Posts by David White40

So, should I just not bother trying to activate it at all? Because I tried using this RTM version along with that ToolKit—which was supposedly supposed to handle the activation perfectly—but honestly, it was a total bust. Microsoft is already flagging it as blocked (well, no kidding, Sherlock! 🙂). If anyone happens to have some insider info on how to get this thing activated before my grace period runs out, please, feel free to shoot me a PM.
By the way, these are hands down the best Windows versions ever. Seriously. Just... wow.

Jonathan Morris40 said:Will I have to go through the whole process of reinstalling Windows if I've already successfully activated it just now?

In principle, you have to activate every single individual copy of Winz you install. So, if you're currently running the RTM version and decide to just keep working with that, you won't need to do anything else—provided you've already gone through the activation steps for this specific build. However, if you eventually decide to move over to a different version, like the final release, you'll definitely need to activate that one separately.

Thomas Hernandez21 said:It’s actually possible to 😁 find build 7600.16385 😉 somewhere on the web.

Wait, are you seriously suggesting this is the genuine RTM and that it’s been out in the wild for about ten days already? If that’s the case, then Microsoft is dealing with some incredibly massive security leaks on their hands... 🙂

I’m a little puzzled here—how on earth did you get your hands on an RTM build when it hasn't even been released on Technet yet? Are you working over at Microsoft in Redmond or something? I have to be honest, I’ve seen a ton of fake RTM builds floating around out there lately. You really ought to double-check those build numbers; they should definitely be in the 76xx range. I just can't wrap my head around how these could actually be the real deal. 🙂

Umm... So, I headed over to the Microsoft website and hit download, but it ended up grabbing the RC version instead. 🙂 Did you grab the RTM via a torrent, or is there a way to just "get" it officially?

Anyway, I finally did it... 🙂 It was pretty much toasted, honestly, but it turns out my BIOS was just being difficult with me. Once I disabled Quick Boot, I actually got that extra boot menu option after the disks and optical drives finished initializing. I just selected the DVD drive from there and—voila!—it works. Everything seems fine for now.

Does anyone know of a 64-bit codec pack that won't mess up third-party players like VLC?

I grabbed the Windows 7 Release Candidate 64-bit image from the Microsoft website (the filename is 7100.0.090421-1700_x64fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culxfrer_en_dvd.iso) and burned it onto a DVD using Nero. I went ahead and tweaked my BIOS settings so it only looks at the optical drive, but instead of actually prompting me to install from the DVD, it just bypasses everything and boots straight back into my XP system—even though there aren't any Hard Disks listed under the Boot Devices menu! It’s as if the DVD isn't even bootable. Is it actually possible for Nero to mess up the bootable aspect of the disc like that?
When I try to run Autoplay while inside Windows, I get an error saying, "This installation disc isn't compatible with your version of Windows," and so on, but that’s likely just because I'm running Windows XP 32-bit right now.

My current setup is running Windows XP Service Pack 3 32-bit (which I've nLited) on an Athlon 64.

Does anyone have any bright ideas before I lose my mind and start unplugging every single hard drive except for one?