How to Upgrade Windows 7 RC Ultimate to RTM Enterprise
Yes yes, everyone said it’s unsupported and, technically, it is. This was just an exercise to see if it was possible to do and I can personally verify that it is and, actually really easy.
I’m going to assume that you already have a valid, legal copy of Windows 7 Enterprise and an installed copy of Windows 7 RC Ultimate and they are both the same kernel (either 32bit or 64bit) and that you already backed up all your data.
Within Windows Ultimate:
- Open up the Registry Editor (Start > Run > regedit)
- Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version as seen in the screenshot below
- Replace the word “Ultimate” with “Enterprise” in ProductName and EditionID. You’re done modifying Windows 7 RC.
Now comes the (kind of) tricky part.
See Here (howtogeek.com) for another article describing this process and here (blogs.msdn.com)
- Take the Windows 7 Enterprise DVD and create an ISO image. You will need to open the ISO and modify a file, more specifically, cversion.ini.
- Once you have the ISO image, using an ISO image editor (I used PowerISO), and browse the DVD image. Locate \sources\cversion.ini and extract it to your desktop, then open it with notepad.
- Change the winclient value to 7100, save and close.(winclient=7100)
- Replace the file in the ISO with the file you just edited and burn the ISO to a DVD.
- Start the installer from within Windows.
- Be cooler than the next guy.
That’s it. Enjoy what is, arguably, the best version of Windows yet. I’m assuming that this registry hack will work for versions other than Enterprise although I have not tried any other versions myself.
August 20th, 2009 at 9:53 am
[...] [via Gmtaz.com] [...]
August 20th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Hey Gustaf thanks for informing me about upgrading Windows 7 RC to RTM Enterprise, I will write about this in my blog and link back to this page, if you don’t mind
thank you
August 20th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Not a problem, glad I could help. Thanks for linking back!
August 21st, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I have tried this trick upgrading from the RC to Professional (RTM). While it took about an hour and a half on a centrino 1.86ghz/2gb ram, I have found no issues so far. My notes organizer program did require me to re-enter my reg code, MS Word 2007 and Movie Maker .0 both loaded flawlessly. I plan to keep you updated since you’re the first site I have come across that mentions this cool trick.
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:56 am
I’m glad I was able to help! The only thing I needed to reinstall was vmware workstation and that was only because it had to reinstall the network adapters. Repair install of vmware worked without an issue. the upgrade took a long time for me too, on both computers that I performed it on…about 2 hours each. Let me know if you find any other programs that could require re-installation. The compatibility report showed vmware as a possible issue, it also showed SQL Server 2008 as incompatible but it works fine. And for the record, I’m loving Windows 7 Final
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
[...] or it can’t be done at all. Gustavo from Gmtaz has proven that it’s possible to upgrade Windows 7 RC Ultimate to Windows 7 RTM Enterprise, he provides simple trick to do in his blog & I brought here under his permission. But as a [...]
August 27th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Thank you very much!!!
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:23 am
Update:
Due to my computer’s overheating problem, I no longer have an upgraded version. On a new computer Windows 7 took 20 minutes to install. However, here is my final update on upgrading Windows 7 Ultimate RC to Professional RTM:
Problems:
- Completely undid Readyboost – I had to reconfigure.
- Junk regarding Visual Studio was installed on the root of my external drive.
- BitLocker feature gone (as should be in Pro version).
- Replaced my MRU list with default shortcuts in the Start menu.
- Windows Media Player had to be reconfigured (the basic setup screen you see whenever you update it)
Passed:
- Did not touch my theme or its files.
- Passed activation with no problems.
- Device Manager reports no problem devices.
- Updated successfully, including Microsoft Security Essentials Beta definition files.
Performance Adjustments:
Slow on use and on boot/startup/logon/shutdown sequences.
Overall: Mysteriously, Windows 7 knew it was downgrading to the professional version and removed Ultimate’s features. My performance issues would have been enough that I would not have kept this installation of Windows 7 so I suggest users to beware of this issue. Else, that was the only significant issue I noticed.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:27 am
As a bonus to anyone who runs into driver incompatibilities in Windows 7, this is easily fixed by using Windows Vista and the Web to fill in any questions you have.
For example, I was able to install the HP Multimedia driver in Windows 7 using Windows Vista drivers (I found the files extracted to the temporary folder and installed from a raw source, thanks to the Web)
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:55 am
[...] How to Upgrade Windows 7 RC Ultimate to RTM Enterprise gave me the idea of how to solve this. My edition is Professional, not Enterprise, but the concept is the same. Start the Registry Editor (regedit). Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrent Version. Replace the word “Ultimate” with “Professional” in ProductName and EditionID. Now my RTM and RC editions match, as far as the installation program is concerned. [...]
September 5th, 2009 at 6:01 am
[...] “downgraden” kann, kann es dann ja mal mit folgender Anleitung versuchen: How to upgrade windows 7 rc ultimate to rtm enterprise. Bezieht sich zwar auf einen Wechsel von RC zu Enterprise, doch im Grunde sollte es zu Home Premium [...]
