Microsoft releases Windows Vista Beta 2 to public

If you've been wondering what all the fuss was about ever since Microsoft announced a successor to Windows XP back in July of 2001, and weren't up all night downloading beta operating systems like we always seem to be, you might have missed the fact that Microsoft has released the Windows Vista Beta 2 to the public as a free download yesterday. Developers have already been spending some quality time with the build, and it looks like things are finally coming together for Microsoft -- but there are still plenty of compatibility woes, interface oddities, and just plain sluggishness in the OS. Some of the "change for change's sake" has a few reviewers riled up, and Vista is really not recommended for consistent exposure right now. But hey, it's free. There are a limited number of Beta slots, and once they're gone they're gone, so we recommend moseying on over before you miss out on the real deal and have to hit your local torrent tracker. You'll need a DVD burner to create an install disc of Beta 2 and the Release Candidate 1 when it comes out -- signing up for the beta gets you both -- or you can give Microsoft $10 for shipping and production costs and they'll send you the goods in 2 to 4 weeks (by which time they'll surely be readying the release of the next Vista beta build).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Rob @ Jun 8th 2006 9:39AM]

Downloading it now on my Uni's connection, the windows download box started at -100%, it's currently at 187% and falling. I guess a 3GB file screws up something.

I'm sure this will be seeded on the torrent trackers shortly.

[Rob @ Jun 8th 2006 9:47AM]

Here is the direct link to the 32-Bit English version if you can't get on the download page at the moment.

http://download.windowsvista.com/dl/preview/beta2/en/x86/iso/vista_5384.4.060518-1455_winmain_beta2_x86fre_client-LB2CFRE_EN_DVD.iso

[jc @ Jun 8th 2006 9:51AM]

Awesome, thanks Rob.

[alabij @ Jun 8th 2006 9:53AM]

Will this install clean my system ie my documents or does it just upgrade the OS

[Mephistophelian @ Jun 8th 2006 10:04AM]

Spyware/Adware/Virus creators start your engines.

[John @ Jun 8th 2006 10:05AM]

Excellent. Nice to see a legit way to do this. I was impressed with the 07 Office Beta and am very impressed by this!

BTW anyone have the 64 bit direct download link for English?

[steve @ Jun 8th 2006 10:11AM]

yay microsoft is creating a new playground for hackers!

[Joe @ Jun 8th 2006 10:11AM]

Do they have the 64bit version out?

[mark @ Jun 8th 2006 10:15AM]

thanks a million rob you sexy sexy man

[John Doe @ Jun 8th 2006 10:16AM]

Yah I tried downloading this last night. No luck. WAY too slow. I'm going to wait for the bittorrent.

[Joe @ Jun 8th 2006 10:17AM]

Anyone willing to post the 64bit version DL link would be even cooler than rob!

[michael @ Jun 8th 2006 10:17AM]

so has anyone installed it on a macbook yet ? :)

[John @ Jun 8th 2006 10:22AM]

Yes they have a 64 bit. It's 4 gigs compared to the 32 bit 3 gigs!

Oh yeah and Vista is on a Macbook. http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i212/FirefoxFlog/mbvista1.jpg

[Eric b @ Jun 8th 2006 10:24AM]

Rob - That link to the download doesnt work for me, it brings up the ISO to download but it only downloads like 700k or something, and then it quits. is that the right link??

[Ben @ Jun 8th 2006 10:27AM]

64 bit link. Enjoy.

http://download.windowsvista.com/dl/preview/beta2/ en/x64/iso/vista_5384.4.060518-1455_winmain_beta2_ x64fre_client-LB2CxFRE_EN_DVD.iso

[A Gupta @ Jun 8th 2006 10:34AM]

So forgive my ignorance, but I'd like to make sure... Vista says it requires a clean install, and I'd like to keep my current Windows install (not upgrade XP), TYVM, because vista is as of yet still too unstable to fully trust. Besides, I don't want something going wrong with my main computer. So I can create a separate partition on one of my hard drives and install it there without the whole drive being wiped, correct?

[Mark @ Jun 8th 2006 10:34AM]

Thanks for the links. I registered but the site was getting hammered and I wasn't able to download after I got my code.

[Joe @ Jun 8th 2006 10:34AM]

http://download.windowsvista.com/dl/preview/beta2/en/x64/iso/vista_5384.4.060518-1455_winmain_beta2_ x64fre_client-LB2CxFRE_EN_DVD.iso

= blank loading screen. Im pretty sure their servers just crashed.

