# part 2- Windows 7 build 7100 review: The RC is here!

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by theJournalist (move over school!) on Monday, 11-May-2009 14:08:47

Windows 7 RC review - part 2
Testing the RC.
Installation: changes and fixes
You will not see many installation changes between your beta and RC setup experience. Upgrading from the beta directly to RC is not possible -- and the reasons for this are understandable: When you upgrade, some registry keys and files from your beta re still kept in place, which means that you could still have a set of bugs exploited which you would not have if you were to custom install 7.
You can, however, upgrade from Windows vista. You will notice that your upgrade process is more detailed, with a status bar on the bottom of the window describing the current "stage" Windows setup is performing. This is something new in Windows -- and in some cases, it is helpful to know where your setup is at the moment.
Windows 7 will now probably install on your old XP machine, if you have one. I would suggest that you have at least 1 GB of ram, though. Seeing how Ram prices are going down now a days, this should not be more than a $20 investment, though, and you will be up-to-date with the latest Microsoft OS release.
If you are using a netbook, you have 2 options. You can simply mount the image in a virtual DVD drive (such as using a program called Virtual Clone drive) and mount the image in it (creating a virtual DVD drive by doing so), or there is a more complex method of actually shrinking your windows 7 DVD image down to a reasonable size. (useful when using an etbook with 4 gigs of SD)
This link explains how.
If you have no vision, installing 7 can be a bit difficult - especially when booting from the DVD. The only possible way you could run set up is either within Windows itself (such as through XP/vista), or by creating an unattended DVD image of Windows 7 using Waik (Windows automated Installation kit).
However, I am planning to investigate the needed keyboard shortcuts you need to push in order to start install (and whipe your partitions clean).
Tip: to have the ability to choose a windows edition during install (there are 5 windows 7 editions similar to the ones found in Vista - Starter, home basic, Home premium, Professional, Ultimate. Enterprise is also a choice for businesses which request it.), delete the eh.cfg file found in your sources directory of the DVD .iso file. You can delete this file using Magic iso or another iso editing tool.
Windows 7 RC usability:
For those who have followed past reviews which I have written, you are familiar with what I said about the RC performance and how it functions.
If you have used the beta release only with your assistive technology of choice, your experiences with the RC will be quite similar. For those who use JAWS, for example, you will sstill receive the dreaded "The freedom scientific mirror display driver... run setup with the option -r to perform a repair..." message. In fact, for me, I was plagued by this notice for 1 week after every machine restart. Fortunately, I have found a work around this problem.
If you receive the "mirror display driver not working" message after every reboot, do the following:
0. if your JAWS runs and says "no window is active...", run the runtime JAWS version by typing x:progra~1freedo~1runtim~110.0jfw.exe into your run dialogbox which you can access by hitting Windows+R). This will run the 40 minute runtime jaws release which does not need video hooks.
1. Hit the windows key to bring up the start menu. type in device manager or part of that word and arrow down to the device manager option.
2. expand the display adapters tree view and hit the delete key on the "freedom scientific mirror display driver" item.
3. hit ok. When asked to restart, DO NOT DO so.
4. now, press windows+R to access your run dialog again. type in x:windowssystem32drivers (where X represents your main drive windows is installed on)
5. navigate to or locate the file fsvidmir.sys. delete this file.
6. now, in the start search edit field, type in programs. open up the programs and features window, and delete your copy(s) of jaws. Yes, if you have multiple JAWS copies, erase them too. be sure to REMOVE SHARED COMPONENTS or else this will not work!
7. After a restart, reinstall jaws. tip: if you have problems locating the installation file of JAWS (lost CD ETC), download the latest release from hj.com and save it as X:j.exe . this way, after restart, you can simply type c:j.exe and run the installer this way. (hit alt+R after entering x:j.exe into the run dialog, where X is the drive you have the Jaws installer saved on)
After installation completes, restart your computer and see if the video intercepting message comes up again. Repeat these steps if so -- and BE SURE TO ERASE THE FSVIDMIR.SYS FILE!
Window-eyes, curiously, did not have this video intercept problem. By far, however, System access remains the most usable screen reader for Windows 7.
There aren't any bugs off hand which I have found. If you have ran the beta in the past -- or any other windows 7 build, the feel of the OS should be the same. Windows 7 is not a "major" windows release -- but it is a huge step from what Vista and even XP users have come to see Windows as.
-Tamas Geczy
May 07, 2009
updated may 11, 2009

## Post 2 by blindndangerous (the blind and dangerous one) on Tuesday, 12-May-2009 17:38:24

excellent as always, if only I had a gig of ram on my desktop, I'd so go for it.

