Download Vista RC2 now

by Zack Stern { Oct 9th 2006 at 6:55PM }

Gamers on the bleeding-edge (read: will sell blood for DirectX 10 video card) can download Windows Vista RC2. Microsoft says that this will be the final public update before Vista ships to retail; freeloaders, this is your last chance.

Vista claims to be a significant update for gamers, but we're staying skeptical until its final release. Microsoft wouldn't hype DirectX 10 and other game technologies just to sell copies, would it? No, rhetorical us, that's cynical.

Use a product key from the RC1 installation, or get a new one from that site if you're new to the Vista expedition. Vista hasn't destroyed any of our computers, but be sure to back up important data or run Vista on a non-critical PC.

See Also: Download Vista RC1 for free, stress your PC and wallet

[Via Engadget]

Tags: Microsoft, RC2, Vista, Windows Vista, WindowsVista

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

john @ Oct 9th 2006 7:04PM

I wish I could try it, but I just don't feel like installing a new OS atm.

I also don't have the XP cd, didn't come with my computer.

mykie @ Oct 9th 2006 7:09PM

crap, i haven't even gotten around to installing RC1...

Sizer @ Oct 9th 2006 7:10PM

Bah, this is not a release candidate, this is Beta 4. It is still full of obvious problems.

Though I guess for political reasons they can ship it broken and count on those InterTubes for patching. This is especially apropros for us gamers.

James @ Oct 9th 2006 7:16PM

cool, only 1400 bugs. 1000 less than the last release. They're almost there!

nick @ Oct 9th 2006 7:20PM

Yeah i agree this is more of a beta then a Release Candidate. Its full of wonderful bugs. I had to reinstall three times just to get it to a stable level. Right now i am running it on my main box and it seems fine but i don't want to trust it. But yeah Service Pack 1 for vista will likely fix the problems several months after release. So back to OS X for everything and WoW, and back to XPSP2 for some games.

LaughingTarget @ Oct 9th 2006 7:26PM

Seems they've pulled the RC2 information entirely. Guess something was seriously wrong with it.

007craft @ Oct 9th 2006 7:27PM

I dont know what everyone is talking about. I used RC1 and didnt notice any bugs. Mind you I didnt set up the OS for detailed stuff like networking and other forms of computer managment, but just setting it up on my laptop and trying some of the new features/ui/else seemed to all work great.

Im deffenitly getting Windows vista ultimate as soon as its released. If your the type whos gonna be paying for their OS, I recommend sticking with XP, but if vista will be free for you, its worth the time to upgrade.

Tom @ Oct 9th 2006 7:28PM

I installed RC1 a couple weeks ago and it gave me tons of problems. I'm considering wasting a day with RC2 as well, but before I do that... any of my fellow testers wanna tell me what's been fixed in RC2?

kevinski @ Oct 9th 2006 7:34PM

I used RC1 for a couple of weeks, and it's definitely usable as a primary OS (as long as you don't need Photoshop...), in my opinion. Most of the software that I installed worked just fine (although certain apps couldn't save settings properly, since Microsoft rearranged the user directories and whatnot). I really wouldn't recommend gaming under RC1, though.

By the way, I don't see anything regarding RC2 on the downloads page. What's going on?

darryl @ Oct 9th 2006 7:38PM

"Download Vista RC2 now"

No!

The Vista Beta Connect Program @ Oct 9th 2006 7:39PM

Microsoft has removed the Windows Vista RC2 Public Beta Program temporarily because of an unexpected demand which has slowed the servers down. Microsoft is planning on releasing Windows Vista RC2 for the public again soon.

Thank You for your interest in the Windows Vista Beta Connect Program.

X Budd @ Oct 9th 2006 7:46PM

Vista RC1 wouldn't work with any of my USB stuff, like my WiFi card thanks to the lack of Drivers! I hope Vista RC2 fixes that.

Will it be back online tomorrow?

hey alex @ Oct 9th 2006 8:04PM

I've been using Vista for a while now, and have not experienced any major issues beyond not having the correct video driver, from an earlier beta release, which was corrected by RC1.

I'll try this update tomorrow. Downloaded it earlier today.

ShockWave @ Oct 9th 2006 8:36PM

Well is still haves the same crashes from RC1 , for some reason it crashes on my P4 3.0Ghz HT , 768MB Ram , ATI Radeon 9600 128MB PC , i had to install it twice since the firt install game me a blue screen before i got to see the desktop UI for the first time.

LaughingTarget @ Oct 9th 2006 8:42PM

ShockWave -

Might be a RAM issue. Vista needs at minimum a full gig to run halfway decently.

fyreblazer @ Oct 9th 2006 8:45PM

Ahhh crap, I missed it. I've been using RC1 myself and have had no problems. I'll look out for another link later.

patrick @ Oct 9th 2006 8:59PM

wow. just wow.

GRRR MICROSOFT! IF YOU'RE GONNA RELEASE A TEST VERSION OF YOUR NEW OS FOR US TO USE FOR FREE, IT BETTER BE PERFECT AND BUG FREE! THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR A BETA PROGRAM TO HAVE BUGS!

Relix @ Oct 9th 2006 9:38PM

@ 17 (patrick):

My friend, that was a really stupid comment. The reason it is a beta is because it has bugs, and they release it for free to public so other users can test it out and report the bugs to them.

yardman @ Oct 9th 2006 9:59PM

Relix i think patrick was being sarcastic....and am giving him the benifit of the dought

Cronotrigger913 @ Oct 9th 2006 10:20PM

Gosh darn it, I just got RC1 installed on my computer yesterday! Damn you Msoft. I will say that RC1 is loads better than Beta 2. All my hardware drivers actually work now. And I have not seen any major problems with RC1 as of now. It's working wonderfully on my PC, and I've totally changed my viewpoint on upgrading my OS. I'm actually using it now with FireFox 2 to write this comment. I haven't really tried running any games on it because of the complete lack of drivers/patches, so I can't say anything about that. And something tells me that, with around 50% of my 1GB RAM being used just to run Vista by itself (with a few gadgets running), playing games is going to need a minimum of 2GB to run fine. So, if you want Vista for the exclusive games, be prepared to spend mucho dinero on hardware upgrades.

