Windows 7 related Q&A and Support

[Tamer]

bumping for reference

[Caninearf]

Reference bump

[Tamer]

In dire need of ze bump

[Caninearf]

Bumping for reference

[fishstix]

Is it really necessary to keep bumping this? >.> there isn't that much useful or new info. Like Tamer linked this post from another post when a guy had problems rubberbanding after installing 7, yet this thread gives no support towards that.

More info on Windows 7 here:

while responding to his asking for help with this is true, it doesn't help that guy any.

[Direlord]

I'll do a small bump for us tech support noobs

What is the difference between x86 and x64?

I would be upgrading from Win xp 32 bit but i have 4 gigs of ram, dual core processor, nvidia 9800 GTS card. So that means i would need a clean install which is all well and good i'm sure the install can do that for me automatically.

However my question is i am running 2 drives. One drive i have windows my games and my AV software. While the other drive i keep movies, music, photos etc. Would i need to backup that drive by putting stuff on disc? Would the reformatting do both drives?

[Zepius]

Originally Posted by Direlord

I'll do a small bump for us tech support noobs

What is the difference between x86 and x64?

I would be upgrading from Win xp 32 bit but i have 4 gigs of ram, dual core processor, nvidia 9800 GTS card. So that means i would need a clean install which is all well and good i'm sure the install can do that for me automatically.

However my question is i am running 2 drives. One drive i have windows my games and my AV software. While the other drive i keep movies, music, photos etc. Would i need to backup that drive by putting stuff on disc? Would the reformatting do both drives?

the big difference in x86 (32bit) and x64 (64bit) is the amount of ram the system will actually recognize as useable.

32bit will only recognize i think its 3.2GB total of usable memory.

64bit will recognize 128GB of memory.

basically what this means is, if you went 64bit and have more than 3GB of ram, youd actually be able to use the full amount of ram and therefore have a performance increase.


now to your other point

the other drive (all your games and what not) will be intact, however, none of the programs will work until you reinstall (most likely anyways, i know some stuff doesnt need to be installed to work). formatting would not touch the other drive unless you actually format the drive during the windows install.

[Blackweb]

Thanks for the post, for the most part, a very good post. Corrections in Orange.

Originally Posted by Tamer

There seems to be a lot of threads being started with questions about Windows 7. Hopefully we can keep all the questions condensed to this thread.

DO NOT POST LINKS TO DOWNLOADS / GUIDES ON HOW TO ILLEGALLY ACTIVATE WINDOWS 7 7600. YOU WILL BE BANNED.

Frequent Q&A-

Q. Does Aion support Windows 7?

>No, Aion does not fully support Windows 7. There are two massive threads in this forum concerning crysystem.dll crashes, mostly on high end Vista x64 and Windows 7 x64 systems. Aion has a long way to go to be fully compatible with Windows 7 x64 and in paricular the built in 32-bit emulator in Win 7 called Windows on Windows.

A. Yes.

Q. I'm thinking about upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows Vista. Is it worth it?
A. Windows 7 is basically Windows Vista 2.0. It is much better in terms of performance, taking up less memory, start-up/shut-down times and sexiness.

> The actual version number of Windows Vista is 6.0.x. The version number of Windows 7 is 6.1.x. The core of Windows 7 is Vista. Think of Windows 7 as a highly optimized, polished version of Vista. Windows 7 is Windows Vista done right.

Q. Will Windows 7 offer better performance in Aion over Windows Vista?
A. It really depends. If you have less than 3GB, then you will see a noticeable difference in performance. Especially in crowded areas like cities as Windows 7 isn't a resource hog like Windows Vista. The average user will probably see a minimal increase in performance as long as they don't have anything running in the background or have a billion Firefox tabs open.

> In fact, most users can expect a significant performance boost in most games, especially Directx 9 games like Aion. Windows 7 out-benches Windows XP and Vista in terms of game performance. Expect to see on average a 5-15% increase in frame rates on Windows 7 over its predecessors. Windows 7 has improved support for multi-core processors and other advanced hardware such as video and sound.

Q. Will Windows 7 offer better performance in Aion over Windows XP?
A. Not in Aion, no. Performance should be about the same regardless of your computer/memory.

Q. Should I get 32-bit or 64-bit?
A. If your computer supports 64-bit then you should definitely go with 64-bit. The main difference between 32-bit and 64-bit is the ability to support more than 4GB of total system memory. Say you're running a video card that has 1GB of memory. You will be limited to having 3GB system memory. So basically, even if you put 12GB memory into your computer, it can only utilize 3GB of it.

