Windows 7 RC1 to RTM

[reflex99]

Today i got a pop-up reminding me that my Release Candidate version of Windows is about to expire, and that i should upgrade to a real version.

I dont really want to do a clean install, because then i would lose some stuff.

I was looking on the internet and found this article:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_upgrade_windows_7_final_rc

Has anyone tried this? How did it work out?

Has anyone upgraded a different way? How?

Also, are there any tools you know of that i could back up my system with, because i have a 750Gb external drive that i could use if the above doesn't work

 

[Simon]

When i switched OS's, all I did was copy files I needed to an external HD. I also copied my entire steam folder to avoid re-downloading

 

[reflex99]

you can just copy the steam folder? O_O

 

[Simon]

Yeah. Just go to your program files and copy the entire folder

Once you reinstall windows, get a fresh copy of steam and install it. Then copy the old stuff over it

 

[reflex99]

Does this work with most programs?

 

[torzak]

Steam also has a built in back up system, its a little buggy though, Ive used it twice now and one time it worked the other time it didn't :/

 

[Simon]

It probably won't work with most programs cuz of registry. Steam would because it's jut the game files

 

[iOprah]

Steam will work, other programs have registry files and support files stored elsewhere on the computer so they will not work.

 

[Toasteddude]

Does this work with most programs?

Some do some don't. Most of the programs I've tried to move without reinstalling have worked. I suppose you could always write down the registry values and edit them yourself but there may be a lot of them.

 

[Passerby]

ya steam is completely portable on my system it is kept on my data partition and i have installed a few versions of windows and it just runs from where it is from any of them.

 

[SMiles]

here is what you are looking for:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3075/how-to-upgrade-the-windows-7-rc-to-rtm/

 

[Electrolite]

Everything that using win files (like registry) will not working on new installation.

 

[reflex99]

here is what you are looking for:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3075/how-to-upgrade-the-windows-7-rc-to-rtm/

Is this with the "Upgrade" disk, or a full one?

 

[SMiles]

I am assuming upgrade but not positive. Either way though I believe you can do a full install with only an upgrade disk if need be.