SuiXide @ Oct 9th 2006 10:43PM

Been using RC1 for a few days now and the only problems I've found are that a couple of programs won't work correctly and every now and then my beta graphics drivers fail. My framerate in games is atrocious because of RAM usage and I'm glad I can boot to XP whenever.

Media Center is nice though. Already burnt a few movies to DVD with it.

patrick @ Oct 9th 2006 10:45PM

@relix

no way are you kidding?

@yardman

two peas in a pod, you and i. two peas in a a pod.

joe smith @ Oct 9th 2006 10:56PM

I am running RC2 on my laptop now with no problems so far. NOt tried any heavy games, but so far so good.

Wild Homes @ Oct 9th 2006 11:09PM

I love Vista RC1. it's very lovely, and I actually enjoy the constant permission prompts. I did notice a few must-fix bugs, like McAfee products not being able to detect Administrator-rights accounts and the OS fooling with the internet end of my local network (seriously, it was randomly resetting the drivers for the cable modem. got support for it, totally weird problem)... overall, though, I think Vista is shaping up to be a lovely new version of Windows. the UI is very nice.

Miniboss @ Oct 9th 2006 11:14PM

Other than a few program incompatibilities, I've been running RC1 for a few weeks now without much trouble. I'm even running on 512 MB of RAM. It's a bit slower than XP, but nothing too heinous.

All in all, I have to say I like how Vista is shaping up.

Jeff T @ Oct 9th 2006 11:14PM

I'm currently running RC2. I had RC1 until a few days ago when I found out about RC2 on Gizmodo. Seriously, it kicks ass. Beta 2, if anyone used it, will agree with me it sucked. RC1 went a long way and was amazingly stable. The only problem was that it was wicked slow on my HP (from 4, 5 years ago, Athlon, 2 GHZ). RC2 is definately a much more "public" version, fastest yet (since even 4074, which was NOTHING compared to the magnitude of complexity in the RCs), and it's prob'ly the stablest. Vista is going to kick ass, I could only wish for a little more optimization for older PCs, like mine. so, for anyone contemplating getting it, it's worth it. MUCH more powerful than XP would have ever wished to have been. :P

-Jeff

Slashbunny @ Oct 9th 2006 11:36PM

This isn't beta. This is a release candidate. A release candidate means the developers said "Ok, this is complete and seems to be bug free and ready to ship". So yes, its NOT supposed to have assloads of bugs. Every "final" release of something was once a "release candidate". Complaints about the stability of the release are very appropriate. In fact, if you don't complain, they will rename the release from "RC2" to "Final" and charge you $200 for it in a couple of months. You don't want that, do you?

And the hype behind Vista for gaming purposes is blown out of proportion. Don't believe the hype. Stay with WinXP SP2 or Win2k SP4 for gaming until Vista is patched and/or you have no other choice.

cARLTON @ Oct 9th 2006 11:49PM

RC2 runs smooth as silk.

not perfect but much better than xp.

Wilky @ Oct 10th 2006 2:57AM

RC2 has been out ages now (well, at least a week). WTF Joystiq, this site has become like a Sunday paper with a roundup of the previous weeks news...

Hardly cutting fucking edge, is it?

Anthony @ Oct 10th 2006 6:49AM

Intel and Dell wont release certain drivers till Vista is released finally, so, this wont work with some of there computers using there RAID contollers....bullshit

foobob @ Oct 10th 2006 7:11AM

"will sell blood for DirectX 10 video card"

when you think you know dumbasses, they always surprise you...

i for one welcome OpenGL videocards...

wako @ Oct 10th 2006 8:53AM

When I try to download it, I get 5600 version... which is RC1. Is anyone else just downloading the RC1 version here? The newest one according to msfn.org is 5744.

Tucker @ Oct 10th 2006 9:57AM

Kevinski, I've been running RC1 for a while and Photoshop CS2 runs like a dream, advanced UI features and everything. What are you talking about?

In fact, overall RC1 runs pretty damn well for me (on a MacBook Pro, no less) and that's coming from someone with a lot of background and a pretty varied network setup in the apt. Hell, I had the laptop in the room and fired up my 360 and the laptop automatically tried to connect with media center. Haven't tried it yet, but that's pretty sweet.

Guess it's time to burn another DVD...

strider_mt2k @ Oct 10th 2006 10:36AM

Still not compelled to care about this OS, sorry.

crono141 @ Oct 10th 2006 11:59AM

"Still not compelled to care about this OS, sorry."

Thats ok, MS doesn't give a damn about you either. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Brady @ Oct 10th 2006 12:47PM

Just so everybody knows.... there is nothing wrong with RC2 - the link was pulled because it was only a limited release. They already hit the number of downloads they wanted so they removed it from the server.

If you really want it still, just head to thepiratebay or one of the usual sites.

I've been running RC2 for two or three days now and it has been running great for me. They have increased software compatibility for more software. It feels a bit more responsive (not that RC1 was bad by any means, Beta 2 was horrible though).

Overall, I'd say its a fantastic build. My only complaint is that it disagrees with Google Talk for me, but running the program in compatibility mode for Win XP seems to fix the problems.