Windows 7, what works and what doesn't

Alright, I finally decided to install Win7 on my gaming rig at home (it was time to format anyways) and was expecting everything to go very well since I had installed it on two virtual machines an old Dell and an old Asus laptop with no problems at all. Well that went out the window as soon as I discovered that my Asus P5AD2-E Premium mobo does not even have Vista drivers, not a problem I thought I would try to use the WinXP drivers. Well I got everything working accept for the wireless network adapter and the audio. I played around with it for a while but couldnt get it working.

So it looks like I will be going back to XP MCE tonight when I get home. Its really to bad too, my Windows Experience score or what ever it is called was 4.0 because of my P4, everything else was 5.9 and higher.

Anyways just a warning to some people the Asus P5AD2-E mobo does not play well with Vista/Win7.

I guess when Win7 comes out I will be upgrading the computer! This actually a good thing! heheh
 
Funny how everyone that says they install it on VMs doesn't have issues, and very rarely if they do. Why? Because VMs are simple static hardware platforms - it's virtualized and it's always the same across whatever host OSes and hardware you folks are running.

This is a waste of time if you're trying to be a serious beta tester for Windows 7. You simply cannot install Win7 in a VM and offer up any positive or actually useful feedback, it just won't happen. It has to be installed bare metal on real hardware so you know what's going on and your feedback can be useful to the improvement of Windows 7 for everyone.

Why people keep doing that - installing it in a VM - is beyond me aside from the "kickin' the tires" point I've been making recently. Honestly, if you're not going to install it on the bare metal hardware, I don't see why people even bother to mention it at all.

Those folks aren't really beta testing the OS, they're just getting themselves an early preview of it, much to the chagrin of Microsoft who is honestly trying to make it the best OS they can, but without useful feedback, that won't happen.
 
Joe Average said:
You simply cannot install Win7 in a VM and offer up any positive or actually useful feedback, it just won't happen. It has to be installed bare metal on real hardware so you know what's going on and your feedback can be useful to the improvement of Windows 7 for everyone.
Click to expand...

It depends what you are testing really. Installing on bare metal reveals hardware issues, mostly drivers. Thats not too useful for someone needing to test software compatibility with the new OS, regardless of hardware platform. VMs are great then since its a simple and universal (virtual) hardware platform. The quirks of installing on bare-metal with unique driver issues can even make software testing harder than it needs to be. Not to mention how convenient it is to save states on VM and revert back and forth while testing.
 
Yah, yah, I know all that, but... it still doesn't address the actual usefulness of installing the OS on the nearly infinite variety of hardware configurations that Microsoft actually needs feedback on. They can install it on 25,000 VMs in a day without outside help, but that eventually proves fruitless.

VMs aren't the answer to beta testing... nice ideas, but in principle only. Real-world application and beta testing simply can't offer tangible serious benefits on a static platform for an OS designed to run on nearly anything you can build for it.
 
It looks to me that unless there are some big missing pieces in the Windows 7 beta, and from what I understand that's not the case, most of the issues are driver and application compatibility releated. I've installed 7 on 5 year old Athlon 64 KT800 based machine and a brand new tx2z tablet pc and the biggest problems are simply drivers and so far with the exception of multi-touch on the tx2z, Vista drivers have solved my problems.

There's a bit quirkiness in the shell with the desktop but that the bulk of what I've seen. Windows 7 will be a must have release I believe. There's simply to much it has over XP and looks to run just as well if not better than XP even on older hardware.
 
nilepez said:
Has anyone else noticed that 720p videos have alias problems in 7?

At first I thought it was the show I was watching, but then I looked at it in Vista (using MPC, and FFD on both OSs) and the alias issues were gone.

Before i send a report, I want to make sure it's not some stupid config issue.

If it matters, I'm using a GTX 260 DVI out into a Dell 2408 WFP.

Pretty much everything in all the drivers are set to default on 7. I don't recall changing anything on Vista and didn't notice anything in the FFD Video config.
Click to expand...

If you mean videos looked pixelated in fullscreen, I think I have a fix for you. I had the same problem on both my desktop and laptop until I ran the Windows Experience Index rating. After getting the rating the issue was fixed. It must have something to do with video acceleration being disabled until after the tests are run. Just click the Start button, right-click on Computer, Properties, then you should be able to access the Windows Experience Index beside Rating.
 
