windows 7 beta
The official Windows 7 site states that the beta is available for download again!
Go to the download page directly.
From now on you will need a Windows Live account in order to download the beta. If you have a Hotmail account you should already have a Windows Live ID.
Update:
At the moment I am not able to download it, the page you are getting redirected to after you signed-in is just loading for ages.
Windows 7 is still in beta, hence you should think twice before installing it.
- Do not install it on a partition with another OS on it
- Do not install it on a partition that is currently actively used
- Be prepared to loose data on your Windows 7 partition
- Windows 7 beta will expire in August, 2009
Especially XP users should not install Windows 7 beta on their main partition since they do not have the latest drivers, which Vista users already have. Therefore you will have a hard time to update all your drivers.
VirtualBox allows you to run different OS’s through a software application. This is the easiest way to test Windows 7, by far! It is also the most secure way.
Windows 7 requires a product activation after 30 days, therefore you are going to need a beta key sooner or later. Here, I describe two ways how to activate Windows 7.
After doing some research I found out that there are currently two download links that still work. The download speed is very fast (1000 kb/s). However, my download ended after receiving 270MB, although the size is about 2.4 GB.
Here are the links, if you want to give it a try:
English:
Windows 7 beta x32 ISO English
Windows 7 beta x64 ISO English
German:
Yesterday the Windows 7 beta was in a high demand. The demand was so high that Microsoft was not able to handle it. Right now they are adding new servers to ensure that all people can easily download the beta.
A direct download link to the beta has been removed in the meantime:
Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta. The volume has been phenomenal — we’re in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We’re sorry for the delay and we’ll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download experience.
The link above will probably work again later this day. If it does not, you can go to this site, where Microsoft will eventually post the link to the beta again.
This afternoon 2.5 million users will be able to download the official Windows 7 beta. You want to grab it?
Check this site later today: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/
More info will be posted soonish.
