Do you have a directory on file server or a shared folder on another computer that you want to add to a Windows 7 Library?  I did, and I was annoyed at Windows’ inability to add a network path to a Library. 

This is what Windows 7 says when an attempt to add a network share to a Library is made

Libraries require folders to be indexed (or at least capable of being indexed) before they can be added.  I didn’t want to make the entire contents of the folder available offline (indiscriminately making network folders available offline is a good way to eat up hard drive space on your Windows partition).  I’m also using Debian GNU/Linux for my file server, so any features that a Windows server may offer are useless to me.

The trick to making this work hinges on something that the majority of Linux users — and the minority of Windows users –  are familiar with:  symbolic links.  Libraries can be tricked into using symbolic links to network locations that they otherwise wouldn’t use.  To take advantage of this, follow the steps below in order. If done out of order, you may find yourself back at square one.

First, create a new directory.  This is the directory that you would like to trick your Windows Library into thinking is on a local hard drive as opposed to a network share. For example, you may want to create a directory called “Share” on your C: drive (ie. C:\Share).

Next, add this new, empty folder to your Library.  Once that’s been done, go and delete the newly created folder.

Now here’s the trick.  You’ll have to open an “elevated command prompt” – that is, open “cmd” as administrator – like so:

Click on the Windows (Start) button, type "cmd" in the search box…
…right-click on "cmd.exe" and select "Run as administrator" from the menu.

You’ll have to confirm this action if you have a user account with administrative privileges, or supply a password if not.  Once confirmed, you can create your symbolic link by typing the following:

mklink /d c:\Share \\server\Share

“mklink” is the command, “/d” is the parameter that tells it that the link to be made is a symbolic link to a directory.  Of course you’ll substitute “c:\Share” and “\\server\Share” for the path to the folder on your own system and network share, respectively.

That’s it!  You should even be able to search within the directory, as per a typical Windows 7 Library folder.

Yesterday I attended the “The New Efficiency” launch event for Windows 7 in Burbank. At the end of the event, Microsoft was generous enough to give away a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate to all of the registered attendees. Of course, even when something’s free, some people will find something to complain about. In this case it was the fact that the Windows installation media (read: DVDs) only contained the 32-bit version of the OS. This is actually a non-issue, likely something they did just to cut costs. I’ll explain why.

Here are some clues that should tell you that the CD Key provided with the 32-bit disc will work with any 64-bit retail DVD (or, if you unpack an ISO for installation from a USB drive)…

Note that the case was originally printed to say that both 32- and 64-bit discs were included.

It’s hard to see in this scan, but there are two sleeves for discs. Also note that the requirements mention both 32- and 64-bit systems.

…and here’s some proof that it will, in fact, work:

It’s already been confirmed, on this board and elsewhere, that the key provided with the launch event media is usable for either 32-bit or 64-bit installations, just like any other Windows 7 install key.

The remaining question is whether or not a retail disk will be compatible with your install key. I don’t have the launch event media available to me here to verify, but I’m guessing that it’s actually a ‘retail’ disk image with a ‘limited run’ special disk label printed on it. Checking and comparing the ei’cfgfile contents will verify the truth or otherwise of that assumption, because that file is the only thing which will differ within the disk contents.

There are 3 entries in that file. Most of the discussion to date has revolved around changing the image to a different ‘version’. That’s the first entry in the file. The second entry is “Channel” and if the launch event media differs from retail media that’s where the difference would be, I’m sure. (The third entry is simply a flag to indicate whether or not it is volume licensing media.)

As said, I suspect it’s a ‘retail’ disk you have, so the alternate install retail media should work fine.

Source

Since I do have a disc to confirm, here are the contents of the file in question:

This is the ei.cfg file from the “Sources” directory on the DVD

It confirms that the DVDs distributed at the launch event are the retail discs.

QED.