu".
The upside: Your windows versions won't collide (aside from the aforementioned crawling of your media files by Win7).
Of course, I would not suggest this to anyone other than people like Scott (Poor SOB's they may be). ;-)
For the rest of ya, install it on a secondary system or don't even try it unless you have *very* reliable backups. Period.
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|I agree with completely disconnecting your drive when you do the install if you are afraid of contamination. However, once you have everything working, you can always add your other version to the "Windows Boot Menu". I would use the one from Windows 7, as I'm not 100% that the XP boot Menu can handle Windows 7.
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|Excellent idea!
Thank you.
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|It's just awesome. I just downloaded it from official MS site (after one of the early beta versions dit work, but just my 3rd monitor had some problems)
Got the key, burned the iso, reboot, 'starting windows' *WHAM* BSOD Stop 0x00000124
Nice. Thanks. Very informative. It appears that removing graphics cards and stuff doesnt work, disconnecting my second sata doesnt work, goodbye Windows 7...
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|Reburn at the slowest speed possible. :)
Bad Disc.
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|Also tried copying files from windows in mounted .iso. same problem.
Guess they 'fixed' the fact that it worked on my pc since the betas...
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|Try different media or just redownload the ISO. Could be the download got a tad corrupted.
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|Definitely. Redownload, check the MDS, then burn at the slowest speed possible. ;)
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|you should really blame your bad luck or any weird hardware, especially if it is a laptop... is it? a friend o mine got problems trying to use 7 in his HP laptop, which came with Vista home basic.
Almost no one is having problems, less BSODs.
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|You might want to check the MD5 also. ;-)
Also, I just recently rearranged my drives and decided to clean-install Windows 7 RC this afternoon after I got home from work. I was definitely impressed with the relatively short installation process... much improvement in that area alone.
One peculiarity that I've noticed when reinstalling applications is that it appears to be randomly placing " *.lnk.temp " files on the desktop during the installation process (supposedly representing the application desktop shortcut), and is sometimes not removing them when the installation is complete, though the actual shortcut is also present (as expected). Most recent program that has exhibited this behavior is WoW... all 3 discs.
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|"You might want to check the MD5 also. ;-)"
I always knew that deep down, you were ... a jerk. ;)
Oh, and the "lnk.temp" bit? That's WoW, not Win7. :p
http://www.google.com/se...al&client=firefox-a
Silly belf.
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|I know how to download an iso. It came straight from Microsoft and i have never ever had any connection problems. That looks *very* unlikely to me.
After further investigation on MS forums, i found some people on the Win7 forums are having the same problem.
It seems to be a PCI Express graphics card problem:
http://social.technet.mi...-4eaf-af39-d07e6cfa712d
Will try again tonight with pci express card (Geforce 8400 GS) removed and with onboard video or PCI graphics. Problem will be: how far does it go, and will i have Aero after installation?
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|"I know how to download an iso."
Rrrawr...
Someone's feeling a little defensive. We *all* know how to download ISO's....you'd be surprised how often it becomes an issue though.
*shrug*
Regardless, If it is the PCI issue from Vista... Wow. You'd think they'd have caught that? Well, leave it to MSFT to throw a few doozies in an otherwise promising OS...
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|"Oh, and the "lnk.temp" bit? That's WoW, not Win7."
I appreciate that. Odd that it never did that with Windows 7 Beta Build 7000. I fairly vigilant with regards to the cleanliness of my Desktop, and anything out of what I consider to be ordinary I tend to notice almost immediately.
"...a jerk."
I appreciate that. I have a good role model. ;-)
The only major issue I've had with a clean install of Windows 7 RC is the severe crackling and popping sounds coming from the X-Fi ExtremeMusic card (a fairly well-known and documented problem with their products ever since Vista's release). Creative had finally gotten the problems resolved with some of their more recent Vista drivers (a year later... whoopie!), and the problem never followed to the Windows 7 Beta upgrade I performed.
However, with a clean Windows 7 RC installation, the problem resurfaced... with a terrible vengeance. Tried the latest Creative beta drivers which supposedly support Windows 7 Beta, and Daniel_K's modified drivers also, but no luck. Ended up re-enabling the integrated audio controller on the motherboard (sadly an AC97) and everything's peachy.
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|"I appreciate that. I have a good role model. ;-)"
I do what I can. :)
Yeah, the soundblaster age has passed for me. I'm not a huge audio-nut, and I don't really have the time or inclination to set up surround-sound for gaming...just not that big of a deal to me. Been using the onboard SoundMAX thing since I built this system (for Vista...). Haven't had any issues other than updating the driver to get all four speakers working (using a quad+Sub package I got about 6 years ago for a steal).
Creative has done a horrifying job of supporting their soundcards since the launch of Vista; Hell, even their XP drivers are nigh on impossible to find (and poor quality). It hurts, because they *used* to be the best. The AWE32 was probably the last of their *really good* cards. (Dates me a bit, but...)
Meh... wiped and reloaded last night with the ISO I got direct from MSFT, installed VXP (XPM, whatever) and played around with that a bit. No real difference from 7077, which I was using prior to the RC in terms of performance or usability. I'll probably stick with the RC until General Release. No real interest in the "latest and greatest" builds now that they are basically done adding stuff.
x-fi FIX:
http://www.neowin.net/fo.../index.php/t723610.html
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