I would like to do a clean install of windows 7 on my laptop which currently has vista preinstalled. Am i able to wipe the HD of all traces of vista and do a clean install of windows 7 with an upgrade file? I am trying to find out if i am eligible for the student upgrade of windows 7 professional which im assuming would have to be downloaded first then installed over vista but i would rather delete vista altogether.
View 2 RepliesI need to know if I can use a clean install disk for Windows 7 Ultimate to upgrade from Vista or if I have to use an Upgrade version?
I'm leaning towards buying the clean install disk so that if I should loose the hard drive at some future point I could just clean install Win 7 Ultimate from the disk without having to first install Vista and then upgrade.
Regardless of which type I purchase, am I better off to buy the OEM disk from the machine manufacturer (Toshiba) or just purchase any OEM disk? Of course, if I want Microsoft support then I need to purchase retail disks.
How to Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version ?
View 0 Replies View Relatedis there anyway i can do this? also i dont know how to do it from the bios i also want to make sure there are no traces of vista and all data is gone.
additional informartion:
toshiba satellite a500
4gb ram
500gb hd
With VISTA, you could not install a fresh copy, you needed to upgrade your existing OS. (unlike XP, 2000, etc.)
Did this change with 7? Can you do a clean install from an upgrade 7 DVD?
Just to let you all know that I have confirmed that you can do either a clean install, custom install, or upgrade install with a retail Upgrade version of Windows 7 and activate it on a clean unallocated (blank) drive or partition without any other OS installed or with one installed. It does not matter.
WARNING Â
Remember that you need a valid qualifying previous version of Windows to use a Upgrade Windows 7 copy legally. Microsoft only made doing a clean install from a upgrade Windows 7 possible to make it more convenient so you do not have to reinstall both the old Windows version (ex: Vista) and upgrade to Windows 7 everytime you needed or wanted to reinstall.
If you do not have a valid qualifying previous version of Windows, then you are violating the terms of Microsoft's Windows 7 End User License Agreement and could get your product key number invalidated by Microsoft. Plus, it is considered illegal.
For more about this, please see: Microsoft SMB Community Blog : Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade. What you need to know.
My question is Can You Do A Custom Clean Install Using A Upgrade Version of Windows 7? I already have a valid OS installed on the hard drive. I am using Windows Vista Home Premium right now. I am wondering if I can do a custom clean install of Windows 7 from an upgrade disk of Windows 7 Home Premium? I don't want to upgrade because I am afraid I won't get the best performance and I want to have a 'fresh new OS'. It is cheaper to buy the upgrade then the full.
View 1 Replies View Relatedhey, i want to get 7 set on my computer before school starts, so if i download and install the rc, will i be able to upgrade to the final version without doing a clean reinstall of 7?
View 7 Replies View RelatedI have a dead computer, it was a p4 winXP box 6+ years old. I will be assembling a new computer with 64 bit processor and SSD boot drive. I have a full XP license. I would prefer to buy an 'upgrade' version of Windows 7, but will I be able to install an upgrade version of windows 7 on a clean, blank drive? I would strongly prefer not to have to install XP and activate it just to reinstall windows 7. The additional factor is that some people have posted in forums that an 'upgrade' from a 32 bit os to 64 bit windows 7 does not work.
I would prefer to hear from someone who has actually done it and succeeded or failed, not 'it should work' or 'it should not work', because I can find people posting both ways theorizing that it should or should not.
I running Vista home basic 32 bit.
My question is can I do a clean install of Windows 7 home premium using the upgrade version?
I heard that you have to validate your old OS by inserting the vista dvd I have a vista re installation DVD that was provided to me by Dell when I bought this PC.Is this information correct and would the vista dvd I have work? or would it have to be a vista DVD I bought (not from dell).
Is it possible to do a clean install with upgrade version of home premium or ultimate? Meaning format everything first and then use the Windows 7 upgrade dvd to install it from scratch?
View 9 Replies View RelatedDue to an unstable HDD I will have to reinstall my windows 7 from scratch onto a new HDD. My version of W7 is an "upgrade". The Question is do I have to reinstall XP first then W7 or can W7 go straight in quoting the product key etc for XP. The thought of clean installing W7 is bad enough but XP as well is mind blowing.
View 4 Replies View RelatedI'm trying to install Windows 7 on my wife's PC that currently has Windows XP Pro SP3 32 bit. The PC is a year old and has AMD II X250 cpu's on an ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3N78-EM motherboard with 4 Gb RAM and a 500 Gb hard disk, a NVIDIA GeForce 8300 display adaptor and an Iiyama 17 " monitor. When it first failed I thought it was due to only having 1.85 Gb free of 60 Gb on drive C, so I used Easus to delete drive E with 437 Gb and increase drive C to be the whole 500 Gb. Still no joy, so I looked at the installation guides on the web and realised I had to change the boot sequence in the BIOS so that the CD drive came before the hard disk.
If I try to boot from the Windows 7 Home Premium family pack CD I get the option to boot from CD or DVD, which I accept by hitting a key. The screen then displays "Starting Windows" with a progress bar, after which the Microsoft logo is displayed and then finally the Windows 7 splash screen is displayed. After this, nothing further happens. The mouse cursor moves with the mouse but the keyboard doesn't appear to be active. The CD continues to spin for a while before it too gets bored and shuts down. If I start running XP and then use Windows Explorer to start the setup.exe on the CD I get an error message telling me that I have the incorrect version for the PC.
Does anyone know whether there is a difference in performance between doing a clean install of Windows 7 vs upgrading Vista? Any better stability? I'm just wondering whether it's worth the trouble of the clean install.