[alabij @ Jun 8th 2006 10:35AM]

Whats the difference between the 64bit and 32bit. Is it that the 64bit supports multithreading.

[fisherwy @ Jun 8th 2006 10:36AM]

Many are still hoping its genuine Vista come out as soon as possible, not just alpha, beta, gama or even delta trial version.

[matt @ Jun 8th 2006 10:37AM]

i downloaded this for the past week, and i couldnt get it to work...

so i bought a DVD off ebay for £6, Doh!

[Mark @ Jun 8th 2006 10:42AM]

http://download.windowsvista.com/dl/preview/beta2/en/x64/iso/vista_5384.4.060518-1455_winmain_beta2_x64fre_client-LB2CxFRE_EN_DVD.iso

Make sure there are no spaces in your link. Though the download is still funky with it not knowing the actual size.

[yossi @ Jun 8th 2006 10:42AM]

unrelated question. I have xp on my machine, but i do have a second hard drive in it, on sata, how can i install vista on that second hd so i can play around with it?

[BklynKid @ Jun 8th 2006 10:45AM]

Correct Gupta.

[Jon Shipman @ Jun 8th 2006 10:53AM]

Do they take a live desktop approach? I really like the Linux installs (Dapper Drake) and the old OS9 installation that allowed me to go to the desktop and install the os. I don't know if Vista allows this, but it'd be nice.

[Jeff @ Jun 8th 2006 10:54AM]

"So I can create a separate partition on one of my hard drives and install it there without the whole drive being wiped, correct?"

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/8572be9b-8580-49f7-9719-b3a4c42749fe1033.mspx

I'm planning to do this myself. I don't guarantee that it'll work but I'm relying on that MS document, same as you...

[Ben @ Jun 8th 2006 11:06AM]

So... Is anyone getting through to the servers? Each time I try to download I get about 700k or so and it says that the download completed. Anyone having luck?

[RedBull Runner @ Jun 8th 2006 11:07AM]

Ive been playing around with this for a while, It is the same build thats been floating around on torrents for the past few weeks 5384.4... find it. works, activates, and amazingly, for me, it runs faster than xp on my system (A64 3400+, 1 gig ram, built in geforce 6100, 200 gig HD split even.) Still some compatibility errors though. Ive got some dvd cases and labels i made last night if anyone is interested, ill post links.

[RedBull Runner @ Jun 8th 2006 11:09AM]

Heres the downloads. only images in the files. can be printed with any normal cover printing software.

DVD Cases
http://rapidshare.de/files/22504846/VistaDVDCoverPack.zip.html

CD Labels
http://rapidshare.de/files/22513916/Vistacdlabelpack.zip.html

Hope ya like em

[stuman8484 @ Jun 8th 2006 11:13AM]

I've been trying to download this now for hours but keep getting this. Anyone else getting the same?

http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/beta2/en/x86/download.htm

"Thank you for your interest in Windows Vista Beta 2.

We are currently experiencing a high level of demand and cannot process your request at this time.

Please check back later for availability. We apologize for any inconvenience."

[TigerPro @ Jun 8th 2006 11:52AM]

Anyone with the 700KB download problem- try downloading it with FireFox. I was using IE7 Beta (Hate it) and had the same problem as ya'll. Im planning on maybe installing to my 2nd hd as well, so keep us posted on how things go.

[martin @ Jun 8th 2006 11:52AM]

can you install windows vista without getting rid of any files or windows xp?

i have created a 3.7gb partition, would it work to put it on there and dual boot?

i am unable to backup as i dont have a spare harddrive

[Rob @ Jun 8th 2006 12:05PM]

Sorry, that was the only link I had. There was a link posted on digg lastnight (UK time) to the download page, this was before Microsoft officially announced it and also before all of the traffic hit.

I don't know if it is any relevence but I was downloading the file to an NTFS partition, doesn't FAT have a filesize limit?

[John @ Jun 8th 2006 12:12PM]

Awesome DVD cover. I made one and it looks great!

BTW, yes Fat32 has a size limit although I don't know it off the top of my head.

