Re-installation From Upgrade Media
Dec 25, 2009
A friend did an overlay upgrade from Vista (+ lots of software, incl. Norton I.S.) to Windows 7, ending up with a borked computer. After much struggle, it's working, but boot times to desktop are extremely long. I have suggested a clean reinstall, with disciplined addition of drivers and apps, carefully checking functionality along the way.
I am assuming that reinstalling from his upgrade media, and choosing Custom, then formatting and etc., will not result in any activation troubles. Correct? I want to help him get to a properly working system (w/o the execrable Norton stuff, if possible).
There should be no issues between Windows 7 and his system hardware--my box is essentially the same and performs great, and I know to look to the mobo and hardware vendors for drivers rather than taking them from Windows Update (wrong Realtek LAN driver, thank you, MS).
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Jun 2, 2010
The only problem (I think) is that I don't have the installation media. I've searched online to see if I can download it. As I understand it, the license I have should allow me to do a clean install, but as far as I can see, I can only download the iso if I pay for another license.
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Jul 8, 2012
I tried the latest VLC 2.0.2 in my Windows 7 laptop. VLC installer could not open the C drive, while installing.
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Nov 2, 2009
After purchasing my new Student Version of Windows 7 Professional I was keen to do a full system format, and start fresh. I no longer had a need for the Dell Recovery Partition which contained Vista (and a decent amount of bloatware), so I removed all partitions from my disk to start with a blank 180GB HDD.
I thought to myself, if I am going to start fresh I might as well do things right and mimic Dell’s setup with a recovery partition of my own. Now to be fair, this isn’t an extremely wild idea as there are plenty of manufacturers and software companies who provide such solutions very simple and easy. Everyone knows that Norton Ghost is fantastic, and Acronis TrueImage is right there with them. Of course you can simply run-up Imagex along with WinPE and sysprep a WIM to re-image your HDD at anytime for a free solution.
However, all these solutions require that you have some sort of recovery media for boot time operation, and the Imagex solution isn’t for the faint of heart. Now I do a lot of travel, and I wanted a solution that didn’t require me to look after a bootable DVD or USB stick, and because I am working with a laptop I didn’t have second disk which I could boot from via BIOS settings. My recovery solution had to be a Primary Partition on my only HDD with boot time options (in case my system is completely rooted.)
This turned out to be quite the challenge, as Windows 7 / Vista no longer support the simple easy boot.ini file that allows you to manually adjust boot time parameters. Instead Windows 7 / Vista have moved onto some fancy form of bootsect / BCD (Boot Configuration Data) which is very difficult to edit manually. Thankfully all of my hard work paid off and I now have a self sufficient system with all the diagnostics and re-imaging tools I could ever need. And thanks to Windows 7’s new Backup and Restore options, I was also able to include a system image which contained all of my settings and applications so that I don’t have to sit through 10 hours of Windows Update again.
What I ended up with is a Primary partition on my HDD that is a full and complete bootable version of the Windows 7 installation media. When I choose this partition at boot time it is exactly as if I have inserted the Windows 7 Install DVD into my disk drive! I can utilise all of the tools in the Windows Recovery Console (which includes the option to restore from a previously created system image), or I can simply re-install Windows 7 from scratch - without affecting my restore partition or boot menu variables!
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Sep 16, 2011
I have to install windows 7 on a new hard drive and it keeps asking me for media device drivers. I don't have them. What the next thing I can do!
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Jan 30, 2013
I have installed Win 7 but i want install ubuntu then never I can't use my win 7. I remove ubuntu and now even I cant install new win 7 it say: "To install the device driver needed to access your hard drive insert the installation media containing the driver files".
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Jan 15, 2010
Doing a repair installation due to numerous blue screens of death. I get to the system recovery options screen, but it didn't find my os. It asks me to load drivers, with a message sayin "insert installation media for the device and click ok to select the driver"?
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Jan 19, 2012
I installed window 7 that time show massage reboot and select proper boot device and top media failure checked cable
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Oct 17, 2009
As you're aware, Vista had the 'capability' to do a clean install using the Upgrade DVD.
