If you want to switch to Windows 7 RC, you should know that you have to do a “clean install”. Windows 7 RC will detect that you have a beta version of Windows 7 installed and will block the installation of the RC version.  Microsoft is offering a way to update your beta version to RC version. This is the solution:

1. Download the ISO as you did previously and burn the ISO to a DVD.
2. Copy the whole image to a storage location you wish to run the upgrade from (a bootable flash drive or a directory on any partition on the machine running the pre-release build).
3. Browse to the sources directory.
4. Open the file cversion.ini in a text editor like Notepad.
5. Modify the MinClient build number to a value lower than the down-level build. For example, change 7100 to 7000 (pictured below).
6. Save the file in place with the same name.
7. Run setup like you would normally from this modified copy of the image and the version check will be bypassed.

Windows 7 RC will expire on June 1, 2010 and the reboot session will begin on March 1, 2010.

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Also, the others who didn’t have this chance yet, can still download and install the Beta version and play with it until June 1, 2010, when it will practically expire. In order to avoid their computer from shutting down twice every hour, users will have to remove the Release Candidate and purchase the new operating system from authorized dealers.

People who have been using this Beta version since its release have reported different issues encountered during the test period, none of which representing a major concern for the user.

Some who were even more anxious to get their hands on Windows 7, and had some basic knowledge of how to get things from other places on the Internet, than the official website of the developer, did a simple search on Google and could obtain the latest Builds of the operating system right from the warez area.

Recently, there appeared no less than 3 versions, Build 7227, Build 7229 and Build 7231, while the latest is Build 6.1.7232.0.winmain.090610-1900.
Unlike Build 7227 and Build 7231, which can be found as ISO images, Build 7229 and Build 7232 are available as Virtual Hard Disk images and can be run via a virtual machine.

By doing a simple search through any search engine you can find the release and additional information such as SHA1: 90286CA644BBBD7C6B4BF1D6E6696064DA825839), CRC: 5723B24B, MD5: F47C13D2FD1D94F5A2E9A0A85BA0B5D0, SHA1: 8BB2AB688698AE503794F02C29C629131FF0160C.
Windows 7 Build 6.1.7232.0.winmain.090610-1900 is an x64 version, which appeared around June 13th and is probably part of the RTM Escrow category.

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