Windows 7: Upgrade from Vista Home Premium to 7

Hi, Can anyone advice?

I currently have Vista Home Premium and have bought Windows 7 Professional.. only to find that I will lose all of my files if and when I upgrade. I have emailed Microsoft and am waiting for a reply... I have made a backup from Vista on to an external hard drive... but would still have to install all progarms etc... is there any version of Windows 7 that I could upgrade to that would retain all of my files?
I have ahad a rpoblem with Vista for months in that it will not install updates...

Any suggestions greatly received...

Welcome!

Have you considered using the Easy Transfer tool?

Windows Easy Transfer - Transfer To & From Computers

You can also fool Windows 7 into thinking you are upgrading from Vista Professional.

Open regedit, and navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version.

Change Edition ID to Professional, and Product Name to Windows Vista Professional.

Hi and welcome to Seven Forums!

I'm afraid you can't upgrade from Vista Home Premium to 7 Professional.
All your files will be in the Windows.old folder that the installer will create.

I forgot to mention in my last post that if you use the Easy Upgrade tool, you can do a clean install. See this tutorial: Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Sorry about that.

Hi Jonathan, at this rate it would be cheaper for me to have bought a new computer.. £200 for Windows 7... the regedit doesn't work I am afraid to say.. it stills says Home Premium.. prob sees the OEM code etc...

any other suggestions?

Yes, use the Easy Transfer tool to backup your data, then do a clean install.

You will still need to reinstall your programs, but it will tell you exactly what needs to be reinstalled.

At least it's better than a clean install.