I have two laptops and one PC which are all running Windows Vista at the moment. I see you can buy a Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade – 3 User Family Pack for £129.99 but I am not sure if this will be fine for my three computers or if I need to buy three Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium full versions. Any advice would be great.

Yes. All hardware devices need 64-bit drivers to work on a 64-bit version of Windows. Drivers designed for 32-bit versions of Windows don’t work on computers running 64-bit versions of Windows.

To learn how to check for drivers, see Update a driver for hardware that isn’t working properly or go to the device manufacturer’s website. You can also get information about drivers by going to the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor website.

I’m going to download the Windows 7 Professional operating system from Microsoft’s website instead of ordering the disk. I’m curious though as to how large the file is going to be. I’m sure more than a few gigabytes, but does anyone know how large specifically?

I’ve read conflicting information on different websites. And Microsoft’s website is not any clearer.

If I buy a Window 7 Home Premium Upgrade and perform a clean install, will this work coming from Windows XP Pro?

I’ve heard things like. Previous Pro versions can only be upgraded to Windows Pro, likewise, Home -> Home Premium and Ultimate -> Ultimate. Very confusing stuff.
So with upgrade disc. I can perform a clean install. From any version of XP to any version of Windows 7?

I am planning on buying Windows 7 for $29.99 with Microsoft’s student offer. I want to know if after I buy and download the upgrade, will I be able to put it on both my laptop and desktop?

I am eligible for the $30.00 upgrade for Windows 7. I am excited to upgrade, however it doesn’t say anything about how many computers you can install it on. My question is, does anyone know how many computers I can install it on when I purchase the upgrade. Thanks!

The reason i want to do this is that it is cheaper $70 for Home premium and the other two, $150 cheaper.

infact i was using vista home premium on my pc a athlon xp 2800+ with 4 GB ram and then i just downloaded the win 7 beta and the performacne increase wasn’t that much noticeable then what the hell is microsoft making i hope win 7 isn’t a repackaged vista otherwise i’ll be going to mac.

there is a microsoft site which allows me to download and install windows 7 enterprise 90 day trial
I have the key of windows 7 ultimate
while i install the trial version, if i put the ultimate versions key, will it work?
will I then be able to use windows 7 ultimate?
will it still be a trial version?

ps. I lost the installation disc
so I though it might b a way to get around

please help
thanks

Libraries are the new entry points for user’s data In Windows 7. Libraries are an integral part of the Shell and are promoted across Windows in Windows Explorer, Start Menu, and Common File Dialog. Windows 7 Users will use Libraries in their day-to-day activities. As such, they will expect applications that are running on Windows 7 to work properly with their Libraries and provide the same user experience as Windows Explorer. It is therefore important that, as developers, we know how to work with libraries and make our applications Libraries-aware.

But before we start, I want to note that while most applications should just work fine with Windows 7 Libraries, there is an opportunity to tap into the Windows 7 Libraries environment to provide a richer user experiences.

Making an application Libraries-aware

One may wonder what would happen if “my application does not support Libraries.” Let’s imagine an application that, as part of its functionality, needs to save a file to the disk. The application prompts the user with the option to select a location for the file. The user may pick the Documents Library as his save “folder” since this is where the user usual goes when he needs to work on a document. However, if the application doesn’t recognize that the user selected the Documents Library and not a regular folder, the application may try to save to the Documents Library. This is a problem, since by now, as we already know, that Libraries are non –file system location and therefore can’t be address as regular folders.

A Library-aware application should include mechanisms for handling situations where users inadvertently try to pick libraries as if they are folder for either saving files to a Library or loading the contents of a Library. Furthermore, most applications allow users to interact with the file system as part of the application experience. An application should provide users with the same familiar entry points and UI offered by the Windows 7 Libraries. By including folders in a Library, users designate where their important data is stored, and thus applications should promote these locations by enabling Library browsing.

Developers have three integration points with Windows 7 that can help applications become Library-aware. You should review and become familiar with all three points and choose according to your needs.