Joe Average said:
Funny how everyone that says they install it on VMs doesn't have issues, and very rarely if they do. Why? Because VMs are simple static hardware platforms - it's virtualized and it's always the same across whatever host OSes and hardware you folks are running.

This is a waste of time if you're trying to be a serious beta tester for Windows 7. You simply cannot install Win7 in a VM and offer up any positive or actually useful feedback, it just won't happen.
Click to expand...

Waste? I don't know. I installed it on Virtual PC, and it detected one of the cores on my e4300 as a 7mhz processor (the other was correctly identified at 1.8Ghz.

Doesn't seem like it was a waste to me. Clearly there's a bug with Virtual PC or Windows 7.

It has to be installed bare metal on real hardware so you know what's going on and your feedback can be useful to the improvement of Windows 7 for everyone.
 
But nobody gives a shit about VirtualPC anymore. It's a non-issue that wouldn't even be acknowledged as a "bug" with Windows 7, to be honest. :p

And Windows 7 is not a product that is defined as compatible for a host OS with VirtualPC anyway, so... that negates any usefulness instantly.

Your last sentence there is what I'm saying, so... congrats. Nice to see someone gets it... (unless you were trying to quote me directly, in which case your post is a bit borked)
 
Joe Average said:
But nobody gives a shit about VirtualPC anymore. It's a non-issue that wouldn't even be acknowledged as a "bug" with Windows 7, to be honest. :p

And Windows 7 is not a product that is defined as compatible for a host OS with VirtualPC anyway, so... that negates any usefulness instantly.

Your last sentence there is what I'm saying, so... congrats. Nice to see someone gets it... (unless you were trying to quote me directly, in which case your post is a bit borked)
Click to expand...

Accidental over quote.

And you're being a bit silly about the VPC issue. They don't say that it's compatible with a lot of software, that doesn't mean that it's not compatible. Have they said that it's not compatible? Unless they said the latter, then I'd assume it's compatible.

Regardless, unless visualization terminology is meaningless drivel (certainly a possibility), in the scenario I described, 7 was not the host OS, Vista was. It was the Guest OS.
 
Yah, I pooched that, meant to say Guest OS, my mistake, bleh.

I just have a problem with people that use Windows 7 in a VM because people that are running it should be actively beta testing it on real hardware and not some virtualized platform. I expect people to actually test out stuff and participate in the beta period and not just get a free preview of Windows 7 to play with.

It's a bit more serious to me than just "kicking the tires" so I can tell people "Guess what I'm running and you're not..."

Bleh².
 
Ive got a RocketRAID 3210 that randomly gets dropped from Windows and throws an error in the card (it starts beeping extremely loudly until I reboot) I updated the driver from windows update and still had the same problem.
 
I have windows 7 32 bit

the programs that i have installed and work are

Digsby
Yahoo Messenger 9.0 Build 2112
Ytunnel Pro 2.5
Windows Live Messenger 2009 (have to run in compatibility win xp sp2 mode)
Aim
Windows Live Mail
Firefox 3.0.5
MySpace IM
Winamp 5.54
AVG Internet Security 8.5 Beta
Adobe Reader 9
Microsoft Office 2007
Winrar 3.80
 
Ok... after scanning through the forum, I didn't see these mentioning as 'not' working.

  • Adobe PDF Writer (printer driver). I know that Adobe says that it isn't supported on x64 platform but it worked just fine under Vista and is a pretty big deal with Microsoft pushing x64.
  • Handbrake
  • Ultramon (you can hack the registry to get some functionality but it's definately not designed to work with the new superbar)

That's all I've found so far. Slowly reinstalling my software as needed.
 
im running windows 7 32 bit and i couldnt get radmin 3.2 to install on it, i couldnt fix it but its no biggy, small note though on nvidia's website under download drivers there is a windows 7 tab that tells you how to download it for those who dont know :)
 
Joe Average said:
Yah, I pooched that, meant to say Guest OS, my mistake, bleh.

I just have a problem with people that use Windows 7 in a VM because people that are running it should be actively beta testing it on real hardware and not some virtualized platform. I expect people to actually test out stuff and participate in the beta period and not just get a free preview of Windows 7 to play with.

It's a bit more serious to me than just "kicking the tires" so I can tell people "Guess what I'm running and you're not..."

Bleh².
Click to expand...

And I'm arguing that there's a legitimate reason to test on Virtualized platforms. People do run Windows on virtual platforms (for various reasons, I often run windows on windows at work and at home).

