'Upgrade or Full' What is the difference..

TheTeZ said:

doesnt need to be installed, you just need a CD... i think ........

so, the "install upgrade on an empty comp"-thing, could be good/legal if I have a "Original Windows CD" in my possession? If so does a Win95 cd work? :) Im really curios about this

i dont believe so. i think its gotta be xp as the earliest... not positive though. If you cant find your old XP or vista disk, im sure you have a copy of it made? for backup purposes right? or you loaded your win xp iso onto a flash drive / external drive / or possibly an online file storage system....

my conscience and my wallet is very good buddies, and if Wallet says -"hey upgrade seems as good as full and cost much less $" theres a big chance Conscience will agree on that...

yadielfeliciano said:

Upgrade costs less I guess...

I have an XP OEM on my system. If I buy the Win7 OEM, it will still allow me to do a clean install, is that correct?

It says right in the upgrade book, that you only need to do one install if you have no OS installed, and that it should work just fine. When I did mine, I did a clean install, though Vista Home Premium was still on the HDD and it was corrupt. I think the Upgrade and Full Versions are just a difference between a money grab.

Here is my recollection. When I bought my puter in 2000 It had windows millenium and their install disc from Dell on the same hard drive. Then I purchased my Windows 7 XP upgrade install disc it then asked if I had a previous version and if so insert it to the DVD drive. Then it read the disc and it popped out and told me to put in the XP version and it went thru fine. Later my hard drive failed got a new one and again it asked for my previous CD version and then it used my XP Pro upgrade version and it was installed. From that point on it went in without requesting my previous version. This was a clean install.

Lordbob75 is correct. After doing it twice, from that point on you can install your upgrade version on a clean hard drive without the previous versions. Just make sure you never ever lose that upgrade key for as long as you are alive. Put it down on several index cards and put it someplaces like one in your safe, one for your puter stuff and back it up on some other places etc., so when your drive should fail you have the key to install your os system. SAVE YOUR NEW WINDOWS UPGRADE ULTIMATE CD INFO AND DISCS AND PUT THEM IN A VERY SAFE PLACE. Now I have a hard drive with all my xp files folks. I just purchased my new Windows 7 ultimate 32 bit with the 64 bit upgrade, but will only use my 32 due to my system. I will install again my XP upgrade version ON THE NEW HARD DRIVE, and go thru the routine and then call MS for the installation activation key to activate it. Once done, its all new and installed then make my partitions etc.. Then I will put in My Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade and then let it do its install because it will see you already have the xp installed and activated. When its finished I am done. I can if I choose Now I will copy and transfer all my files on the old hard drive to the New Windows 7 Ultimate hard drive and keep my XP hard drive files and have a back up. I am aware if my drive fails with the new Ultimate version or if it gets corrupted, I will have to go thru the process one more time After that should it fail the hard drive etc, I can then install my Windows 7 Ultimate without needing the CD, do my partitions and go thru the process on line for activation and copy my files over.

The reason why I am updating is because Google and many other media sites now have servers that will not support older systems SSL. As a result XP Professional and Vista systems is being slowly phased out from most servers and social websites.

Windows 7 Ultimate will eventually face its demise in about 10-14 years from now when the servers again put SSL for newer systems and discard the older ones thus giving you problems which I am now experiencing with the XP Pro version. After that you might be forced to take Windows 8.1 if it is around. Depending if newer versions come out by that time. I will not be around cause I will be dead and in my grave by that time. This upgrade is my final one before I die.

No matter how you look at it, you will NEED THAT PREVIOUS VERSION CD and must install your new upgrade version two times over a previous older version. After that from that point on your new upgrade will act like a full install from that point on.

Lordbob75 gave you the short cut method if you want to go that route and its a good legit short cut. No matter what play it safe and keep your older version Authentic OS CD's around and the keys for it. You just never know when you will need it for verification purposes in the future.

Currently Windows 8 and 8.1 and Windows 10 has lots of problems. There is a way on Windows 10 to kill off Microsoft of controlling your system and doing updates but you have to use the registry to clean out the crap they put into it. there is a website detailing the instructions on how to do it in your registry. After that> its done and you have full control per se without Microsoft screwing with you. Please be advised, you really have to upgrade your entire computer to meet the specs for Windows 10 trust me. I prefer to custom make my system and not be under any company's control to dictate me.

if you take care of your puter the mobo will last about 12 to 14 years before it says bye bye. My dell mobo lasted 12 years believe it or not. I bought the Gigabyte and they are darn good. They have a lot of longevity for its quality that is put into it. Stayed with 775 sytem for now with a great Quad 4 9550 and its fast enough for me.

To do a fresh win 7 install with an upgrade disk, you don't need to have an activated Windows installed as it only looks for Windows folder on the disk.
So it will install:
- If it finds a windows folder on the disk. This means that, if you install win 7 upgrade on a blank disk, it wont activate. But if you reinstall it will find Windows and will activate.
- Delete on the win 7 installation disk the \sources\ei.cfg. The ei.cfg is the configuration file that sets the default installation. With it deleted it will ask what brand you want to install (Home, HP, Pro or Ultimate)
Apply the eicfg_removal_utility to the ISO you have and burn a DVD or make a boot able flash disk.