[Ben @ Jun 8th 2006 12:17PM]

stuman8484 - I had the same problem as you. When I tried Rob's direct link on IE it failed. (Well I download a 750kb file). However, if you try it on Firefox it works like a charm at decent speeds - (currently 28% done at 300kb/s)

I'll be putting Vista on my portable Hard Drive. A little slow, but this way I'm sure that my files won't get trashed.

martin - putting Vista on a partion of 3.7 GB is too small according to Microsofts website

Windows Vista Minimum Supported System Requirements
Processor: 800 MHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64)
System Memory: 512 MB
GPU: SVGA (800x600)
HDD: 20 GB
HDD: Free Space 15 GB

[Pierre @ Jun 8th 2006 12:33PM]

virus spyware adware, prepare to attack.. make'em dead..!

[jonl @ Jun 8th 2006 12:42PM]

TO PEOPLE ASKING ABOUT INSTALLING VISTA WITH XP

1. It would be foolish to upgrade your winxp installation to Vista as it's not 100% stable and not all programs are compatible. The Upgrade option is available, but it's not recommended.
2. Install Vista on a separate partition (to Win XP)that is at least 12GB in size(required by Vista.)(This means you can dual-boot between your XP installation and Vista)
3. Ensure that any personal files etc that you use are kept on a partition that is free from any OS installation
4. Don't whine like a baby and curse Microsoft when things don't wrk or when the whole things crashes, this is what beta build will do.
5. Download it from a torrent link as MS servers are having issues at the moment (look for build 5384.4), but signup with MS here ( http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/preview.mspx ) to get you product keys. You can get a maximum of 2 keys, and each will allow up to 10 computers to be activated with MS.

If I think of anything else, I'll make another post.

[Alexdudman @ Jun 8th 2006 12:43PM]

tz gud news but......does any1 know how to obtain a Product Key for this beta??

[me @ Jun 8th 2006 12:51PM]

i have an AMD athlon 64 3400+ proccessor. This means i can use the 64 bit version of vista, right? Or am i mentally Handicapped?

[Toby @ Jun 8th 2006 12:53PM]

If I choose to upgrade does it get rid of my documents or any of my install files? does it just change the windows files?

[Ev Bacon @ Jun 8th 2006 12:53PM]

When installing this on a Macbook will it take over the whole drive like pervious vista installs have done? Or will it work with conjunction with Bootcamp to dual boot X and Vista?

Thanks!

[RedBull Runner @ Jun 8th 2006 12:57PM]

You can use the 64 bit version, although i wouldnt reccommend it. there are LOTS of compatibility issues with it and will come crashing down very often, possibly taking other files with it. steer clear unless youve got backups and lots of patience

[toby @ Jun 8th 2006 12:59PM]

Alex, for the product key you need to go to the microsoft website and apply to download Vista and it will give it to you just before you download the file

[me @ Jun 8th 2006 1:01PM]

ok thanks. I'll stick with 32 bit. Now i just have to wait 13 hours for the download to finish!

Does anyone know if the torrents are faster? I hear of them but, i can't find any i checked torrentspy but, nothing. Anynone know the link?

[jonl @ Jun 8th 2006 1:08PM]

Toby:

It will keep all your files and documents and many of your settings.

It will also keep all your installed programs.
However, very few of these will work and it is likely that once you upgrade and boot into Vista, the whole thing will crash as the numerous programs you have that run on startup try to run and fail.

I strongly advise that you only install this on a clean partition away from valuable files.

[Storm9 @ Jun 8th 2006 1:18PM]

So far Rob's link for the Vista DL is working very good for me. Its hyper fast! Thanks dude!

[Mike Brickner @ Jun 8th 2006 1:21PM]

When you guys say the download is slow, just think about Microsoft right now. There are millions of people hitting their downloads, and their servers are down on their knees for us, and we are slaughtering their internet connection.

Be patient, we are getting to try the beta for free as it is. Start it in the morning and go to work, or start it before bed or something.. :-p

[Deano @ Jun 8th 2006 2:36PM]

XP doesnt naitivly support SATA so you have to install the drivers via floppy manually if you havn't got a Manafacture Specific OEM version.

Does Vista NATIVLY support SATA

Because I have got a Dell E1705 with no floppy drive.

[jatin @ Jun 8th 2006 3:13PM]

I downloaded the ISO image from the above link. When I open the ISO file using winrar, it just shows me a README file which states "This disc contains a "UDF" file system and requires an operating system that supports the ISO-13346 "UDF" file system specification." Does MS XP supports UDF. I can't see any files in the iso.

[ipodman715 @ Jun 8th 2006 3:45PM]

MD5:
0e733ab1a8e8ff9a8684fd3639332773

filename:
en_windows_vista_beta2_x86_dvd.iso