Oct 29, 2010 12:47 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is serving automatic downloads of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate (RC) via Windows Update to the Beta testers that opted to grab the bits for the first public release of the upgrade through WU earlier this year. As you can see in the screenshot included with this article, the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Release Candidate Wave 0 (KB976932) is being offered to both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Windows 7 platform.

The only requirement for this to happen is that early adopters have already tweaked their operating systems to receive Windows 7 SP1 Beta through WU.

Among the downloads offered for Windows 7 SP1 Beta were the WUSignUpTool_x86.exe and the WUSignUpTool_x64.exe.

The two tools were designed to be executed on a Windows 7 RTM OS and change the registry so that the platform would signal to Windows Update that the user wants SP1 Beta downloaded and installed.

The systems of testers that have already used any of the two tools continue to tell WU that Windows 7 SP1 needs to be deployed, even if this already happened with SP1 Beta.

Thus, now that Windows 7 SP1 has hit RC, the latest development milestone is being served through Windows Update to testers, just as the previous Beta build.

“If you are already participating in the public beta via Windows Update, go to Windows Update in the Control Panel, uninstall the beta, select Check for Updates, then install the release candidate. You do not need to run the WUSignupTool a second time to be offered the release candidate,” Microsoft explained. “You do not need to install any updates before installing the release candidate.”

Of course, Windows 7 SP1 RC is also available via the Microsoft Download Center, but Microsoft promises that WU is the best way to go and that it will deliver the best experience to users.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate (RC) Build 7601.17105.100929-1730 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate (RC) Build 7601.17105.100929-1730 are available for download here.

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Windows 7 SP1 RC via WU
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