Windows 7 Beta has been around for awhile now. I have been using it since January. One thing I liked about installing the beta was the simplicity in moving from Vista SP1. For the Windows 7 RC, this will still be the case.
What will not be automatic is the ability to perform an in place upgrade from Windows 7 Beta to the RC version. The reason for this is that there is a pre-release check that is performed during the install routine. If the check detects that you are using a pre-release (non-RTM) version, it disables the Upgrade option as a selection.
Microsoft explains that the reasoning for this is that they did not focus on an upgrade path from Beta to RC given the audience using the Beta software. This actually makes sense as far as resource allocation for the product team. The ability is there to disable the pre-release check and is documented in the post below. Please note that Microsoft clearly states that although you CAN disable the pre-release check, they don’t support upgrading from beta version to the release candidate.
http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/04/07/delivering-a-quality-upgrade-experience.aspx
The CanIT PROs also blogged about this last week. I linked them below.
http://owsug.ca/blogs/canitpro/archive/2009/04/07/Windows-7-from-Beta-to-RC.aspx
The suggested path to take is either:
1- Downgrade to Vista SP1 and then upgrade to Windows 7 RC.
2- Backup all data and use either Easy Transfer of the User State Migration Toolkit (USMT) to bring over your settings and customizations.
Personally, I know about the USMT but have never actually used it so I see this as an opportunity. I will of course back up my system first but I see this as an opportunity to familiarize myself with this tool so I’ll be sure to blog about the process.