Setting Up the Development Environment for SharePoint Server 2010


This MSDN article contains all the information needed to create a Windows 7 development environment. It is advised to create a bootable windows 7 VHD in order to use all available resources, more information about creating bootable VHD's


Some important addidtional notes:
Windows 7 enterprise or ultimate, both x64
At least 4GB RAM

Links
Setting up Windows 7 for Office & SharePoint 2010 Beta Development: http://bit.ly/5svSgJ
Installing SharePoint Server 2010 on Windows 7 x64 [codeproject]: http://bit.ly/7tt6U3

SharePoint beta installation files:
http://bit.ly/2COQdL
http://bit.ly/79gU5y