September 13th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Will the same work with doing it from Ultimate to Professional
September 13th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I’ve gotten some responses that it does in fact work for other versions. There’s really no harm in trying, as the upgrade will either start (it works) or fail during the initial compatibility check. Give it a go and let me know.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Brilliant!
Was not looking forward to rebuilding my HTPC after I spent all that time setting it up.
Upgrade is currently running..
October 1st, 2009 at 12:51 pm
FYI, updating the cversion.ini also helps with in-place upgrades from older RC to RTM for Ultimate.
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Unfortunately I didn’t find this article until after I’d already performed a win7 RC Ultimate upgrade to RTM with the “minclient” trick. I’ve ended up with an Ultimate version of Win7 RTM which won’t accept my win7 Enterprise product key. I’ve now got 30 days until mandatory activation.
Anyone got any suggestions as to how I might avoid a re-install?
Thanks!
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that once you reach that point, it’s clean install time. I could be wrong, and if I am, please, someone, post about it!
October 8th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Nice article works with professional just perfect.
Thx
October 12th, 2009 at 11:47 am
“1. Take the Windows 7 Enterprise DVD ….”"”
If you already have own an Windows 7 Enterprise DVD, why this hack?
Just to confirm what Einstein said?!
“Universe and stupidity are infinitely. Not sure about Universe”.
October 12th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Read the post. This is for people trying to upgrade from RC. As it stands, without the hack, you cannot upgrade your RC1 client to final. For those of us that were using RC1, we have a few settings and files that we want to keep, and a clean install of Windows prevents that.
To correct your Einstein quote:
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
…and yes, this quote is applicable regarding your comment.
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:48 am
Seems to work for ‘Home Premium’ also…
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 am
I had moved the users/Public from c:/ to a larger non-system drive D:/
When I moved from the RC to RTM Professional using the registry hack, everything worked well except the contents of all folders in the D:/public were deleted. The folders were still there, just no .mp3 .vob, .jpg etc.
Let’s hear it for Mozy and a fast download speed.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I have RC Ultimate running.
Is the version “Ultimate Anytime”-upgrade package enough for upgrading to the release version or do I need to buy the full version ?
Anybody knowing of a site to buy downloadable upgrades from outside the US ?
Tor
October 25th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
> Seems to work for ‘Home Premium’ also…
Yes it does, but I had to enter HOMEPREMIUM as one word (Mixed case probably will also work, but I did not try it, just entered it the way it was suggested on another site)
So far no problems-
Thanks for this hack, saved me a lot of work.
Rudolf
October 29th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Just to confirm – even on the US edition, HomePremium (with no space) is the correct registry key for the EditionID.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
This method will also allow you to upgrade your Windows 7 Ultimate RTM to Windows 7 Professional Upgrade. Just change the registery from ultimate to professional.
October 31st, 2009 at 12:41 am
[...] [...]
November 6th, 2009 at 4:18 am
In my DVD for Windows 7 enterprise I find this data on the cversion.ini file
[HostBuild]
MinClient=7233.0
MinServer=7100.0
Is MinClient equivalent to WinClient ? What am I supposed to do ? Regards
November 6th, 2009 at 5:11 am
Another question: if Professional is less than Enterprise, once Ultimate is converted to Professional can be later upgraded to Enterprise ?
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:40 am
What about upgrading from ultimate RC to ultimate RTM? Can that be done?
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:55 am
Yep. Sure can. Same process.
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February 20th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Despite the two modifications, registry and cversion.ini, I got this message:
”
Windows 7 Ultimate cannot be upgraded to Windows 7 Enterprise N. You can choose to install a new copy of Windows 7 Enterprise N instead, but this is different from an upgrade, and does not keep your files, settings, and programs. You’ll need to reinstall any programs using the original installation discs or files. To save your files before installing Windows, back them up to an external location such as a CD, DVD, or external hard drive. To install a new copy of Windows 7 Enterprise N, click the Back button in the upper left-hand corner, and select “Custom (advanced)”.
”
Any suggestion?
Thanks a lot
February 20th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I’m thinking the reason you can’t upgrade is because Windows N editions don’t include media player and, therefor, are not a valid upgrade target.
I’m not sure you can upgrade any Windows version to an N edition unless it’s another N edition. (again, totally not sure but it makes sense in my head).
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:24 am
Just upgraded from the RC to Professional, by simply typing Professional in both fields. Worked like a charm. Saved me about 30 hours or so. Thanks so very much!
February 26th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Thanks so much for this post. It saved me from having to clean install one of our company laptops on which I’d been testing Windows 7. Just a heads up: if you have encryption on your computer, remove it before performing the upgrade. We had two test laptops, and the first crashed while trying to upgrade. I thought it might be the encryption software, so I decrypted the second laptop and the hack worked marvelously.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
@asterismW:
Ah great hint! Thanks!
February 27th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Your hint worked brilliantly! Thanks a very lot!
February 27th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
combo of registry cversion edits worked great upgrading from RTM 7 ultimate to retail Professional
March 10th, 2010 at 7:49 am
Thanks for writing this. I am going to try and change a legit version of Ultimate to Ent Edition (due to company licenses) So hopefully ti will all work.
A big thanks for writing this article, it may save me a complete install.