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MWS/Windows 7 Testing

MWS/Windows 7 is currently available for testing and evaluation purposes only. It is not yet considered a production environment, and should not be used for production systems. The differences between XP and Windows 7 are substantial, and at present we cannot offer support for MWS/Windows7 use via the helpdesk. The recommended solution to problems may well be to wipe the machine and install MWS/XP.

That said, following internal testing, there are no known major issues with MWS/Windows7 32-bit. There are some minor issues, and there are some centrally provided applications for which we do not yet provide Windows7-compatible versions.

The following applications (available on MWS/XP) are not available for installation on MWS/Windows 7:

  • ADS 2.94
  • AutoCAD 2007
  • FTN95 5.2
  • Minitab 15.1.1
  • NVIVO 8
  • OmnipagePro 14
  • Paint Shop Pro X2.1
  • Read and Write 6
  • Spartan 8.1.1
  • Visual Studio 2005
  • Visual Web Developer 2005

General information on application compatibility is available here:

http://www.liv.ac.uk/csd/windows7/software.htm

Installation Notes

Before you start

  • MWS/Win7 cannot co-exist with MWS/XP on the same partition.
  • Wiping the disk is strongly recommended to ensure a clean starting state. Installation over the top of existing XP or Windows7 installations should work, but has not been tested extensively.
  • Windows 7 is better than Vista in terms of hardware requirements, but this is still a significant change from XP. Some machines that run MWS/XP quite happily will not be suitable for MWS/Win7. The MWS installer now checks for at least 1GB RAM before allowing Windows 7 installation.

Installation Instructions

  1. Boot from an existing MWS Installer CD. Windows7 support involves no changes to the CD.
  2. At the installation menu, press X to exit to the console.
  3. Issue the command "win7test". You will be notified that the installer will now include a choice of OS. It will then return to the installation menu.
  4. Press B to wipe the disk.The recommended option is a single NTFS partition occupying the entire disk, but you can specify a smaller size if desired (and create a separate partition from the unallocated space later on).
  5. Press A to start the installation process, and follow the on-screen instructions. This is a normal MWS installation, except that as well as the usual questions (Blue Sticker, Faculty, etc), there is an extra question as to which OS to install. Only 32-bit Windows 7 is available for testing at this time.
  6. Allow the installation to proceed unattended. It should complete without intervention.
If you have problems, or end up with unknown devices listed, etc, send me (mikejs@liv.ac.uk) the c:\mwssetup.log file and any other details of the problem (error messages, device manager screenshots, etc).

New Features

Obviously, there are many differences between Windows7 and XP. However, there are a few things we think are notable features or functionality which was either unavailable in XP or had to be disabled in XP due to incompatibilities with the network environment.
  • Offline files is enabled. No files are available offline by default, only ones that you explicitly choose via right-clicking and setting the relevant option.
  • Bitlocker is also enabled, and should work straight away for removeable drives. To encrypt the local drive you will need to have gained administrative rights, and some BIOS options may need to be turned on.
  • The firewall is enabled. Exceptions are included for pre-installed apps such as VNC. Application installation scripts now make the necessary firewall exceptions.

Other Notes

  • You'll get Aero Glass if the setup process rates the graphics card highly enough.
  • Most visual settings are left at their default. Some changes are:
    • A university theme, setting default user wallpaper and the pre-logon environment.
    • Changes to user themes are prevented from changing the pre-logon environment.
    • "Show all notification icons" is turned on.
    • "Hide file extensions" is turned off.
    • The 'first run' screens for Internet Explorer 8 are suppressed.
  • A different version of VNC is used because the version we use on XP is incompatible with Vista and later versions of Windows.
  • The "Install University Applications" icon will appear on the desktop as well as in the 'All Programs' part of the start menu. It isn't possible to pin it to the top of the start menu.
  • Most of the advanced options in the installer should work. Secured installations are possible, and this has been tested.
  • With Windows 7, the installer defaults to allowing Windows to detect an appropriate screen resolution, rather than hardcoding a default or custom resolution into the unattend file. In most cases this is a good thing. In rare cases, such as installing machines with keyswitch arrangements between the PC itself and the monitor, it may detect resolutions incorrectly. Let me know if you encounter this. The option to force a particular screen resolution for Windows 7 remains in the installer, but must be explicitly chosen from Advanced options.
  • With Windows 7, we have started again from scratch as far as plug and play driver support is concerned. The installation only contains the built-in drivers that Microsoft include in Windows 7, plus drivers that we've found to be required during internal CSD testing.
  • The installer now includes an advanced option - enabled by default - to wait for SCCM before declaring the installation complete. This ensures that things that rely on SCCM (Install University Apps, becoming administrator of a machine) work from the first real login. Previously, SCCM would be installed but still in the process of becoming fully functional at the end of the MWS installation, and this leads to problems with the first few logins and delays in becoming administrator. The advanced option can be turned off, or the machine can be told to proceed from the Waiting for SCCM screen if you really don't want it to wait.

Known issues

Major

None at this time.

Minor

  • Network locations cannot be added to libraries. This seems to be a fundamental limitation of libraries in an environment that uses clustered filestore.
  • There is no support in Windows 7 for the various 'r' utilities for accessing unix. (e.g. rsh)
  • There are some problems when using VOCAL with Internet Explorer 8 and Office 2007. This is being investigated.
  • In some rare cases, SCCM will fail to work properly (the underlying problem is that the logon event isn't noticed, so SCCM incorrectly thinks there is no-one logged on). There is a fix in place which makes this less likely, but it is still possible. Waiting a few seconds after the logon prompt appears before logging on helps.

Recent Changes

05.02.2010: First release outside CSD.
11.02.2010: Some updates to the installer, including memory checks and the 'wait for sccm' option.
23.02.2010: Windows7 compatible DVD writing and playback software is now included on Dell hardware.