I tried DB2 V9.7 (Express-C and Enterprise Editions, 32bits), neither succeeded on Winsows 7 Enterprise Edition.

It is supported and you will find the prerequisites in the manual: IBM DB2 9.7 for Linux, UNIX and Windows Information Center

There is forum on the IBM website dedicated to DB2 Express-C support issues that you should try before giving up.

On my HP Mini 110, I have db2 9.7 express c (32 bit) installed on windows 7 rc. I don't remember of any hurdle installing when it was installed. I recall I had installed 64 bit version when I got windows 7 RC copy without any issue.

As a standard practice I take following steps before first try.

1. Create user that will be db2 administrator.
2. Add that user to windows Administrators' group.
3. Log on as the user created.
4. Start install.

I do believe that there could be one step sufficient as "Run As Administrator" to launch the install program. Still you may have problems creating or accessing the sample database created at the end of install.

Previously I had written an installation walkthrough on db2 v9.5. This should have been completed for 9.7 too, but cold not finish yet.

Let me know if you still have any unresolved issues about DB2 install.

DBFinder

PS: As Marcus A advised, the express c forum is helpful. There might be may others who may have expressed their problems and might have recieved solutions from others.