What's more, some issues are likely independent of hardware, so someone who runs 7 a guest OS, but does so regularly may root out issues that they wouldn't have found if they ran it as a part time OS.

I do agree that the point isn't to look at it for a few minutes and then move on, but that's not the same as running it as a guest OS.
 
Anyone with dual monitors and Nvidia card able to play CS:S? TF2 works great but CS:S crashes at load if I have a secondary monitor enabled. With just one it's fine.
 
shiznit said:
Anyone with dual monitors and Nvidia card able to play CS:S? TF2 works great but CS:S crashes at load if I have a secondary monitor enabled. With just one it's fine.
Click to expand...

Don't play CSS so can't help you. But I can confirm that L4D works just fine with an nvidia card, dual monitors and Windows 7 64bit.

Anyway, just installed Windows 7 Beta 64bit on the following hardware:
Intel E6400 @ 3.2Ghz
GA-965P-DS3 Rev 1.0
6GB G.Skill DDR2 800 Ram
Maxtor 320GB HDD
Seagate 400GB, 750GB, & 1TB HDD
NEC ND3550A DVD-RW
PNY 8800GT 512MB PCI-E
Corsair 520HX 520W PSU
Antec P180
Win XP Pro & Windows 7 64bit beta

The only driver I had to install was for my networked Epson printer. Every piece of hardware worked out of the box. In addtion there were already updated drivers for my onboard sound and 8800GT in Windows Update.

Anyway apps that I installed that worked out of the box:
- 7-Zip
- Avira AntiVir
- CPU-Z
- Firefox 3.0.5
- Foobar 2000
- Foxit Reader
- L4D
- Notepad ++
- Opera
- Pidgin
- Speedfan
- Steam
- Rivatuner 2.22
- VLC (For the Anime MKV files I have)

What works but not of the box:
- Google Chrome. Had to google a fix to get the browser to work correctly. Occasional crashes
- Wouldn't provide a drive letter to the Seagate 400GB drive for some reason. Had to manually set a drive letter

What doesn't work quite well:
- Mediaplayer Classic Home Cinema 64bit edition (refuses to read any of the subtitles in my Anime mkv files)

What apps I still need to test:
- 32bit Version of MPCHC
- Azeureus
- BF2
- Company of Heroes
- Fallout 3 (need to figure out how to use my save files from XP)
- TF2
- uTorrent
- Latest Nvidia drivers from Nvidia, not Windows Update

Major Problem:
- Did not detect my Windows XP install. Nor is there an entry for it in EasyBCD. Though the partition where XP is install can be seen, read, written, and accessed without any problem from within Windows 7.

After this post, will restart and see any if any other problems popup (The system has been up for the last day or so)

Torquemada XP said:
I can't seem to use CTRL+T to open new tabs in Firefox 3.0.5.
Click to expand...
Maybe reinstall Firefox? CTRL+T works perfectly fine for me.

EDIT: Ignore the issue with MPCHC. Totally forgot to setup the Output correctly (VMR9 in directshow) Now I can ditch VLC since it does not full screen on my second monitor.
 
MPC-HC 32-bit is working in Win7 x64 perfectly. I've not found any problems yet.
uTorrent is working as well.

Other programs working well in x64:

ImgBurn
PGCedit
DVD Rebuilder Pro
Total Commander
Steam (at least so far... I'm downloading Half Life 2, so we'll see if it launches).

Not working:
Splinter Cell 3 Chaos Theory. I'm googling for a fix now.
 
I also noticed something strange when I installed Win7 that on my system it detected all of the SATA drives correctly, but it did not detect the old IDE drive that I had even after updates. But when I reformatted and put XP MCE back on after SP3 (might have been my mobo drivers too) it was detected... actually I think I just answered my own question.

But it was nice to install XP MCE and have it only have 134mb or RAM on startup.... hehhe i love clean installs!
 
spotdog14 said:
I also noticed something strange when I installed Win7 that on my system it detected all of the SATA drives correctly, but it did not detect the old IDE drive that I had even after updates. But when I reformatted and put XP MCE back on after SP3 (might have been my mobo drivers too) it was detected... actually I think I just answered my own question.

But it was nice to install XP MCE and have it only have 134mb or RAM on startup.... hehhe i love clean installs!
Click to expand...

Are you sure it just didnt have a drive letter assigned to it? I have seen this be the case more than a few times now
 
AMD T-type said:
Are you sure it just didnt have a drive letter assigned to it? I have seen this be the case more than a few times now
Click to expand...

