Vista to Windows 7 upgrade with Hardware Changes

Topgun3 · 31 Oct 2010

I'm currently running Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM on an Asus P5QL Pro mobo with E8400 chip.

I'm planning to upgrade my hardware to an AMD chip (6core 1090T) and a Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H mobo with 8gig of DDR3 ram.

Since I'm running an OEM Vista, I should be buying new Windows with this change, so I will be getting the Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM as well.

My question....how do I do this upgrade so I will preserve my software installations?
Don't want to lose my multitude of registered software I have installed over the past 2 years.

Do I run the Windows 7 Upgrade first and then change the hardware, or do I start the Windows 7 Upgrade and during reboot change the hardware? Or change the hardware and then try to get Vista running before upgrading to W7 OEM?

Any help would be appreciated.

Please don't bother suggesting doing a CLEAN install, since that is not a realistic option. I might not get all my software back again.

Thanks

Solarstarshines · 31 Oct 2010

just run the upgrade and have win 7 do a update and hopefully it will have everything in order i did do a upgrade off of vista but later changed my mine to clean install if you have programs that are not to old with in 2 years then you should be ok

I never had problems upgrading from vista to 7 just keep in mind drivers might be a problem other then that i think you would be good

the hardware changes i would think should be done first that way win 7 can reconize what needs to be installed DO HARDEWARE CHANGES FIRST THEN UPGRADE

Topgun3 · 31 Oct 2010

So if I understand the reply correctly: Change hardware first, boot into Vista and then run Windows 7 upgrade?

What if Vista doesn't start up with the new hardware?

Solarstarshines · 31 Oct 2010

well the question is where do you have the valuebles installed ? secondary or main drive also you can do the hardware changes after but i would think major conflicts would arise in this case i think it would be fair to use a clean drive for then win 7 and run the vista off the second drive

cause with a hardware change vista wouldn't boot or win 7 if you changed it after the fact cause the os wouldnt know the mobo or the cpu

i would think it would be a better chance of dual booting them both and getting vista to reconize the new hardware once you boot that os

Topgun3 · 31 Oct 2010

Dual boot doesn't seem to be a viable option as well...since I NEED to have my current programs installed under Vista transferred into W7 without re-installing them. Dual boot would just give me a clean Windows 7 without any of the software.

zigzag3143 · 31 Oct 2010

Topgun3 said:

Dual boot doesn't seem to be a viable option as well...since I NEED to have my current programs installed under Vista transferred into W7 without re-installing them. Dual boot would just give me a clean Windows 7 without any of the software.

You will be disappointed in the upgrade. You are importing every registry errors, driver problem, and other system faults.

Win 7 is a better OS but MS, like most of us recommend a clean install for a reason.

Be sure to back up (my choice would be acronis home) and a restore point just in case.

Ken

Bare Foot Kid · 31 Oct 2010

Hello Topgun3, welcome to Seven Forums!

If you change that amount of hardware, not to mention the mainboard, what an OEM version is tied to, the old Vista will not start at all; you had better get everything off of it you can before the HW upgrades.

An OEM version of Windows lives and dies with the motherboard.

Topgun3 · 31 Oct 2010

Bare Foot Kid said:

Hello Topgun3, welcome to Seven Forums!

If you change that amount of hardware, not to mention the mainboard, what an OEM version is tied to, the old Vista will not start at all; you had better get everything off of it you can before the HW upgrades.

An OEM version of Windows lives and dies with the motherboard.

Thanks.....that is what I was thinking.....therefore the reason for my question. The issue here is keeping my installed software. If I could upgrade the Hardware and keep my Vista OEM, I would do that, therefore I'm upgrading to W7 OEM with the HW upgrade....don't want Microsoft to feel cheated by not purchasing another OS from them.

I guess I should have asked is: How do I keep all my installed software while upgrading my Hardware (and possibly the OS)?

whs · 31 Oct 2010

You are mixing things up.

1. If you change your mobo, your old systems will only be valid if you have a retail version. You will still have to upgrade a few drivers and revalidate the OS. OEM versions will be obsolete.
2. If you install Win7 AFTER you changed your mobo, that is no problem. It will just validate with the new id. But you need to do a clean install.
3. All your programs you have to reinstall. Your Vista installations are of no use for Win7.
4. For your data you have a variety of options. a) you can create a seperate data partition under Vista and INCLUDE the folders into the win7 libraries. And b) you can just backup your data and then put it into the Win7 folders.

Solarstarshines · 31 Oct 2010

whs said:

You are mixing things up.

1. If you change your mobo, your old systems will only be valid if you have a retail version. You will still have to upgrade a few drivers and revalidate the OS. OEM versions will be obsolete.
2. If you install Win7 AFTER you changed your mobo, that is no problem. It will just validate with the new id. But you need to do a clean install.
3. All your programs you have to reinstall. Your Vista installations are of no use for Win7.
4. For your data you have a variety of options. a) you can create a seperate data partition under Vista and INCLUDE the folders into the win7 libraries. And b) you can just backup your data and then put it into the Win7 folders.

I was kinda explaining this once you have switched coponents the os is no good you would have to back everything up then proceed to install on new hardware to avoid conflicts because doing it any other way will just cause great malfunctions