Do the recovery disks allow you to do a clean reinstall? My laptop came with a disk, so I never used self made recovery disks. But if they let you reinstall, then I would assume that yes those would be what you would use. And if not, then you could just do the double install of win7 that was explained on one of the earlier posts on this thread.
Here is the upgrade paths from vista in print from the upgrade path test matrix:
- No upgrade options for Windows Vista Starter (SP1, SP2), not even to Windows 7 Starter;
- Windows Vista Home Basic (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64);
- Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium and Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64);
- Windows Vista Business (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64);
- Windows Vista Enterprise (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64);
- Windows Vista Ultimate (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64);
- No upgrade options for Windows Vista Home Basic N (SP1, SP2), not even to Windows 7 N or E;
- No upgrade options for Windows Vista Business N (SP1, SP2), not even to Windows 7 N or E.
for upgrading XP, microsoft doesn't have an upgrade path, meaning any xp upgrades must be clean installs, but the upgrade pricing still stands. Therefore, I'm not exactly sure on the restrictions between the levels on xp to 7
EDIT- I just read on PC-World that XP Pro will go to 7 Pro, and XP home will go to 7 Home premium. May not be set in stone, but it sounds logical from what the vista path is.
Ok now I've confused myself.
If I have Vista Bus. oem key and and a hard drive with it installed on it, I gather that I cannot use that to validate an upgrade to W7 home premium for some ridiculous reason. So then I would have to use the dual Win 7 installation method (described elsewhere) in order to use an upgrade version of W7 home premium, if I'm understanding this correctly, as if I had never even owned Vista.
Will the Dell OEM vista disc work for an upgrade? Can I ask my friend in USA to buy the upgrade disc online for me, will I be able to download the RTM on October 22 from India?
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