Honestly, I did not investigate it very much because the drive had nothing on it. But I think it was because I did not have my motherboard drivers installed.
 
There's been several instances where a drive that was used with a previous OS isn't "seen" by Windows 7 after it's installed and up and running. Usually going into Disk Management resolves the issue just by loading the console interface, but if you're using Explorer as the way to "see" the drive, open Computer - I don't see some partitions/drives listed in the directory tree, but I will see their entry in the Computer area.

Sent in feedback about it as I'm sure many people have...

As for that 134MB of RAM thing, I'm hoping that isn't in reference to Vista/Windows 7 using more - note the word "using" there because those OSes actually do use the RAM instead of it just sitting there consuming electricity... :D
 
spotdog14 said:
But it was nice to install XP MCE and have it only have 134mb or RAM on startup.... hehhe i love clean installs!
Click to expand...
lol are there still people who think the main purpose of ram is to remain empty? My Win7 x64 install with all my startup apps and additional services uses 1.2gb after boot and I couln't care less, it still runs faster than XP ever did and feels more solid, just like Vista maybe better. I have never seen it go over 3.5gb total even with like 10 programs and a couple games running at the same time.
 
I don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but the current version of FRAPS doesn't work in Windows 7.

I'm not sure if it's just the 'monitor DWM' that doesn't work, or if the entire thing is borked... I just noticed it when I was trying to record a tutorial video the other day.
 
Anyone else getting this?:

Weird.jpg


Sometimes that box will be so big that it takes up nearly 1/3rd of my screen, but there will only be a program or two in it :confused:.

EDIT: Okay, this thing is totally broken now. At this point half my programs aren't showing up over there, and if I choose "show icon and notifications I get a little spot over in the corner, but the application doesn't show up over there at all.

Also, I'm constantly getting this thing where if I hit restart or shutdown, the system never does. I can move my mouse around, open the start menu, but can't open any programs because I guess it's in the process of shutting down, but it never gets around to doing just that.

I think I may have broked Windows 7 :(.
 
I've never seen that Man Cannon, but seems like a good one to send off to MS (and include an email/phone number if htey don't have it.
 
nilepez said:
I've never seen that Man Cannon, but seems like a good one to send off to MS (and include an email/phone number if htey don't have it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just sent the info out after I got a screenshot of it at it's worse:

Weird2.jpg
 
I just installed ATI CCC 8.12 for my x3870 on Win7 x64. Didn't ask to reboot and it works fine. It's even in the system tray. How sweet is that?
 
I have a problem with my G15. I make the G12 key F6 and use it as my key for ventrilo, but whenever I switch windows it lets off the key and I have to press it again. Works just fine on the normal F6 key, just not on my G12 key. Can anyone else test this for me?
 
Just a quick favor for everyone here. Can anyone running Windows 7 (aka: most of you posting) watch streaming shows on ABC's website, like Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice? I uninstalled Windows 7 after my girlfriend said that it wasn't working on my laptop (works fine in Vista), but I didn't try it out myself. I just want to know if this is an incompatibility with ABC or something with my laptop.

Thanks!
 
I finally got Cat 8.11 installed on my system, after extracting the files, and setting all .exe and .msi files to run Compatibility Mode. Annoying but it worked.

I then installed Win7 x64 on my T61 with 2GB RAM, it seemed to run smoother than Vista, and I got all the hardware installed except my MS Bluetooth mouse would not connect. I was able to connect my cell phone, so I know the bluetooth works. So I sent feedback to MS and went back to Vista on the laptop.
 
ManCannon said:
Anyone else getting this?:

Weird.jpg


Sometimes that box will be so big that it takes up nearly 1/3rd of my screen, but there will only be a program or two in it :confused:.

EDIT: Okay, this thing is totally broken now. At this point half my programs aren't showing up over there, and if I choose "show icon and notifications I get a little spot over in the corner, but the application doesn't show up over there at all.

Also, I'm constantly getting this thing where if I hit restart or shutdown, the system never does. I can move my mouse around, open the start menu, but can't open any programs because I guess it's in the process of shutting down, but it never gets around to doing just that.

I think I may have broked Windows 7 :(.
Click to expand...

