Last week, I blogged that members of the Windows Technical Beta Program would not be receiving a complimentary copy of Windows 7. Normally I hate to be wrong but in this case, I’m stoked that I am.

To show our appreciation, members of the invitation-only Windows 7 Technical Beta Program will be eligible for a free, final copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. For more information on how to take advantage of this, refer to Paul’s post in the .Beta_Program newsgroup for details.

Tell Paul that Brandon sent you - and be sure to thank him!

Still on the Windows 7 Beta,? You need to move to the RC and fast. Starting July 1st, the Beta will start to reboot every 2 hrs and expire Aug 1st.

Want to download the RC? The RC download program closes August 15. After that, you won’t be able to get the download, but you can still install the RC and get a key if you need one. (To get a key, just go to the Downloads page and follow the instructions.)

If you’re using the Windows 7 Release Candidate, we hope you like what you see. Let us know - go to http://input.microsoft.com and tell us what you think. You’ll be able to give feedback on various aspects of the operating system.

Over the weekend, some of you may have received an email from us reminding you that the Windows 7 Beta expires on August 1^st, 2009. In that email, we ask that if you are still on the Windows 7 Beta that you should consider moving to a “non-expired” copy of Windows such as the Windows 7 RC or Windows Vista because bi-hourly shutdowns will begin June 1st.

The Windows 7 Beta does expire on August 1st, 2009; unfortunately the date for when bi-hourly shutdowns will begin for the Windows 7 Beta was incorrect however.

Bi-hourly shutdowns for the Windows 7 Beta will begin July 1st, 2009 as we’ve stated both here in this blog post on May 5th and also in the Windows 7 RC FAQ.

We apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this may have caused.

I’ll be posting a reminder that bi-hourly shutdowns will begin for the Windows 7 Beta as we get closer to July 1st.

In the meantime, if you’re still on the Windows 7 Beta you should certainly look at giving the Windows 7 RC a try! You can register to download the Windows 7 RC here.

As we previously announced, today the Windows 7 RC is now available for anyone interested in giving it a spin! Typically, a release candidate is the last development milestone before release to manufacturing (RTM), signifying that engineering and development have made significant advancements and that the code is entering the final phases of testing. Essentially, the Windows 7 RC is the result of a lot of the great feedback we received during the Windows 7 Beta. That’s why I’m so excited to use it and excited for YOU to use it!

So do you want to put the Windows 7 RC through its paces? Just like with the Windows 7 Beta, you can register to download the Windows 7 RC at the Windows 7 page on Windows.com.

You will be required to register in order to download the RC. This is where you will also be provided with a Product Key to activate your copy. Previously issued Product Keys for the Windows 7 Beta are not intended for continued use, we are recommending that you register and get a new Product Key for the Windows 7 RC.

The Windows 7 RC will be available for download as an ISO image which will need to be burned onto a DVD. Additionally, consistent with the Windows 7 Beta, the Windows 7 RC will be available in one edition – Windows 7 Ultimate.

The Windows 7 RC will be available in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish and each language will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Current Windows 7 Beta users please take note: we encourage you to NOT upgrade directly from the Windows 7 Beta to the Windows 7 RC. We are asking (and recommending) people either do a clean install or upgrade from Windows Vista SP1 – as these are the officially supported upgrade paths for Windows 7. For more information on the upgrade experience for the Windows 7 RC – see this post from the E7 Blog. On my PCs, I will be doing clean installs of the Windows 7 RC. While there is a workaround for doing a Beta-to-RC upgrade, I would like to ask you to join me in helping the Windows engineering team by using only the supported installation and upgrade paths for the Windows 7 RC.

Please remember: both the Windows 7 Beta AND Windows 7 RC will expire.

• For Beta, bi-hourly shutdowns will begin July 1st, 2009. You will be alerted to install a released version of Windows and your PC will shut down automatically every 2 hours. On August 1st, 2009 if you are still on the Windows 7 Beta your license for the Windows 7 Beta will expire and the non-genuine experience is triggered where your wallpaper is removed and “This copy of Windows is not genuine” will be displayed in the lower right corner above the taskbar.
• For the RC, bi-hourly shutdowns will begin on March 1st, 2010. You will be alerted to install a released version of Windows and your PC will shut down automatically every 2 hours. On June 1st, 2010 if you are still on the Windows 7 RC your license for the Windows 7 RC will expire and the non-genuine experience is triggered where your wallpaper is removed and “This copy of Windows is not genuine” will be displayed in the lower right corner above the taskbar.

I suggest making plans to move to a released version of Windows well before the automatic shutdowns start to occur to prevent data loss. Remember, pre-release versions of Windows are unsupported.

As with any pre-release version of Windows – I recommend backing up your important data before installing it (see backup methods for Windows Vista, which also apply to Windows 7).

For more information on the Windows 7 RC, I suggest checking out the Windows 7 RC FAQ on Windows.com.

Be sure to spread the word - let your friends know to give the Windows 7 RC a spin! The Windows 7 RC will be available to people for download through July.

Thank you for testing out the Windows 7 Beta! Your feedback with the Windows 7 Beta has been essential in making Windows 7 a great Windows release! And we also appreciate your help with trying out the Windows 7 RC.

And of course as we’ve been saying for some time now, we are committed to making Windows 7 available within three years of the General Availability of Windows Vista.

Geeks and IT Pros often have to burn an ISO image (.iso file) to physical media such as a CD or DVD to test out and install software. We have made it easier to burn ISO images in Windows 7 by natively supporting the ability to burn ISO images directly within Windows without the need of a third party tool.

To burn an ISO image in Windows 7, all someone needs to do is simply right-click on an ISO image and choose “Burn disc image”.

This launches Windows Disc Image Burner, giving you the option to burn the ISO image to either a CD or DVD.

If you check “Verify disc after burning”, it will verify the ISO image burned correctly. Choosing to verify a disc you burned will require additional time so if you’re in a hurry, you will probably want to ensure this option is unchecked.

I often burn ISO images to a DVD-RW so I can re-use the media. What’s great about Windows Disc Image Burner is that it will detect that a DVD-RW has content on it already and prompt you asking if you would like to erase the disc and burn new content to it. This ensures you don’t accidently erase and burn over something important that may be on that DVD-RW disc. This is awesome because it lets me re-use DVD-RW media.

If you haven’t already discovered this feature in the Windows 7 Beta, you should give it a shot especially if you are burning ISO images quite a bit.

The Windows Home Server Team announced today Power Pack 2. The English version of Power Pack 2 will be made available via Windows Update starting March 24th to Windows Home Servers with Power Pack 1 installed. You must have Power Pack 1 installed in order to install Power Pack 2. Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish versions of Power Pack 2 will be made toward the end of April.

Power Pack 2 offers Windows Home Server users the following awesomeness:

• Improvements to Remote Access
• Enhanced Functionality for PCs running Windows Media Center (via Windows Media Center Connector)
• Content Streaming Support for Windows Media Center Extenders

For me, I am particularly interested in the Windows Media Center Connector. With the Windows Media Center Connector installed, Windows Media Center will have access to content stored in shared folders on a Windows Home Server. Just this last weekend, I went through about 1,500 CDs and DVDs I’ve accumulated over the years of sporadic backups of photos and documents. I had CDs going back to 2000. I went through each CD and DVD and pulled off all the important data (mostly photos) and transferred the data onto my Windows Home Server. I now have no data remaining on any physical media anywhere. Everything is now on my Windows Home Server (which I affectionately call JARVIS). And now with Power Pack 2, I’ll be able to browse through those old photos I rediscovered from years ago directly within Windows Media Center downstairs in my living room.

For more information on Power Pack 2, read this post from the Windows Home Server Team.

Psst, here is a little tip for Windows 7 Beta users who have Windows Home Servers. You can add Windows Home Server shared folders to Windows 7 Libraries. Just right-click on a Library and choose “Properties”. There you can pick which folders you want in that Library. Choose “Include a folder…” and type \\ServerName\ShareName\FolderName etc. See below screenshot for a example:

You can see that in my Documents Library, I was able to add my “Brandon LeBlanc” user folder (located at \\JARVIS\Users\Brandon LeBlanc). I have actually created a standalone Library on my Windows 7 Beta PCs called JARVIS consisting of all the important shared folders on my Windows Home Server.