For everyone concerned about buying the upgrade disk

I've seen some conflicting responses and many people worried about whether or not an upgrade disk is good enough for them to buy. I'm not going to cover installing win7 unactivated and then upgrading from that, because that will more than likely work, I'll just tell you what I learned.

I called Microsoft a few minutes ago, and they said that yes clean install is the recommended way of installing from an upgrade disk. In the setup you can format the partition of the previous OS and perform clean install. Also, you don't necessarily need the previous OS installed. They told me that you can Start the process, and if there is no previous OS installed on your system, then it will simply ask you to insert the previous OS's DVD, and that is enough to confirm that you do have the previous OS. Doing even doing this will ensure that the upgrade activation key will still work. They also told me that upgrading goes Pro to Pro or Ultimate, Home premium to Home premium, pro, or ultimate, and ultimate to ultimate.

EDIT- I called back, You can upgrade Vista Home Premium to 7 Professional, but not vista professional to 7 Home premium. They said you can go up levels if you choose, but not down levels.

Just posting this because so many people are having questions about it, including me before I called Microsoft.

EDIT- XP upgrade concerns A third call to MS says that Since a clean install is REQUIRED for xp upgrades, xp users can choose any of the levels of windows 7, regardless of the level of their current XP

EDIT- 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.

It is also possible to upgrade to windows7 from the RC, as confirmed by Fishdoc on page 10 of this thread

For everyone inquiring about doing a Clean Install with Upgrade media, here are some step-by-step instructions by Lordbob75:

Section 1: Installing Windows Seven

1. Insert your Windows Seven Upgrade DVD into your DVD Drive, and reboot into the DVD. If you do not know how to do this, read THIS tutorial (by Brink).
2. After the preliminary Loading screen, click on the “Install Now” button to start the Windows Seven Installation Setup.
3. In the first screen that comes up, it will ask for your Product (CD) Key. DO NOT ENTER IT! Deselect the “Activate Windows When I'm Online” as well.
4. In the next screen, you will be asked which version of Windows you would like to install. Make sure you select the version you purchased! Accept the End User License Agreement (EULA) to verify that is the version you purchased.
5. Now, Setup will install the version of Windows Seven you purchased. Let it do its thing. It will reboot multiple times, just let it sit and don't mess with it until the next window comes up to ask for input.
6. The last step here is to enter in all of your information such as user name, location (date and time), and password.
7. Let it reboot one last time and test itself. At the end, you will be presented with the log in screen, and an unactivated Windows OS. Section 2 Deals with the activation process, which is a little tougher for a clean upgrade install. I do not believe there is a way around this, and nothing I found suggested that there is (most denied it out right).

Section 2: Activating the Upgrade

1. The install you just did is TEMPORARY. In 30 days, it will expire to limited function, until you enter your Key. If you enter and Activate the key you have (the upgrade one), it WILL NOT WORK! This is how you fix that!
2. Now, since you installed Windows Seven, we are going to Upgrade you from there, to Windows Seven! (I swear it makes sense!)
3. Open up computer and click on the Windows Seven Upgrade Media in your DVD drive to bring up the setup window. Click on Setup (again, I know. Just go with it; it works.) and run it,
4. Choose “Install Now” and deselect “Get Latest Updates for Installation”.
5. Now, you may enter your Product Key. You may choose to Activate Windows or not, its your choice,
6. Accept the EULA, and hit NEXT.
7. Select the UPGRADE option this time, and start the installation over the one you just did (no, it won't overwrite anything). This may take longer, but it will work just fine.
8. It will reboot a few times, then bring you directly to the Log In screen. Log in, and you are FINISHED!!!! Provided you activate Windows.

Hope that answers a lot of questions, and is easy to understand and follow. Enjoy Windows Seven!

~Lordbob

K3VL4R said:

The Windows 7 Help & How-to page has been added to M$ and contains a lot of good info if you want to add it to the OP to help out the SF community.

grouchpunk08 said:

I've seen some conflicting responses and many people worried about whether or not an upgrade disk is good enough for them to buy. I'm not going to cover installing win7 unactivated and then upgrading from that, because that will more than likely work, I'll just tell you what I learned.

I called Microsoft a few minutes ago, and they said that yes clean install is the recommended way of installing from an upgrade disk. In the setup you can format the partition of the previous OS and perform clean install. Also, you don't necessarily need the previous OS installed. They told me that you can Start the process, and if there is no previous OS installed on your system, then it will simply ask you to insert the previous OS's DVD, and that is enough to confirm that you do have the previous OS. Doing even doing this will ensure that the upgrade activation key will still work. They also told me that upgrading goes Pro to Pro or Ultimate, Home premium to Home premium or ultimate, and ultimate to ultimate.

Just posting this because so many people are having questions about it, including me before I called Microsoft.

If I read that correctly (and you translated what you heard correctly :) ), that would mean that the whole "double-install" process is not necessary. Wouldn't that be cool! Worst case, you slick the HDD and do it the second way - insert the disk from the previous version. Tooooo cool!

Thanks for the clarification on this. I was worried as well.

I have a second question then.

If I do a fresh install of Win7. and use my old Vista disk as just the proof that I have purchased it, and continue and have windows 7 on my desktop PC.

Can I then use that vista disk/key on my older laptop? or is that Vista Key being used by my windows 7 as well?

Basically If I use a vista with a 7 upgrade disk, can I have vista still going on a second computer and have them both running side by side at the same time? (legally speaking)