View 3 Replies View RelatedMy computer has been running the Upgrade version of Windows 7 (from Vista) for two or three years. I want to perform a repair install, but wonder whether it would be possible from a new, current Windows 7 disk.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI have seen a lot on clean installs but all guides are from like 2009. Is clean install still a way to install windows 7 with upgrade disc on a new hdd? since i have a hdd with vista on it and i have the licence how do i install 7 with the licence and a black hdd?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI did a reformat of my hard drives, completely clean, recently, and reinstalled my copy of Windows 7 without problems. However, the activation did not go smoothly, my key is a Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit UPGRADE key, and it told me that it couldn't be used.
I have read the other threads on this subject, but couldn't figure out if there was another way or not to deal with this situation, other than buying another copy of windows, or wiping again, installing xp or vista, and then upgrading.If possible, I would prefer to not have to reinstall windows, or move my files around, because I was borrowing the external drive I used to reformat the first time, and I'm currently in college.
I have a 64 bit HP DV7 laptop with Vista 64 bit installed
What would be better? an upgrade to windows 7 or a clean install, I heard that a clean install will really run a lot better, what are the differences if any?
I am currently running genuine Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit), which has been clean-installed. I have now got a Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit I think) clean install DVD. I want to install Windows 7, but instead of a clean install, I prefer to just upgrade. Yes I know a clean install is always better, but I don't really want to spend time re-installing software and reconfiguring the whole PC the way I like it.
When I try to run setup from within Vista I get "This installation disc isn't compatible with your version of Windows". I have done a Ghost image of my current Vista partition, so if anything goes wrong during upgrade, I am prepared to just do a full restore, like nothing ever happened.
I have a windows 7pro upgrade key that ive never used. Is it possible to use it on a clean install, on a brand new hdd?Also would it be possible for me to to use a key from win7 home ed from a pc that broke down?...
View 2 Replies View RelatedI want to start building my computer ASAP but I would have to wait a little longer seeing how I would have to purchase Windows 7 for 100 bucks. However my school offers windows 7 professional for free to students as a upgrade download. Also I could pay 24 dollars to get a CD copy of it. Would I be able to save possibly 60 bucks by using this upgrade CD/download as the "clean install"? Or is it only good for upgrading from a previous windows -> 7?
For instance, I would buy Windows 7 Professional 64 bit from the site (it's labeled as an "upgrade" though) and pop it into my newly built desktop and just install windows using that? Is that possible? Also if I was to use the free download are there any ways for me to burn it onto a cd and use that?
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?
View 1 Replies View RelatedWant to upgrade Vista Home to Windows 7 Premium. The workstation definitely has the horse power for Windows 7.But visiting computer shops, the upgrade options are cleared out or not available and they suggest a new install of Windows 7 Professional, they also say its cheaper than an upgrade $140 vs $250. Windows 8 is not an option at this time.I have very little data or software on the current machine with Vista,but do have Outlook 2010.Will a new install of Windows 7 clean out the hard drive and I'll need to re-install Outlook?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI'm currently going through my first motherboard upgrade and I have a few questions. First, will a new motherboard/CPU upgrade do anything to my harddrive? Second, is a clean Windows 7 install via USB install method recommended?
View 3 Replies View RelatedIn 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.
View 7 Replies View RelatedI am sure this has been asked before, but I need to know if I get the upgrade disk and for whatever reason I have to do a clean install again, will the upgrade disk do that or will I have to load Windows XP back on then use the upgrade disk from there?
View 3 Replies View RelatedGuys my first post and I have looked at the tutorials just wanting to clear up a few things. I have Windows Vista Home 32 Bit and upgraded to Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. I installed a new HDD at the time as I wanted Windows 7 on that instead of on the Vista drive. That has left me with the little issue of the product key not being valid, as I didn't install on the top of the older system.
Now I will need to activate it at some point and have just come across the forum and your excellent tutorials, now you have linked to Paul Thurrott's guide and he mentions a double install method which is supported by Microsoft. I would prefer this route as it looks easy, and less likely that I will do it wrong. My main questions are when I installed Windows 7 I stupidly clicked the Activate Online thing. Will double install or any of the other methods still work? Will the double install lose all my upgrades I have had to make to get all my devices working?
not to bothered but would prefer this not to happen as it took me 3 days to do my drivers and various other installs to get back to being able to run fully. Anyway so far I am very impressed by Windows 7 and well Vista will never be used again and once I have this little issue sorted I may well be getting rid of vista of my other HDD.
Just one final question how much RAM can I install now that I am running Windows 7 64 bit, I currently have 2gb (1gb per channel for processor). I know what type to get but what is the Maximum it will take for the OS. Anyway I know it is Christmas and not to fussed if I get a reply tonight or tomorrow, I hope some one can help me. Finally I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
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.
View 9 Replies View RelatedWell I was wanting to clean install win 7 to wipe my hard drive as it is full of junk and I plan on moving to a new pc. I was wanting to know two things -
1 - Would these method on this website [URL] work to clean install
2 - If I take my hard drive and put it in a completely new computer would I get any activation issues if I were to clean install win 7 or if I just left the hard drive as it is would it have any problems
My copy of win 7 is Home premium and I downloaded it through the UK student deal although I bought a backup disc from them.
I was wondering after read the stickie if anyone here has had success using a windows 7 professional upgrade and a fresh hard drive?I don't want to mess around with the registry if i can help it but dont want to have to install xp just to install windows 7 at the same time i dont want to throw money away on the upgrade even though its cheap if i cant use it without faffing trying to find my xp stuff, also i want 64bit and for what i have found i cant put that onto my xp
View 9 Replies View RelatedCan you use an upgrade version of windows 7 on a Windows 7rc install?
View 4 Replies View Related