There was once a time where 64-bit compatibility was a problem. This is no longer an issue.

The only computers that may not be compatible with 64-bit are ones over 4 years old. If your processor has more than one core, it supports 64-bit. There are some single core processors that support 64-bit as well.

Q. People claim that they have the final/retail/release/manufacturer/7600 version of Windows 7 Ultimate. I thought that Windows 7 wasn't out yet?
A. The Release to Manufacturer version of Windows 7 Ultimate leaked onto the internet. You could simply go on a torrent site, download it, burn it to a disk, and install it with the 30-day activation trial. Then later on, a master serial key from Lenovo leaked that could activate every single copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. You can't input the code directly as you would still have to go through Microsoft's online activation, but people quickly made activation utilities using the key. Now people have a free completely activated Windows 7 Ultimate. The same exact version you will buy in the store. Months before it is even released.

Also, there are a small amount of people that got a free copy from beta testing Windows 7. MSDN subscribers also have access to legit copies of Windows 7, but the cost of the MSDN subscription costs more than Windows 7 Ultimate itself so I can't really recommend getting a subscription solely for Windows 7.

There is also a legit way to use Windows 7 that Microsoft allows. Install the final version but don't use a serial key. It will work for 30 days before it stops working. At the end of the 30 days, you can re-arm it a total of 3 times. So that's 120 days. Before that 120 days is up, you will have to buy Windows 7 and input the serial key or transfer all the files off and start all over. Microsoft considers this a "trial".

Q. I'm using Windows 7 and I had error *insert number here*.
A. This isn't a Windows 7-specific issue.

Q. Can I upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 without doing a clean install?
A. Yes.

Q. Can I upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 without doing a clean install?
A. No. You will need to do a clean install.

Q. Can I upgrade from Windows Vista x86(32-bit) to Windows 7 x64 without doing a clean install?
A. No. You will need to do a clean install.

More Q&A to come.

I'd also like to note that if you are a student, you can get Windows 7 Home from Microsoft for $29. All you need is a college email account. 741 It's a hell of a lot cheaper than the retail price.

Again, it is important to note that Aion is NOT fully compatible with Windows 7. Many of us who have been running Aion on Win7 RTM since release can attest to that. Also, Directx 9 must be installed on Win7 for Directx 9 game compatability. You can let Aion install Directx9 or you can download it from here

Download details: DirectX End-User Runtime

DO NOT download any microsoft patch or update from a non-microsoft site.

-------------------------

Originally Posted by Krimzin

The current release candidate is 7100. You can still get legit Keys here: Windows 7 Release Candidate

I strongly recommend you obtain a legit copy of Win7 and DO NOT install any RC version or use any product key that you did not obtain from microsoft. The current version of Win 7 is 7600.

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Reported for sticky.

[fishstix]

741 windows7 @ a student price for only $30. All you need is a .edu email address

[Bulverk]

I've run into a problem with my windows 7 not recognizing my audio devices. I can't get vent to work. I go into my windows sound/audio settings, and it shows no audio devices at all. As far as I can tell Microsoft has no support yet for this issue, I've downloaded every update thats available. I went to dell, and they have no driver update that fixes my problem. So ATM I got no possibility of being able to use a mic.

Anybody else having this problem? And if so, any solutions you can share?

[fishstix]

what dell do you have?

[Bulverk]

dell xps 420

[fishstix]

Do you know if you have the Creative X-fi soundcard or the onboard Sigmatel? yea, they don't have windows 7 drivers on the dell site, but have you tried the vista ones?

[Bulverk]

Tried a vista driver last night but it didn't fix my problem. I got 2 pc's at home suffering from this same problem. Both pc's are the same too the dell xps 420s.

I'm leaning on the Sigmatel, but can't be 100% sure.

I'm at work now, not sure about the soundcard. I'll have to check here in a couple hours when I get back home. I'll post what I find out then. I appreciate your trying to help me. Not often I find "decent" people on these foums, lol. Usually I'm embattled with smacktards on my Siel Server threads, lol.

[Livvy]

I'd also like to note that if you are a student, you can get Windows 7 Home from Microsoft for $29. All you need is a college email account. Students get Windows 7 for $29.99 - Sweet Deal! Hurry - Get it Today It's a hell of a lot cheaper than the retail price.

In addition to this I'd like to add a lot of online stores are selling ( perfectly legal) OEM versions of windows 7.These are meant for system builders but if you have to do a clean install anyway it is worth considering such a version as it is a lot cheaper than full retail version .