Some have retail copies of Premium or Professional ordered and want to install Windows 7 now without having to mess with it later. All they will have to do on release day is to type in their product key. Also, I think VLKs will only work on Enterprise and Professional. To everyone saying that the ISO is ultimate only, it's not. It's just like Vista where all retail SKUs/versions are in the ISO. However, with Windows 7 Microsoft added a "ei.cfg" file to the sources folder that automatically defines the version. All you have to do is delete the file and re-iso the files. When you go to install it will go back to Vista's behavior and ask you what version you want.
Windows 7 x86 gives you the options to chose the version you want to install but Windows 7 x64 doesn't. Does this mean x86 was touched?
touched untouched it doesn't matter It does not matter if it is touched or untouched. If you scan the files/ISO and there is no malware then you are fine. I either install over the network, HDD, or USB stick, so the ISO doesn't do me any good because it has to be extracted. So if the ISO is bootable and doesn't contain malware and the version is RTM then there is no need to freak out or worry. It will be updatable when updates start rolling.
Like the guy said, it was important the first round to get an untouched ISO to make sure there were no malware on it! if you screw up the ISO after you downloaded the malware free version its still a CLEAN version, grow up and get it in your nimble brain.
Hi All, I understand the concept that Microsoft has released a different ISO for each of the retail editions (Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate etc). I know that the ONLY difference between each of these ISOs is the ei.cfg file. I also understand that if you delete the ei.cfg file then the installer allows you to pick which edition you want to install. The question that I haven't seen answered is this - let's say I use the Ultimate Edition ISO to install on my computer (without entering a key). Two weeks later I purchase Home Premium and enter the key for it. Will Windows 7 accept the Home Premium key and "convert" itself to Home Premium at that point? Or will it only accept an Ultimate key, thus forcing me to pick the correct version at installation time? Hope my question makes sense. Cheers, Optic
Because it was the ultimate version that was leaked. With the Ultimate version of the ei.cfg file present. You can modify or remove your "ei.cfg" file inside of the "sources" folder in the .iso image to allow you to install which ever version you want. The ei.cfg file is just a plain text file that contains the settings for which version of Windows 7 the installer is supposed to install.
I really don't think so... I am pretty sure that you will either have to reinstall, or if you have not installed yet, it would be wise to install the version that you plan to buy so that you can just enter the key when you receive it. Home Premium (or any other version) keys will not work with Ultimate, and vice-versa.