Have you tried to identify the app that's cause thing? If not try using Process Explorer: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

You can use the "Find Window's Process" tool at the far left of the tool bar. Click it and drag it over that white space and identify it.
 
crazjayz said:
Just a quick favor for everyone here. Can anyone running Windows 7 (aka: most of you posting) watch streaming shows on ABC's website, like Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice? I uninstalled Windows 7 after my girlfriend said that it wasn't working on my laptop (works fine in Vista), but I didn't try it out myself. I just want to know if this is an incompatibility with ABC or something with my laptop.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Both IE and firefox gave me an error when starting ABC's video. Says Ooops, wrong browser and OS. So, I set Firefox to Vista compatibility and then the movie player installed and I'm watching Lost right now. Probably do the same for IE.
 
disuse_nc said:
Ok... after scanning through the forum, I didn't see these mentioning as 'not' working.

  • Adobe PDF Writer (printer driver). I know that Adobe says that it isn't supported on x64 platform but it worked just fine under Vista and is a pretty big deal with Microsoft pushing x64.
Click to expand...

  • It works, but you need to upgrade to th eupdated version in Adobe CS3, and I think it works out the box for CS4. It's a big deal, but thats Adobe's fault not MS's.

    shiznit said:
    Anyone with dual monitors and Nvidia card able to play CS:S? TF2 works great but CS:S crashes at load if I have a secondary monitor enabled. With just one it's fine.
    Click to expand...
    I play TF2, L4D. and CSS and well most of the time it works fine. But sometimes I get this stipd, insane flickering of both destktops like they are both trying to change resolutions at the same time, but never quite settle on one they liked. I have to restart steam and it works. But that doesn't happen all the time. System spec's in my sig.

    Danny Bui said:
    What doesn't work quite well:
    - Mediaplayer Classic Home Cinema 64bit edition (refuses to read any of the subtitles in my Anime mkv files)

    EDIT: Ignore the issue with MPCHC. Totally forgot to setup the Output correctly (VMR9 in directshow) Now I can ditch VLC since it does not full screen on my second monitor.
    Click to expand...
    Yea I was gonna say that. I had to do the same when the weekly Bleach episode came out. We all know WMP still sucks when it comes to subtitles, and well the whole ..mkv format.

    yossarian said:
    I just installed ATI CCC 8.12 for my x3870 on Win7 x64. Didn't ask to reboot and it works fine. It's even in the system tray. How sweet is that?
    Click to expand...
    Same for when I updated my nicvidia drivers, great stuff there. It's the little things that count.

    crazjayz said:
    Just a quick favor for everyone here. Can anyone running Windows 7 (aka: most of you posting) watch streaming shows on ABC's website, like Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice? I uninstalled Windows 7 after my girlfriend said that it wasn't working on my laptop (works fine in Vista), but I didn't try it out myself. I just want to know if this is an incompatibility with ABC or something with my laptop.

    Thanks!
    Click to expand...

    Try compatibility mode on IE8...
 
Sorry if this has been covered already, but is there any virtual drive software that works in Windows 7 64? I've heard Daemon Tools does and Slysoft virtual drive do not. Not sure about PowerISO (would prefer a free app though).
 
Jon55 said:
Sorry if this has been covered already, but is there any virtual drive software that works in Windows 7 64? I've heard Daemon Tools does and Slysoft virtual drive do not. Not sure about PowerISO (would prefer a free app though).
Click to expand...

last I heard daemon tools does not work. Unless the lite version is that different. I hear really good things about MagicIso. If you search this thread, you'll find I think one app that did work that was free.
 
ManCannon said:
PowerISO has worked well for me so far.
Click to expand...
I had a nasty memory leak, my ram usage went all the way up to 3.9gb and it started trashing the HD while other programs became unresponsive. I killed the poweriso process and it reset back to normal.

MagicDisc is my favorite but that was even worse, it would screw up the whole os to the point where I had to reboot and uninstall it or opening any driver in my computer would lock everything up.
 
shiznit said:
I had a nasty memory leak, my ram usage went all the way up to 3.9gb and it started trashing the HD while other programs became unresponsive. I killed the poweriso process and it reset back to normal.

MagicDisc is my favorite but that was even worse, it would screw up the whole os to the point where I had to reboot and uninstall it or opening any driver in my computer would lock everything up.
Click to expand...

So, from what it sounds like, there is no real working virtual drive app for Windows 7 yet.
 
For people with an nForce 3 based motherboard, the nVidia network controller driver does not work. I had to download one from nForce HQ which worked but as mentioned by another forumite in this thread, it absolutely KILLS the upload speed.
 
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