"Upgrade" from Vista 32 bit to 7 64 bit?

You should be able to use the upgrade media for Seven to perform a clean install from Vista. The reason being that Microsoft allows for clean installs from XP because it does not support direct upgrades from XP to Seven, although XP users still qualify for the upgrade media of Seven.

Also to note, there was a hack that could be used to perform a clean install with the upgrade media of Vista. I guess we really won't know for sure until the media for 7 becomes available. Or if Microsoft tells us, which is doubtful.

Edit: Read this, you can apparently perform a clean install from Vista to Seven just like with Vista media.

I have two machines. Both have the latest Win 7 RC on them.

One used to have Vista Business, the other had Vista Ultimate.

1. Can I upgrade them to Win 7 Pro?

2. Do I need to reinstall their original Vista O/S on them to do the upgrades, or can I upgrade the Win 7 RC?

Sorry if my questions sound dumb, but I only know enough to get me in trouble in this arena. What questions didn't I know enough to ask?

gordonware said:

I have two machines. Both have the latest Win 7 RC on them.

One used to have Vista Business, the other had Vista Ultimate.

1. Can I upgrade them to Win 7 Pro?

2. Do I need to reinstall their original Vista O/S on them to do the upgrades, or can I upgrade the Win 7 RC?

Sorry if my questions sound dumb, but I only know enough to get me in trouble in this arena. What questions didn't I know enough to ask?

You can upgrade Business to Professional, but I believe you must upgrade from Ultimate to Ultimate. You can always buy the upgrade media and then perform a clean install on the Ultimate machine.

If you want to do an in-place upgrade (I don't recommend this) then yes, you need to have Vista already installed. You can also do a clean install of Seven which then you should just have to provide some type of installation DVD (meaning you shouldn't have to have Vista pre-installed). Or by simply doing the following (it's more complicated than this but this is it in a nutshell):

1. Install Windows 7 without a license key.
2. Once installed insert the upgrade DVD and "Upgrade" your Windows 7 to Windows 7. You will provide your upgrade license key here.
3. You now have a clean install of Windows 7.

This was a hack that worked with Windows Vista and should work the same with Windows 7.

Hope that helps!

windowsguy said:

You should be able to use the upgrade media for Seven to perform a clean install from Vista. The reason being that Microsoft allows for clean installs from XP because it does not support direct upgrades from XP to Seven, although XP users still qualify for the upgrade media of Seven.

Also to note, there was a hack that could be used to perform a clean install with the upgrade media of Vista. I guess we really won't know for sure until the media for 7 becomes available. Or if Microsoft tells us, which is doubtful.

Edit: Read this, you can apparently perform a clean install from Vista to Seven just like with Vista media.

That is not a HACK. it is written very plainly in the manual sent with every UPGRADE Copy of Vista. It also was available with XP only you did it differently. Therefore it is 100% LEGIT not a HACK. Plz note the DISKs say UPGRADE

gordonware said:

I have two machines. Both have the latest Win 7 RC on them.

One used to have Vista Business, the other had Vista Ultimate.

1. Can I upgrade them to Win 7 Pro? (NO, RC is Ultimate)

2. Do I need to reinstall their original Vista O/S on them to do the upgrades, (NO) or can I upgrade the Win 7 RC? (YES to Ultimate)

Sorry if my questions sound dumb, but I only know enough to get me in trouble in this arena. What questions didn't I know enough to ask?

The upgrade problem is set by MS on what will upgrade.
suggest you visit the MS Upgrade site to see what Versions they allow.
Im sure it will be similar to Vista and XP.

I never said that it wasn't legit, so I guess Hack wouldn't be the right word choice.
However, as far as I can tell, and I've just looked through the Windows Vista product documentation I cannot find any reference to a clean install. I can find reference to Windows backing up your data and settings and then wiping the drive, thereby doing a somewhat clean install, but you still have your old settings. If I'm wrong feel free to point me in the right direction as I'm always open to learning new things.

Quote: Using an undocumented workaround which I first revealed in WinInfo Daily UPDATE earlier this week, you can fool any Upgrade version of Windows Vista into installing itself on a PC without upgrading a previous OS install.

So I have my two 64 bit Win 7 RC latest version machines. One was formerly Vista Ultimate, one Vista Business.

My best bet if a version such as Win 7 Pro would work for me would be to buy the $99 Win 7 Pro upgrade promotion while it is available and go through the "clean install' process with an upgrade disc" documented here and via other links in this thread? Will that work for me? It sounds like the "clean install with an upgrade" process should work like it did under Vista, or is there some remote chance it won't work and I might be stuck with two Win 7 Pro discs that won't work for me to do clean installs. Also keep in mind even if I wanted to go all the way back to Vista, it is my understanding I could not Win 7 Pro to upgrade my one Ultimate machine.

The ugrade promotion price is so nice, but is there any risk for me in it not working?

And thanks for all the patient help from you all. This website and the folks on it are an awesome resource.

It should def. work. Microsoft has said you will be able to do clean installs from the upgrade disks. It lists it right on the product webpage. This is because XP users are allowed to buy upgrade disks, but they cannot use the upgrade function (must do a clean install).

Really, the full version is almost only if you are building a computer from scratch.

aeronauticsrock said:

Yeah, so that process will work.

So that is essentially a clean install from an upgrade disk- I should have no problem buying an x64 disk.... right?

Yup, that's right.

gordonware said:

I have two machines. Both have the latest Win 7 RC on them.

One used to have Vista Business, the other had Vista Ultimate.

1. Can I upgrade them to Win 7 Pro?

2. Do I need to reinstall their original Vista O/S on them to do the upgrades, or can I upgrade the Win 7 RC?

Sorry if my questions sound dumb, but I only know enough to get me in trouble in this arena. What questions didn't I know enough to ask?

One thing we should probably mention. By upgrading do we mean an upgrade install (not clean install) or do we mean upgrading from RC to retail via clean install

Anybody really want to not clean install to the retail version?

Ken