Just when you think that all went quiet on the
Windows 7 front in preparation for the RTM, a new leaked development milestone of the operating system makes its way into the wild. Windows 7 Build 7264 from the RTM branch is now available for download through various illegal third-party sources including torrent trackers and warez websites. With the start of July, Microsoft has entered the final month of Windows' development process. In the second half of July 2009 the Redmond company will release the
successor of Windows Vista to manufacturing, aiming to meet the global October 22, 2009 availability deadline.
The full build string of the latest leaked release is 6.1.7264.0.win7_rtm.090622-1900, according to
Wzor, citing
Vinylzine. According to the full build version, the release was compiled on June 22, 2009. This is not the final RTM build of Windows 7, as Microsoft has already moved past the 7264 mark, and wrapped up Windows 7 Build 6.1.7265.0.win7_rtm.090624-1905 on June 24, 2009. But although it is not the gold build of Windows 7, 7264 is as close to RTM as possible.
The sources that have offered information on the leak also report that the Beta and RC product keys offered by Microsoft for the homonym releases of the platform no longer work to activate Windows 7 Build 7264. I haven't had a chance to play with Build 7264 yet, so I can't really confirm or deny this piece of info. However, keep your eyes on Softpedia; as soon as I will have more information available I will make sure to share it with you.
Both the 32-bit and the 64-bit flavors of Windows 7 Build 7264 are up for grabs in the wild, and this time around,
unlike more recent leaks, the DVD ISO images are available for download. The 32-bit (x86) version of Windows 7 Build 7264 is accompanied by the following info: “CRC: 0B916606, MD5: 44F04E9E5762714C3D75A3C9C88DE251, SHA1: 59BA011913B00A820A1E002B9BEDEF139AE15B07. Similarly, the 64-bit (x64) Windows 7 Build 7264 comes with: CRC: 05F87B79, MD5: 670818DB149170C652414E1F75E9390C, SHA1: C6FE386E97944511820291F515A8CBB3DDA329A6.
