We’re very happy to announce that the Release Candidate of Essentials 2010 is now available.

The download package is in 4 self-extracting files which need to be unpacked to the same folder (e.g. c:\Essentials). The total download size is about 5GB.

Once you have downloaded the RC and extracted the installation image, double click on the SetupSCE.exe and install.

Note 1: If you currently have the Beta of Essentials 2010 installed you will need to uninstall the Beta before installing the RC.

Note 2: If you currently use Essentials 2007 you will not be able to upgrade to Essentials 2010 RC.

What’s New in the Release Candidate?

Based on your feedback, the following new functionality is included in the RC:

  • Support for Hyper-V Clusters and Live Migration
  • Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) Tips
  • Virtualization Jobs Status
  • Improved Updates and Software Overview Pages

For information on known issues in the release candidate, please refer to the release notes.

Updated documentation for the RC:

Goals for the Release Candidate

We have two goals for the release candidate that we need your help with:

  • Validating the new virtualization features
  • Identifying quality issues that need to be fixed before shipping

You can give us feedback on the release candidate in the Essentials 2010 Forum.