Windows 7 Build 7100 is RC, But Beware of Fakes

We’ve seen build after build of Windows 7 through its beta existence. It all started with build 7000, which was released to public testers in early January.

While we’re all holding our breath for the release of the RC that’s supposed to land on May 5, Microsoft hardware partners such as Dell and HP already have the RC in their labs for testing.

According to a post from Microsoft-following journalist Ed Bott’s Twitter this morning, the build number for the RC that we hope to be seeing in a couple of weeks is 7100. Bott does warn that the build 7100 downloads that are making their way onto torrent sites have so far been fake.

The last build number that we know of is 7077, which we heard was being considered for RC status. Microsoft may have decided that 7100 would be the RC number for it’s obvious leap over the beta.

Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.