Upgrade Windows 7 RC or Beta version to Final version

The final version of Windows 7 is now available for Microsoft Technet and MSDN subscribers. If you are one of them and have downloaded Windows 7, you must have noticed that you can’t upgrade directly from a pre-release version, i.e., the RC version and the Beta version. But with this quick and easy workaround you can easily!

While installing Windows 7, it checks whether or not the current version you are running is a pre-release copy. This prevents any upgrade further. The following error is generated:

Win_7_Beta_to_RC_Upgrade_Error

The workaround to prevent the check is to edit a file present inside the Windows 7 RTM DVD.

  • If you have downloaded the Windows 7 RTM DVD ISO image already then extract the contents using 7-zip.
  • After extracting the files, browse down to the sources folder and find cversion.ini file inside it and open it.
  • You’ll notice that the MinClient line has a value of 7233.0 which is why Windows 7 RTM is preventing an upgrade since the Windows 7 RC release is build 7100.

cversion_ini_file

  • All you need to do is change the MinClient value to something less than the current build you are using. For example, you can change it to 7000 and save the file.

The original content of cversion.ini:

MinClient=7233.0
MinServer=7100.0

You have to change it to:

MinClient=7000.0
MinServer=7100.0

  • Now you can simply launch the setup.exe file from within the folder and do the upgrade directly from the hard drive.

Note: Since Windows 7 Beta or RC versions were Ultimate edition hence you’ll only be able to upgrade to the RTM (final) if you are installing Ultimate Edition.

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