It’s been a great ride, folks, but those still using the Windows 7 Release Candidate will soon find their system is no longer going to validate. Users running the pre-release version of Windows 7 will begin getting notices on February 15th that their installation will no longer be valid. The messages will turn into automatic shutdowns every two hours beginning on March 1, 2010. Your work will not be saved when these shutdowns occur. On June 1, 2010 your installation will no longer be valid and you will see a black screen asking you to activate Windows and the computer will continue to shutdown by itself while you are working.
Read more about what to expect on February 15th here.
You are strongly urged to backup any data you have on those machines. Because there is no upgrade path from a pre-release version to a valid copy of Windows 7, you will need to perform a full install of Windows 7 and then reinstall any applications and data you had running on the RC version.
For tips on how to install Windows 7, be sure to review instructions on Microsoft’s website.
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Automatic shutdowns? lol
Well folks have had a long time with RC1 anyway so its probably best they switch to the mainstream version of Windows 7 anyway.
-JA