Students Lament: Win7 Files Corrupt, MS Posts Fix

In the aftermath of the much-anticipated Windows 7 release, a large number of users are complaining that their copy of Windows 7 downloaded from Digital River will not install correctly.

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Digital River is the driving force behind Microsoft's $29.99 Windows 7 upgrade offer to students. Digital River is no stranger to handling Microsoft transactions, as the company fulfilled a similar role when Windows Vista and Office 2007 were released.

Problems Recorded Within Hours

Users began experiencing problems shortly after downloading their new operating system.

One particular blog, ET Friday, recorded close to 320 messages the day after the release. As one student (Darkfrye50) lamented, "I double click on 'Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x64.exe' and I get the message 'Unloading the Box'. Once the status bar reaches the end, I get an error [message]." (Source: pcworld.com)

Non-standard .BOX Format Rather than .ISO

Many believe the problem has something to do with the Digital River's .BOX file format.

Rather than providing customers with a standard DVD file in .ISO (disc image) format, Digital River delivered an .EXE (executable file) named "Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x64.exe" and two additional files with the .BOX filename extension. When users launched the .EXE file in the hopes of unpacking the .BOX files, they were met with the elusive error message. (Source: pcworld.com)

Microsoft Posts Fix

"Users encountering this issue should try and re-download the files by logging into [their Digital River] order [as the error message may be a result of a corrupted / incomplete download]," said Microsoft. (Source: theregister.co.uk)

According to the Microsoft Answer page, another possibility exists. "Consumers are encountering difficulties installing Windows 7 where the customer is currently running a 32 bit version of Windows such as Windows Vista, but purchased the 64 bit version of Windows 7." (Source: microsoft.com)

More information to resolve this issue is available from the Microsoft Answers page:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com