Description of Windows 7 Beta and Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) expiration dates and functionality

This article describes the Windows 7 Beta and Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) expiration dates and their expiration functionality.

Important We strongly recommend that users who are running any of these prerelease versions of Windows 7 migrate their computers to another later release of Windows 7, to the final version of Windows 7, or to another operating system before the listed expiration dates.

Windows 7 Beta

Windows 7 Beta expiration

Effective August 1, 2009, Windows 7 Beta will expire.

To continue using your computer, you should prepare to install a later prerelease version of Windows 7, to install the retail release version of Windows 7, or to back up your data and reinstall an earlier version of Windows before the August 1, 2009 expiration date. You will be unable to upgrade from Windows 7 Beta to a later prerelease of Windows 7 or to the retail release version of Windows 7. However, you can back up or transfer your data to your next or previous operating system.

Windows 7 Beta expiration functionality

Effective June 17, 2009, the expiration notification process begins:

• Windows 7 Beta users receive an expiration notification in the task bar one time per day.
• Windows 7 Beta users are presented with the Notification Wizard one time every four hours and then one time every hour.

Effective July 1, 2009, Windows 7 Beta enters the next phase of expiration:

• Expiration notifications in the task bar continue.
• Computers that are running Windows 7 Beta restart every two hours.

Effective August 1, 2009, Windows 7 Beta expires:

• Windows starts to a black desktop
• Windows 7 Beta users are presented with a Windows Activation Expired dialog box during logon and then again every hour.
• Computers that are running Windows 7 Beta restart every two hours

Windows 7 RC

Windows 7 RC expiration

Effective June 1, 2010, Windows 7 RC will expire.

To continue using your computer, you should prepare to install the retail release version of Windows 7 or install an earlier version of Windows before the June 1, 2010 expiration date. You will be unable to upgrade from Windows 7 RC to the retail release version of Windows 7. However, you can back up or transfer your data to your next or previous operating system.

Windows 7 RC expiration functionality

Effective February 14, 2010, the expiration notification process begins:

• Windows 7 RC users receive an expiration notification in the task bar one time per day.
• Windows 7 RC users are presented with the Notification Wizard one time every four hours and then one time every hour.

Effective March 1, 2010, Windows 7 RC enters the next phase of expiration:

• Expiration notifications in the task bar continue.
• Computers that are running Windows 7 RC restart every two hours.

Effective June 1, 2010, Windows 7 RC expires:

• Windows starts to a black desktop.
• Windows 7 RC users are presented with a Windows Activation screen. The screen states that the Windows that you are running is not genuine.
• Computers that are running Windows 7 RC restart every two hours.

For more information about how to uninstall Windows 7 and revert to your original operating system or another version of Windows 7, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about Windows 7, visit the following Microsoft Web site: