The Windows 7 Release Candidate will automatically install Windows 7 Ultimate on the target computer system with no apparent option to switch to one of the other five editions that are included in the release. A configuration file that is included in the release defines that only Windows 7 Ultimate will be installed whenever the setup is executed. Users who want to install a different edition of Windows 7 have to remove the configuration file to be able to install those other editions. Setup will provide options to install different Windows 7 editions if that configuration file gets removed. Here is how you do that.
You do need an ISO image of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. Actually, any Windows 7 ISO that has been created by Microsoft will do fine. Removing a file from an ISO image is probably not the easiest task for many users. Probably the easiest method to accomplish the task is to extract the contents of the ISO image to the local computer system, delete the file and create a new ISO from the remaining files. Programs that are suitable for this task are the excellent compression program 7-Zip and the CD burning software ImgBurn.
This option seems to be the most viable as there are virtually no free ISO editors for the Microsoft Windows platform. Only commercial tools like Iso Master or Magic Iso provide this functionality.
Extracting the Iso image with 7-Zip could not be easier. Just left-click the Iso on the computer system to select it. Now right-click to open the context menu and select 7-Zip -> Extract Here. This will extract the contents of the ISO image to the computer system.
Open the sources folder and locate the file ei.cfg. Delete that file from the folder.
All you need to do now is to create a bootable Iso of that image once again or install it right away from the computer system. Users who prefer a software solution can download a patcher that will remove the ei.cfg file directly from the Windows 7 RC ISO image.
