Windows 7 Direct Downloads Working, But Product Keys Still Scarce

Although Microsoft has pulled the public beta from the sites it had been trying to use earlier in the day, it's still possible to download the product, if you use a direct download link. However, product keys are still scarce, and even with the necessary trickery, only seem to be available for some.

The direct links are here:

• Windows 7 Beta 32-bit
• Windows 7 Beta 64-bit

Product keys are a problem. If you use a bit of trickery, you can get one (and by the way, a 64-bit key will work on a 32-bit install, and vice versa), but it appears even with that you can only get a key if you had registered earlier in the day, before the beta was taken down.

Here's what you need to do:

Login into profile.microsoft.com. You can't login to just any Windows Live page, because this profile page is the one that Microsoft wanted you to login to during the aborted beta download process from earlier in the day. Remember that error message I received? It's significant.

Without closing that page, open one of the following in a new tab:

• Windows 7 Beta 32-bit
• Windows 7 Beta 64-bit

If it's going to work, you may have to refresh the page several times. Right now it seems, as I said, that if you didn't register earlier in the day you will be out of luck.

However, you can run the beta for 30 days without a key. Additionally, you can use the same "slmgr -rearm" command method to increase that period to up to 120 days. It works on 7 just as it did on Vista.

Update: All seems well with the downloads and activation key acquisitions now.