1. The most basic integration method is simply to use the new Common File Dialog (CFD) for picking files and folders while performing either save or load operations
2. The second integration point offers applications the opportunity to Light Up on Windows 7 by enabling applications to select Libraries and consume Libraries contents.
3. The last and most advanced integration point is to stay in sync with Library contents and directly manipulate Libraries by using the new IShellLibrary API that allows full control over libraries, including creating new libraries.

Let’s start by looking at the basic integration point, which can also be viewed as the bare minimum requirement for application compatibility when working with Windows 7 Libraries.

Using the Common File Dialog (CFD)

The good news is that Windows 7 Libraries are first class citizens in the CFD, allowing users to browse through Libraries, search Libraries, and even pick a specific Library as a save location, not an actual folder in the Library, but rather the Library itself!

But (there is always a but), we highly recommended that you use the new CFD interfaces that was introduced with Windows Vista, and not older or customized versions of the CFD. It is very important to note that the APIs for using the legacy CFD have not changed since Windows Vista, and XP to support application compatibility. However, the legacy version of the CFD (as is displayed in the next image) doesn’t directly support Libraries or the full new user experience offered in Windows 7.

Even if Libraries are presented in the right navigation pane, they require an extra click to save into one of the folders rather than just the Library. Also the legacy CFD doesn’t expose the search and arrangement views functionality that libraries offer. Finally, the legacy CFD doesn’t support the multiple selections of files across several folders, a basic functionality promoted in Libraries.

Therefore, it is important to use the proper APIs to show the correct CFD version. When using .NET, developers can use either the System.Windows.Forms.FileDialog or the Microsoft.Win32.FileDialog namespace. The latter uses the legacy version of the CFD; therefore, .NET developers should always use the WinForms namespace to show the new CFD. The following is a code snippet that prompts the user to choose a save location by showing the common save file dialog as shown in the next image.

System.Windows.Forms.SaveFileDialog _fd =
        new System.Windows.Forms.SaveFileDialog();
_fd.Title = "Please choose a location to save your file";
_fd.FileName = "[Get Folder…]";
_fd.Filter = "Library|no.files";
if (_fd.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
{
    string dir_path = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(_fd.FileName);
    if (dir_path != null && dir_path.Length > 0)
    {
        //this returns the path to the default save location
        lblResult.Content = dir_path;
    }
}

Native code developers should use the new family of IFileDialog native APIs (IFileDialog, IFileOpenDialog, IFileSaveDialog, IFileDialogCustomize, IFileDialogEvents, IFileDialogControlEvents) that are replacing the legacy GetOpenFileName and GetSaveFileName APIs from earlier Windows versions.

The Shell native APIs are COM-based; therefore, before using any COM object we must remember to initialize the COM object by calling CoCreateInstance. As an example, the following code snippet prompts the user to choose a Library or a folder to save the file to, by showing the common save file dialog.

*ppsi = NULL;
IFileSaveDialog *pfod;
hr = CoCreateInstance(
            CLSID_FileSaveDialog,
            NULL,
            CLSCTX_INPROC,
            IID_PPV_ARGS(&pfod));

if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
      hr = pfod->SetOptions(FOS_PICKFOLDERS);
      if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
      {
          hr = pfod->Show(hWndParent);
           if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
           {
               hr = pfod->GetResult(ppsi);
           }
    }
    pfod->Release();
}

After initializing the *pfod IFileSaveDialog variable, we set the dialog options to pick folders by passing the FOS_PICKFOLDERS flag to the IFileOpenDialog.SetOptions(). This code tells the Open dialog to enable the user to choose folders rather than files, and allows the user to choose a Library. If choosing a library, the CFD will then return the default save location folder that is associated with the chosen Library.

The two above code snippets are very simple and don’t show any new code; however, it is important to promote consistency among applications running on Windows 7 and supporting Windows 7 Libraries.

In the next post, we will (finally) show the new Windows 7 library API, as well as how to consume Library contents with the existing Shell APIs.