## Post 3 by theJournalist (move over school!) on Wednesday, 13-May-2009 11:05:07

you might be able to install with 512 MB... I've read blogs where some have done that. But a gig is recommended still...

## Post 4 by blindndangerous (the blind and dangerous one) on Wednesday, 13-May-2009 12:16:41

hmmm i could do that, and from what I've heard its supposed to be really good with old processors. I could give it a shot I guess.

## Post 5 by monkeypusher69 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Wednesday, 13-May-2009 17:07:53

yeah would love to join in on all this but can't seem to find the right vista audio drivers to work with windows 7 for my xp machine .. and no audio card means no screen reader

## Post 6 by ¤§¤spike¤§¤ (This site is so "educational") on Wednesday, 13-May-2009 18:49:10

To post 5:
You could use a usb headset, you'd get sound, and not have to worry about your soundcard issue.
to tomi:
What version of Jaws 10 is recommended to run with the RC1 release of Win 7? And could you, if at all possible test out Win Server 2008 Standard with Jaws 10, and let us know how it works out?

## Post 7 by monkeypusher69 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Thursday, 14-May-2009 16:02:43

true i could get a usb headset, but i am not going to get one just to beta test windows 7 on aging hardware .. like i said i will hold off till i can afford a new computer with 7 on it My real reason to beta test it was to see it ther was ny improvements with running sonar on it and well i am not gonna wear two sets of head sets and try to record that way .. too cumbersome.

## Post 8 by theJournalist (move over school!) on Friday, 15-May-2009 23:36:54

to post #6:
Actually, server 2008 r2 is coming out too and is in RC release. It will be coordinated with the 7 release it seems. r2 brings improvements in terms of supporting up to 256 logical processors, but it is only available in 64-bit release - so anyone who has a 32-bit processor is virtually cut off. Sadly, I am one of these people...
Server 2008 will also be given an sp2 release, expected this month, which will bring a few of r2's features into server 2008.
to post #5:
Not sure what to due with the sound card... But it is possible that Windows 7 includes new drivers for it. There is always the standard audio codex it might use for your soundcard - what model/make is it? If you want I might be able to google some info / ask around various places on 7 support / what's possible in this regard. Microsoft has done lots of driver works with windows 7 - though I admit, I still have 5 driver updates on Windows update so that does show something: Windows-update available drivers are not yet fully (if at all?) integrated into the Windows 7 package for some reason.

## Post 9 by ¤§¤spike¤§¤ (This site is so "educational") on Saturday, 16-May-2009 6:43:59

To tomi:
Thenks for your response, I was aware of Win Server 2008 bing 64 bit only for r2's release. This means that I can't run it on my current hardware, since it's 1: a laptop, and 2: only 32 bit.
I'd have to get a new machine that has an intel Xeon or Wolfdale processer, in order to run 64 bit Windows. Considering my carreer path though, that's not gonna happen, running 64 bit windows, unless I must absolutely do so. I plan to become an Oracle DBA, which means I'll have to refresh some of my Redhat specific commands and variables. I just hope that Orca works with Oracle, guess I'll find out soon enough. Though if I must use the command line with a braille display using brltty, that's fine, as well.

## Post 10 by b3n (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Saturday, 16-May-2009 11:44:15

Installed on my nc10, seems pretty nice really.
Install is super fast plus it found drivers for all my devices which was unexpected.

## Post 11 by monkeypusher69 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Saturday, 16-May-2009 18:14:51

i am using a dell D810 laptop. I believe the sound card is a sigma tell C-Major Audio.

## Post 12 by The Lil Dark Piggy (This site is so "educational") on Sunday, 17-May-2009 6:25:08

C-Major audio? I've seen drivers for that. Is it a C-major audio HD sigmatel soundcard? I ahve something like that. If you want, I'll give you the driver link that came for my laptop, and I can look and see if it can be installed on that machine

## Post 13 by monkeypusher69 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Monday, 18-May-2009 12:07:29

Its a sigma tell c-major audio not the HD one though as my laptop is circa 2006 and came withXP SP2. I went to the dell site and tried to put in my service tag and it wouldn't let me search for vista drivers just xp ones so i had to search the dell driver section by my hardware one by one for the vista drivers for them. The only thing windows 7 found automatically upon install was my NIC card, i got vista drivers for my video wireless but the ones i found for sound didn't work.