T11M

So I finally was able to download the Windows 7 Beta. What a pain! They require ActiveX controls to be installed, which pretty much rules out downloading with an OS X only machine. So anyway, I finally got it downloaded using a PC at work.  Now on to the install…

9:30 am – I’m using VMware Fusion to load it as a virtual machine.  I chose all default settings, install from ISO image, and using Windows Vista settings (VMware doesn’t currently support Windows 7, but that’s expected).  Started the install.

9:50 am – Holy crap!  I’ve never installed any version of Windows that fast, let alone a beta.  I’m astounded.  Oh, and VMware tools is installing automatically.  I’m very impressed.  It’s as if Microsoft wants this product to be good!

9:55 am – VMware tools installed perfectly and readjusted my video settings.

10:00 am – Verified that VMware tools are actually working.

10:02 am – Entered Unity mode.  It’s really smooth and fast.  That’s a testament to both VMware and Windows 7.

10:05 am – Just for kicks I bound it to the domain at work.  I’ve never tested that before.

10:08 am – Waiting for my roaming profile to load.  It’s taking quite a bit of time, but that is the common experience so far in all Windows OS configurations.

10:11 am – Roaming profile loaded properly.  None of the logon scripts we have configured worked.  It said it couldn’t find the network resources… have to investigate that.

10:12 am – All of the network resources appear to be available.  I wonder if it is a problem with roaming profiles and VMware Fusion…?

10:16 am – Uh oh… Tried to restart to finish installing updates and got a Windows alert asking if I wanted to Force Quit applications or Cancel and close them myself.  Clicked Cancel and now just the background visible.

10:17 am – Ctrl-Alt-Delete allowed me to restart just fine.  Configuring Windows update and rebooting.

10:30 am – Installing Microsoft Office 2007.  At this point I am an hour in and have a very functional OS, not to mention it is inside of a Virtual Machine.  It seems like all of the software I have that worked in Vista is going to work just fine in Windows 7.  Nice.  Props to you Microsoft.  Props to you.

Windows beta, Windows 7