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Windows 7 RTM on MSDN, TechNet

Aug. 6, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

I spent the day wandering around Paris yesterday, but somewhere in the middle of that Microsoft released Windows 7 RTM to both MSDN and TechNet as previously promised. Both services got the English versions of Windows 7 Home Basic, Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate, all in both 32-bit and 64-bit variants, as well as product keys for each, the Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and the Windows Driver Kit for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. There are also Language Packs for Multiple Languages and Chinese Traditional.

I'm a bit surprised that the Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM isn't up as well. I'll ask about that.

Discuss this Article 22

realtestman
on Aug 6, 2009
Actually, Starter isn't in a 64-bit variant, just like XP and Vista.
dhaval001
on Aug 6, 2009
Hi Paul The product keys for Ultimate and few others are not on technet yet. I did see product key being available for Professional. I don't if this is becuase my Technet subscription is different or not. Also, Mary Jo has reported Windows 2008 R2 will be available next week. I had also read somewhere else that Windows 2008 R2 is going to be with a week delay compared to Windows 7 availibility dates. Dhaval
GoodThings2Life
on Aug 6, 2009
ALL of the keys ARE posted on TechNet... but you have to go to your "My Keys" page to get them.
Saucy
on Aug 6, 2009
Downloading yesterday was s . l . o . w But overnight it must have picked right up and the ISO completed. I'm downloading another ISO right now and it is coming in fast. You guys might want to know that the keys are working this morning - the Technet site came up with one immediately upon request. Just to add .. I also took advantage of the pre-order, but that copy doesn't come unti Oct 22. I got that because I wanted a retail licensed copy around as well as my MSDN/Technet licensed copies lol.
MrDiSante
on Aug 7, 2009
Hi Pauil, Do you know when academic institutions that are in the MSDNAA will be getting their keys? -Mark
shark47
on Aug 7, 2009
"Do you know when academic institutions that are in the MSDNAA will be getting their keys?" That's usually after RTM.
techman.merb
on Aug 7, 2009
Download was very slow yesterday and finished soometiime overnight. I went for the 32bit first and now I'm downloading the 64bit. As others have noted, the keys are available. In fact I didn't have to request a key for Ultimate as one was already there with this notation under it: "If you retrieved a key for the Windows 7 Beta or RC, a Windows 7 key has been provided for your convenience." This weekend I wil be doing the big test by upgrading a test system running Vista Ultimate that was upgraded from XP Pro. I'm really interested in seeing how well it runs with a double upgrade and how long it takes to upgrade.
Ocean
on Aug 7, 2009
Ed ThurrBott provided a clean looking upgrade chart here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1246
Satchmo Bevins
on Aug 7, 2009
Every day brings me closer to getting a PC, more powerful than the most expensive MAC, at half the cost AND with Windows 7 preloaded!!! In a word: WOOT!!! In the meantime, can any of you Technet guys report on this chkdsk bug?
lotsamystuff
on Aug 7, 2009
"Ed ThurrBott provided a clean looking upgrade chart..." It took him an hour to fix Microsoft's blunder. I swear, the original chart exemplifies everything that's mucked-up in Redmond.
RunTimeError
on Aug 7, 2009
@Satchmo: "Every day brings me closer to getting a PC, more powerful than the most expensive MAC, at half the cost AND with Windows 7 preloaded!!!" Wow. Aren't you special!?!?! (In that olympic kind of way)
rr0de74@live.com
on Aug 7, 2009
Its also available to EA customers, that is how I got mine.
shark47
on Aug 7, 2009
"Wow. Aren't you special!?!?! (In that olympic kind of way)" Very mature there.
dcomo
on Aug 7, 2009
It appears that Microsoft offloaded the downloads to Akamai due to the 'severe' amounts of bandwidth that we were using for the downloads. I cancelled all of the downloads and used the Akamai tool which also allows concurrent downloads and had all of the versions downloaded within about 3 hours. Server 2008 R2 was postponed a week to alleviate the bandwidth issues that W7 was causing. Hopefully by next Friday, the bandwidth will be plentiful.
Thunderbuck
on Aug 7, 2009
This was managed MUCH better than the Beta downloads back in January. Very smooth. All versions available on MSDN, life is good :-)
wjglenn141
on Aug 7, 2009
"Do you know when academic institutions that are in the MSDNAA will be getting their keys?" I believe that it will be on August 14. Also, Connect people got theirs yesterday, too, for participating in the (non-public) beta.
Ocean
on Aug 7, 2009
Here is a RTM review from Cnet. Good news! This version of Windows... "finally places it on competitive footing with other major operating systems like OS X and Linux. " http://reviews.cnet.com/windows/microsoft-windows-7-professional/4505-36...
animositysomina
on Aug 7, 2009
"finally places it on competitive footing with other major operating systems like OS X and Linux. " Hahahahaaaa I laughed so hard, thanks! Best gag of the week for sure :)))
robertsjoe
on Aug 7, 2009
Odds are most fall in to the Blue. Your chances of doing so are so high, look here: http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/files/2009/08/windows-upgrade-chart.png That's awful. hahahahahaahaha
animositysomina
on Aug 7, 2009
http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-12354-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=67611&mes... Who's laughing NOW, robertsmoron? ;-)
robertsjoe
on Aug 7, 2009
@animositysomina: If you think that the upgrade chart is a good thing, you're truly a great Borgtard.
animositysomina
on Aug 7, 2009
@robertsjoe: If you think that everyone enjoys the so called "choice" of one or two overpriced models from Apple, you're truly a great Jobs'o'sucker

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