Windows 7 has evolved as high as Build 7262 on the way to RTM. It is true that all development milestones past the 7100 mark belonged to the RTM-branch, but fact is that as high as Build 7232, not to mention earlier builds, the Release Candidate label was very much present across the operating system. Only with Windows 7 Build 7260 Microsoft no longer referred to the release as RC. Instead Build 7260 featured no immediately visible references to either RC or RTM, suggesting that the Redmond company was getting closer and closer to releasing Windows 7 to manufacturing.

But Build 7260 (6.1.7260.0.win7_rtm.090612 -2110) is not the RTM Build. This much is clear now that Microsoft has also produced Builds 7261 and even 7262. One very picky Softpedia reader named Nathan managed to find signs of the RC legacy in Build 7260. Apparently, converting the .VHD of 7260, which was leaked and made available for download through torrent trackers, to ISO allows access to the idwbinfo.txt in the sources folder. Here is what the specific file contains for Windows 7 Build 7260: “[BUILDINFO], BuildArch=x86, BuildType=fre, BuildBranch=winmain_win7rc, OfficialBuild=TRUE, MainBuild=FALSE, Coverage=FALSE.”

Now obviously Microsoft has to complete the transition from Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 RTM, an elaborate process that covers all areas of the operating system. It is bound that some aspects of Windows 7 will still reflect RC while others the RTM stage until the transition will be complete. According to Wzor, the software giant is currently considering whether to make Windows 7 Build 7262 (6.1.7262.0.win7_rtm.090617 -1900) the RTM development milestone.

The full build string reveals that the release was compiled on June 17th. Windows 7 Build 6.1.7261.0.win7_rtm.090615-1900 had been compiled just two days earlier. The build in winmain, the main branch tree for Windows 7, has frozen at 6.1.7233.0.winmain.090614-1655. What is strange is that the build was compiled on a Sunday, showing that Microsoft is in high gear and working 24/7 to wrap up Windows 7.