Windows 7 Upgrade Q&A

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
These copies were claimed to be upgrades but I always thought that with upgrades you have to install within the OS to verify that you have pre-existing OS that qualifies. However by making the iso you can install it by booting from the disc.

Historically, Microsoft has published software like Business and Academic Volume Licenses that are licensed only as "upgrades", but come with media that will do a "full" install.

 

[soulcougher73]

I have Vista Ultimate 64 bit on my computer and just recieved my Windows 7 Professional updgrade DVD. I am not able to upgrade from Vista Ultimate to 7 Professional. I dont want to lose my files/programs by doing a clean install (and of course my external HD now does not want to be recoginzed by Vista now so i cant copy my files over).

What options do i have of retaining my programs/files while doing a custom install or clean install of 7 Professional?

 

[dank69]

I did not read the whole thread so I don't know if any of this has been already stated. I will just share my experience so far:

I pre-ordered win7 pro upgrade from ms-store in july ($99 discount). 3-7 day shipping. I assumed MS would pre ship so people would start receiving it ON 10/22. from what I have heard they did pre ship in europe, people actually received their copies before 10/22. Here in the states though, according to ms-store customer service call on 10/21, MS did not plan to ship until 10/22. realizing I would not receive my disc for maybe a week, and having a brand new built PC waiting to go, I was pissed.

Wife to the rescue! She is a student so I had her order student pro upgrade (DOWNLOADABLE LOL) for me at 10pm on 10/21. Got email just after midnight saying ready to download. Started d/l and went to bed.

Next night after work I created iso image, burned the DVD and tried to custom clean install to brand new empty drive. It got to 15% unpack and threw an error. I tried again, and again it threw an error. (Note: the error mentioned nothing about needing existing xp/vista) So I thought I had a bad burn. Installed XP on new PC for hahas (didn't even activate) then retried win7 install. Installed without a problem.

 

[austin316]

Can a Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 run Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit? Or should I just install the 32-Bit Version?

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: soulcougher73
I have Vista Ultimate 64 bit on my computer and just recieved my Windows 7 Professional updgrade DVD. I am not able to upgrade from Vista Ultimate to 7 Professional. I dont want to lose my files/programs by doing a clean install (and of course my external HD now does not want to be recoginzed by Vista now so i cant copy my files over).

What options do i have of retaining my programs/files while doing a custom install or clean install of 7 Professional?

A custom install should back up the contents of an old version of Windows before laying down a new version. It's how XP users are upgrading.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: austin316
Can a Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 run Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit? Or should I just install the 32-Bit Version?

64-bit.

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: austin316
Can a Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 run Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit? Or should I just install the 32-Bit Version?

64-bit.

thanks!

 

[Jeff7181]

I can confirm that using an Upgrade disc/license to do a clean install, then doing an upgrade install will allow the installation to be activated online successfully.

 

[Majic 7]

Here is a registry work around that works. http://community.winsupersite....-media-the-answer.aspx This is what MS Tech will tell you to do, someone on the sevenforums called MS and pretended to have a problem and this is the advice they gave him.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Majic 7
Here is a registry work around that works. http://community.winsupersite....-media-the-answer.aspx This is what MS Tech will tell you to do, someone on the sevenforums called MS and pretended to have a problem and this is the advice they gave him.

It'd be nice to get that in the OP... seems like a much easier fix than installing twice as I did.

 

[jeffbui]

Yup, thank you for that tip. When Intel releases the TRIM firmware, I'll be doing a secure erase and a reinstall of the OS using this method.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: austin316
Can a Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 run Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit? Or should I just install the 32-Bit Version?

Yes it can. All Core 2 Duo processors are 64-bit capable.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Majic 7
Here is a registry work around that works.

It'd be nice to get that in the OP... seems like a much easier fix than installing twice as I did.

Done.

 

[raddreamer3kx]

So I can purchase the W7 upgrade and boot it on a harddrive w/o a OS installed, correct? Will it boot from cd?

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: austin316
Can a Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 run Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit? Or should I just install the 32-Bit Version?

i believe all C2Ds are 64bit so you can run home premium 64 bit just fine.

 

[Corporate Thug]

straight from the first post: How do I upgrade from Windows 7 RC with my Pre-Order copy of Win7 Home Premium?

 

[basslover1]

Originally posted by: raddreamer3kx
So I can purchase the W7 upgrade and boot it on a harddrive w/o a OS installed, correct? Will it boot from cd?

I don't know if the physical upgrade versions (I downloaded mine) are any different but I was able to do a clean install on a formatted HDD.

I downloaded the files, converted them to a .iso file, burned to a disc and booted off it.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
straight from the first post: How do I upgrade from Windows 7 RC with my Pre-Order copy of Win7 Home Premium?

A couple of months ago, Microsoft announced that Windows 7 RC would be an "allowable" base for an upgrade to Windows 7 using an "Upgrade-Only" package.

Engadget: Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 RC Upgrade Rules

The "bad" news is that you can't do an in-place upgrade because you can't "upgrade" from Win7 Ultimate to Win7 Home Premium.