You could boot from DVD, do a clean install, not validate, then when in Windows, go to the DVD drive and install again, this time doing an upgrade and then validate.
This seemed to be kosher as reported on many sites. I know people who did it and all was well. Their Vista PCs run fine, and are completely up to date with regards to SPs and updates.
So, for an Upgrade price, it was possible to do a fresh install...will Windows 7 have this capability do you think?
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Nov 12, 2009
I installed Windows 7 from within Vista. I chose the custom installation which wiped me drive clean and installed 7 over Vista.
While everything is running smoothly for the most part I have been having a lot issues with Creative sound drivers. I have tried at least 3 different drivers and now have multiple stray registry files and a tab in the sound control panel that creates a shell error when I click on it. Small problem but I'm seriously thinking about doing a clean install.
My question is can I just pop the 7 disc into 7, chose custom install, and activate it normally?
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Nov 19, 2009
I have a licensed copy of Windows 7 Home Premium installed. I want to upgrade to Windows 7 professional now, because I want Remote desktop capabilities. I know you can purchase an easy upgrade from microsoft for 90 bucks and just enter the key they provide you.
Can I purchase upgrade media from say, ebay for cheaper and do the same thing with that code, rather than doing an entire install?
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Nov 4, 2012
I am replacing my current hard drive with a SSD. I am also changing the motherboard, CPU, and RAM. So, I guess you can call it a new system. What I need to do is install a Window 7 upgrade media on the new SSD. I will be using my Windows 7 upgrade media from a Family 3 pack Windows 7 upgrade media. I used this Family 3 packs to upgrade this computer on the current hard drive and two other computers. So, I have used it three times. According to everything I have seen I will need to do a double install to ensure that Windows 7 will activate. What I need to know do I need to activate Windows XP before installing Windows 7?
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Aug 14, 2012
About a year ago, a friend bought a Windows 7 Professional upgrade installation disk off of the Microsoft store. At the time, they thought they would only need the 32 bit disk, so that was all they had downloaded.I am now looking to upgrade their computer to an older one of mine which has Vista installed. Now that they will have a machine which supports 64 bit, I would like to upgrade them.
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Dec 19, 2012
In a moment of weakness, I ordered the retail Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Media from an online vendor and I received it yesterday with both 32bit,64bit media and Key.I made a Custom install with the 64bit media on a 80GB partition created and formatted with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit Windows 7 Disk Management - a clean install with DELL OEM Reinstall Disk - on my Dell lappy. Since it was an upgrade media, I followed Brink's tutorial refreshing it after the first install. Everything went on well and Windows 8 Pro activated without any hitch.After reading that many users who had bought the media from the vendor were able to do a clean install even on a new HDD, I decided to try it.So I reformattedd the partition and installed the Windoes 8 Pro and what a surprise! It activated automatically without any hitch and what more now I have a dual boot system with OEM Windows 7 & and Windows 8 Pro.I also observed, when I followed Brink's tutorial and installed Win 8, the windows.old folder contained 1.32GB files and with the later clean install though there was a Windows.old folder it was empty.The media purchased from the online vendor is distributed by a Microsoft authorised distributor and replicated in Singapore.
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Jan 7, 2012
I have just built my first pc, and I am stuck at installing windows 7 . Here's what happens, I am trying to install off a USB stick as I don't have a dvd drive for this build. It will load into the setup and it'll stop on a screen requiring me to load drivers.
Here is what it displays:
"A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now".
So I found drivers for my mobo Asus M5A97, I select them and then after I click next this message appears: "No new devices could be found. Make sure the driver files are correct and located on the driver installation media".
I don't know what to do! I've tried all I can think of!! Nothing seems to work! I am trying to install windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, I've tried installing windows vista 32 bit, and its been saying the same thing as well! I found the drivers here: [URL].
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Dec 26, 2010
On to what I'm trying to achieve, my current machine is running XP SP3, I've recently purchased a 120Gb SSD drive, the current OS resides on a 320Gb standard drive.I'm about to purchase the Home Premium Upgrade to bring myself to Windows 7, I've read through the majority of the tips / guides to upgrades, particularly in regards to the clean install methods.
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Dec 17, 2009
I have bought an online version of the upgrade kit using my student discount through MS's site. And i have also ordered the hard copy paying extra $20CAD.
It has been a month and a half and i still haven't received the hardcopy.
And here is where the problem is. My computer broke down last night (thus i can get my installation file that i downloaded) and it won't let me redownload because it has passed 30days of my purchase.
Here i have a friend where he has the same version of windows but just a FULL version instead of just an upgrade kit.
Will i be able to use that DVD to install windows 7 and use my own CD key to register/activate?
EDIT: i would like to also ask if anyone have purchased the windows 7 from the student discount site and have ordered their hardcopy of windows 7. If yes, how long did it take to receive your copy.
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Sep 29, 2010
I have a netbook that came with the starter edition. I am trying to install the pro edition over it. The install dies and tells me I cannot install it and I need to select Windows Anytime Upgrade instead. However, that will not accept my license key from my pro edition. Am I stuck with a disk I cannot use now?One of the install choices was to do a clean install and lose all of my files, applications, and settings. Is that my only choice?
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Jun 25, 2009
I'm running build 7077 (x86) on my netbook, which has a 16GB hard drive. Windows 7 itself takes up just enough of the drive that there's not enough space left over to perform an upgrade installation to a newer build.
So tell me: is there any way to trick Windows into using an external hard drive (instead of the primary internal drive) for temporary storage during an upgrade installation?
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Nov 3, 2009
I was running Vista HP and planned to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro before I realized it would require reinstalling programs. So I called Microsoft and cancelled the Windows 7 Pro order and purchased Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade locally. But I'm having problems running all Call of Duty games with hard crashes.
Meanwhile, Windows 7 Pro Upgrade arrived in the mail despite my having cancelled it and I found that indeed, Microsoft billed my credit card. Now, I've a mind to install Windows 7 Pro on my desktop and just do the resinstalls, and then use the copy of Home Premium Upgrade on my laptop. I'm sure I'll have no problem running COD in virtual XP mode on Windows 7 Pro.
So, a couple questions:
- To install Windows 7 Pro, I assume I have to first install my earlier version of Vista? Can I do that if it's already "linked - if that's the correct word" with the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade I've had in place for a couple of weeks and is registered?
- Can I then install the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade on my Vista HP laptop, despite that it has already been registered on the desktop? Or do I need to call Microsoft?
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Dec 20, 2012
I have a PC with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. I upgraded it to Ultimate through the Anywhere upgrade program, which gave me a new Key.
Now, I need to reinstall Windows 7, and would prefer to install as fresh as possible. Do I install from the Home Premium ISO or Ultimate ISO?
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Nov 5, 2009
I used to have an external hard drive enclosure, and I stored large video files onto its 1 TB capacity. I built a new machine, sold the enclosure and used the same 1 TB hard drive with the UNbacked up files still therein. Obviously I am new to this otherwise I would not have done this. I realized my mistake when I went to install Windows 7 and it said to back up your files.
I read further and discovered the reason was "They will be deleted". I really don't want to loose these files. Is there any way to install the OS without deleting the files. Can I install another OS like Linux, then partition the hard drive, delete linux then install windows 7 onto a partition? WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS! OTHER THAN BUYING ANOTHER HDD ENCLOSURE!
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Jul 31, 2011
Purchased a Windows 7 64 bit Professional (academic). I have been originally using a Windows 7. However, the HDD had been giving me fits and has currently died. I'm not unable to activate my upgrade key since my new HDD does not have an old version of Windows to upgrade from. What should I do?
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Jul 1, 2010
i had windows vista on my pc and i did a Clean Installation of windows 7.but now i have some problems,and i want to install windows 7 again.do i have to go back to windows vista? i have a windows 7 upgrade dvd.
