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The final major pre-release of Windows Vista—Release Candidate 2 (RC2 build 5744)—is now available for download to the general public.

Customer participation and feedback are integral parts of our development process. Thank you for deciding to install and test RC2 and for being a critical part of the Windows Vista team!

To get the most out of Vista, Microsoft recommends running it on a 1GHz PC with at least 1GB of RAM and a 128MB graphics card capable of running the Aero graphical interface.

You need to read through the instructions on the Microsoft Windows Vista preview page, before you install Vista RC2.

The download here links to the Customer Preview Program (CPP) download page, where you can obtain a serial code for this Release Candidate.

Note that this is being re-published on VNU Downloads as Windows Vista RC2 is now available to download by the general public and this is an updated build (5744). Simply register with Microsoft to obtain your serial code.