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Windows 7 Support

ITSS staff have been testing Windows 7 since its beta release. Overall, our staff and other technical reviews have been positive about the new operating system. Compared to Windows Vista, it appears to run faster on the same hardware and has a number of features we believe our customers will use and enjoy.

However, as with any new operating system, not all computers are candidates for an upgrade to Windows 7. Additionally, there are some applications that may not run reliably with this first release on a new computer.

If you are purchasing a new computer or considering upgrading your current OS, please review the issues listed here to decide if Windows 7 will meet your work requirements.

Will your computer run Windows 7?

Before upgrading your existing Windows computer, you should verify that your hardware will adequately support it. Following are Microsoft's minimum system requirements to install Windows 7:

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DVD drive
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Microsoft also provides a tool to check your hardware for compatibility:

• Can my PC run Windows 7?

Microsoft Campus Agreement

Windows 7 upgrade is now available for download for personal computers as well as University of Minnesota owned workstations.

• Personal computers (students, faculty, staff): Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit version and 64-bit) is available.
• University-owned computers (faculty, staff): Windows 7 Enterprise (32-bit and 64-bit) is available. Review Support status for Windows 7 Applications. Check with your departmental technical support person before upgrading your operating system.

For details and to order/download the software, see: Windows Operating System (OS) Upgrade (Microsoft).

Windows 7 install paths

Following is a brief description of the install paths available for Windows 7.

Windows Vista

In-place upgrade: Run install from inside Windows Vista OS.
  * All data and applications are maintained.

Clean install: Install by booting from DVD
  * No data is saved.
  * All software will need to be re-installed.

Windows XP

In-place upgrade: Not available.

Clean install method 1: Run setup from inside Windows XP.
  * Some data is saved. Folders from the old OS for \windows, \documents and settings, and \program files will be in a folder C:\Windows.old.
  * All software will need to be re-installed.

Clean install method 2: Run by booting from Windows 7 DVD.
  * No data is saved.
  * All software will need to be re-installed.
  * Will need to install twice to enter UofMN license key.

32-bit upgrade to 64-bit:

In-place upgrade: Not available.

Clean install: Run by booting from Windows 7 DVD.
  * No data is saved.
  * All software will need to be re-installed.

Mac OS (using Boot Camp):

Clean install: Run by booting from Windows 7 DVD
  * No data is saved.
  * All software will need to be re-installed.
  * Will need to install twice to enter UofMN license key.

For details, see: Step-by-Step: Windows 7 Upgrade and Migration.

"Product key not valid" message

IMPORTANT for clean installs using the UofM site license software: The product key will not be valid after installing. There is a work around for this. You will need to run Windows 7 setup a second time from the Windows 7 DVD. After installing the second time the product key will be valid.

• After completing a clean install, you will be prompted for a product key. Use the key provided on the back of the DVD sleeve.
• If you get the "key is not valid" error message, leave the license key field empty and continue. (There is a 30 day grace period before a key needs to be entered so you can temporarily bypass this screen.)
• Run the Windows 7 setup again from inside the freshly installed Windows 7 system.
  • Select "upgrade installation" option.
  • Continue with the upgrade; the entire installation process will be repeated.
• After the second upgrade has finished, you will again be prompted for the product key. Use the key provided on DVD sleeve - it should be accepted the second time.

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UMD - Support Status for Windows 7 Applications

Item	Status	Comments
Software support	Limited	Many software vendors - including Microsoft- have not yet released their official Windows 7-compatible applications. Check with your software vendors before upgrading.
Hardware support	Limited	Many hardware vendors have not yet released their official Windows 7-compatible applications. Before upgrading, see Can my PC run Windows 7?
Novell client (access to Office Server files)	Not available	Latest client not fully supported by vendor for Windows 7.
Novell iPrint client (access to network printers)	In testing	Beta iPrint client for Windows 7.
Famis	In testing
PeopleSoft	In testing
Pharos/Uniprint client (lab printing)	Not available	The current version of Pharos/Uniprint is not supported by the vendor for Windows 7.
Quickstart Security Wizard	Not available	No version of Quickstart available to Windows 7.
Samba access	In testing	Limited testing done on access to Samba services (MyWeb, MyFiles, printing).
Symantec Anti-virus (SAV)	Not available	The current version of Symantec AV does not work with Windows 7. No release date for new version under University site license.
VPN access	In testing