You have two choices, it seems:
1) Running Win7 RC, insert your Win7 Upgrade-Only DVD and perform a "Custom Install", otherwise known as a "Clean Install". This will remove the current Win7 RC installation, put the files into "Windows.Old", and install Win7 Home Premium.
2) Boot directly to the Win7 "Upgrade-only" media and perform an install using one of the methods discovered that will perform an "upgrade" on an empty partition. This will wipe the partition entirely before installing Win7.

As always, be sure to have backups of important files before attempting anything as major as an OS upgrade.

Edit:
It's been pointed out to me that just because an Upgrade from Win7 RC "works", it may not be a "legal" upgrade. All Windows Upgrades require a dedicated prior license for Windows, and the prior license must be one that's acceptable for upgrade under Microsoft's licensing terms. The above link mentions a "Microsoft spokesperson" who'd stated that the upgrade would "work", implying that it'd make a "legal" upgrade. But that may be a mis-interpretation of the original statement. Or the spokesperson may have been wrong.

 

[SimMike2]

Sounds like a little reward to the beta testers, which is only fair. I recommend making an image file of your Windows 7 upgrade after it is fully activated and functioning normally. In fact, I recommend making an image file every week just as a good backup to restore. I recommend Acronis Trueimage. If you have a WD or Seagate hard drive, you can get a copy of this on their website. I just found the version on the WD site and am downloading right now. 121MB in size. I'll let you know if it unpacks as an ISO or not. I think all you need is one WD or Seagate drive in your computer, to use this on any of the drives.

Not sure if this link will work:

http://support.wdc.com/product...e=download&wdc_lang=en

Seagate has the Diskwizard version, also 127MB.

The WD download is super slow. The Seagate one flys. I had to restart the WD download and now it is downloading faster.

When you install the WD version, there is a make bootable media option the Acronis\WD program group. Make a bootable CD. I only run this software from bootable CD, because running it from within Windows just doesn't work as reliably.

 

[imported_harlanpepper]

Originally posted by: SimMike2
Sounds like a little reward to the beta testers, which is only fair. I recommend making an image file of your Windows 7 upgrade after it is fully activated and functioning normally. In fact, I recommend making an image file every week just as a good backup to restore. I recommend Acronis Trueimage. If you have a WD or Seagate hard drive, you can get a copy of this on their website. I just found the version on the WD site and am downloading right now. 121MB in size. I'll let you know if it unpacks as an ISO or not. I think all you need is one WD or Seagate drive in your computer, to use this on any of the drives.

Not sure if this link will work:

http://support.wdc.com/product...e=download&wdc_lang=en

Seagate has the Diskwizard version, also 127MB.

The WD download is super slow. The Seagate one flys. I had to restart the WD download and now it is downloading faster.

When you install the WD version, there is a make bootable media option the Acronis\WD program group. Make a bootable CD. I only run this software from bootable CD, because running it from within Windows just doesn't work as reliably.

Is there any reason why getting Acronis Trueimage would be superior to just using the included Windows 7 system image (+ restore disc) utility? I assume it has more features?

 

[SimMike2]

I'll have to test the Win 7 version of backup and restore. I have used the Vista Business version and it worked OK. From my understanding, Win 7 Home Premium, which is the version I am getting, doesn't have automatic imaging or backup. You must launch is manually. For some reason I thought Home wasn't going to include it, just like it wasn't in Vista Home, but I guess it is going to be there.

http://www.microsoft.com/windo...a/features/backup.aspx

One thing I didn't like about Vista imaging is that you could not open the backup and pick individual stuff to restore. With my Acronis Home, I can open the backups and look at everything that is there.

BTW, installing the WD crippled version of Acronis hosed my full version, putting me on a 15 day trial. I could reenter the serial number, but I'm going to wait until Win 7 is up and running.

 

[CrystalBay]

Yes, it is possible to do an " in place" down grade from R.C. Ultimate to Home Premium or PRO. As long as your legal , the only scenario that absolutely requires a format is going from 32 bit to 64 bit.

 

[vtfanmv5]

Originally posted by: jeffbui
Yup, thank you for that tip. When Intel releases the TRIM firmware, I'll be doing a secure erase and a reinstall of the OS using this method.

If you haven't seen this, it looks like the Intel X-25M G2 firmware is imminent, with lots of goodies such as TRIM (as expected), and sequential writes for the 160GB of 100MB/s.

 

[Rhezuss]

In the first post we can read:

"Full Retail licenses can used on a system with no prior Windows license. Full Retail can be installed on an empty disk partition. Full Retail can also be used to upgrade from an earlier version of Windows."

So, if I want to do a clean install from a WinXP Pro 32bit (not activated...) with a Win7 Home Premium retail box, it'll be fine?

And...OEM won't work I think?

 

[Majic 7]

I've read things saying that MS is advising people to keep a record of the key for their old OS if they do the clean install or double install with their upgrade copy. Just in case there is some problem on a future hardware upgrade or reinstall or something. At least they haven't made it impossible yet, I've been waiting for my upgrade copy to get here from Newegg. Got a brand new 160 GB Intel waiting, and I really loved the news that I could install to a fresh hd without installing Vista first.