Windows 7 Beta Installation

I first tried to install Windows 7 Beta on a Dell Dimension 8300. That did not go well. The installation just got stuck and I cannot do anything about it. I then tried it on a newer Dell Dimension 3100 and I was able to install it.

This is the first prompt you got. Supposedly, you can specify language here. However, English is the only option you have now.  Click on Next to continue.

On the second screen, you have an option to repair your computer if it cannot boot properly. Click on Install now to begin installation.

License agreement. If you wish to install(Duh!), check I accept the license terms and click on Next to continue.

You have two installation options here. Upgrade or Custom. If you click on Upgrade, the installer informs you that you should boot to the previous Windows and start the installer from there. I selected Custom.

Select System drive and click on Next to continue. If you have system files on this partition, the installer informs you the old system files will be moved to a folder called Windows.old. Optionally, if you want to prepare your hard drive for installation, you can click on Drive options (advanced) to delete/format/create/extend the partitions.

Now that you have entered the required installation information, it’s time for the actual installation to kick in. It takes about 30 minutes depending on your machine’s speed.

After the machine rebooted the first time, you are prompted to enter your user name and computer name.

Next, your password. Strangely, password is not required. However, if you do enter a password, the password hint is required.

Enter your product key if you have one.

Select your security settings here.

The last step is selecting your time zone. Hold on, we are almost there.

Now you get to the desktop of Windows 7 Beta. To be frankly, I don’t like the default desktop image. There are some awesome desktop images that comes with Windows 7 Beta, I don’t know why they picked this one. Anyway, you can alway change it.