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Apr 19, 2012
My Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade($220) from Windows Vista Ultimate was 3/4 done judging from the progress bar. Received a command prompt stating that the upgrade failed due to corrupt installation files.On reboot I get a disc read error ctrl alt delete.I receive the same error everytime I ctrl alt delete. Is the disc corrupted by the upgrade?
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Jun 16, 2010
I've recently purchased a new ASUS computer (N61V I think), it came with Windows 7 Home, however for school the techies will only work with Windows 7 Professional, so thus, I cannot use it at the moment. I went through start, and went to "Windows Anytime Upgrade", purchased the Professional upgrade, confirmed, etc, etc. But for some reason my screen has gone black (I'm using another comp!) and the lights are flashing on and off. This has been happening for 2 hours now, and I'm not sure what to do. It's got a 500GB hard drive (around 470gb left) and I'm not sure why it's having such problems. Very strong internet connection - plugged in- and has been on charging.
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Jun 2, 2012
So my 64bit fujitsu lifebook laptop has run into some crazy problems the last few days. Including freezing every several minutes for ages. BSOD a few times a day. Nothing along the taskbar opening. Task Manager making the whole screen turn black etc.I researched alot and tried many things, including chkdsk which just takes to long for it to be realistic (i judge it would take about 1 week to finish)That being said, i want to do a repair install of windows 7, but when i use my universal disc (which has 32bit and 64bit windows 7 on it) it returns the error after the compatibility check:
- You can't upgrade 64-bit Windows to a 32-bit version of Windows. To upgrade, obtain a 64-bit version of the installation disc, or go online to see how to install Windows 7 and keep your files and settings.
- 32-bit Windows cannot be upgraded to a 64-bit version of Windows. To upgrade, obtain a 32-bit version of the Windows installation disc. is there a workaround for this? I know people can make a universal disc easily, so maybe there is a way to do this in reverse
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Aug 3, 2011
i built a compaq laptop board by board a few years ago.the laptop came with a windows xp professional sticker, but no install disc or hard drive.i want to know if i can upgrade the license number without a previous installation of windows xp professional.
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Feb 3, 2012
Best Buy lost my copy of MS Office 2003 professional Edition 2 years ago. They gave me MS Office Professional 2007 Upgrade and installed it for on my computer. My computer's hard drive has failed and I purchased a new one yesterday. I need to know how to install my MS Office Prof 2007 Upgrade without a previous version installed on the new PC. There must be a way since Best Buy did this for me last time.
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Sep 23, 2011
I have a laptop running licensed Windows 7 Pro 64bit (sticker on the bottom for same version with key etc.). I would like to reinstall the OS but have only Windows 7 Pro 64bit upgrade media from another PC. Can I just use that Upgrade Win7Pro64 DVD to reinstall OS on laptop (using that key from laptop..)? AFAIK it doesn't matter what Windows 7 DVD to use (except Home editions), OS will determine what it is meant for by S/N, right?
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Jul 6, 2010
I purchased a windows vista-windows 7 upgrade for $30 from a student deal here in canada. The method of installation was a simple .exe file which ran a sort of setup which automatically upgraded to windows 7. Now I have Windows 7 professional 64 bit on my PC, and I just bought a new solid state drive. I want to move the installation to the SDD.
I don't have a windows 7 installation DVD, so I can't exactly use the steps described in the tutorial for reinstalling a windows 7 upgrade. I do have a valid upgrade version Product Key, so what I would like to know is whether or not it would work to clone my current install to my SDD. My SDD only has 120GB of space, so I would have to basically delete everything, but I don't care about that. Alternatively, is it illegal to download an image of a Windows 7 installation DVD and use my valid Product Key? Theoretically the product key would work right? (I make this assumption based on the sticky about re-installing Windows 7 upgrade versions). Or, would my key only work with a Windows 7 install dvd that it was intended for?I just don't have a clue what to do here, because I don't think I can get another copy of that EXE that I used to upgrade. It says on their website that you can only re-download 30 days from your date of purchase. Am I totally stuck? I am completely welcome to any suggestions because I really hope that I didn't just waste $400 on an SSD, because I definitely don't want to buy windows 7 again.
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