How to Install Windows 7 Ultimate on a laptop with Windows Home Basic

Zyrandiel · 18 Apr 2012

Thanks for your feedback guys, really appreciate it. He's going for Anytime upgrade. Just a question for greg, let's say I'm the owner of the laptop in concern, if I do a clean install on it with a Windows 7 Home Premium then what will happen to the RESTORE TO FACTORY SETTINGS option? Will it remain when I access it through the recovery options just prior to booting?

I'm thinking that if i did a clean install then I would also do a reformat to the drive where I want to install the OS (eg. drive C) is that achievable?

the existing drives right now are:

100MB system reserve
drive C - System Drive (200+ GB)
drive D - Recovery (almost 20GB)
drive E - Personal Drive (more than 100GB)

I'm somewhat confused with this part in the clean install process, please shed some light guys:

How to Install Windows 7 Ultimate on a laptop with Windows Home Basic-100mb.jpg

what is this 100MB system reserve?

is it neccessary to delete all partitions?

is this 100MB system reserve really necessary?

does this 100MB partition contain the files needed for me to access the recovery for the RESTORE TO FACTORY SETTINGS backup?

FuturDreamz · 18 Apr 2012

the 100 MB partition tells your computer how to start windows. If you delete all partitions in the Windows installer, the installer will automatically create a new partition as needed.

gregrocker · 18 Apr 2012

Everything you need is here to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 including special Note for HP Owners.

Factory Recovery should retain its F11 Hotlink after Clean Reinstall to C, so it may be worth keeping if you want a more stable method for Recovery than the disks - which I would make anyway to have as a secondary backup. HP Recover Windows 7 Operating System Using HP Recovery - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

Of course the modern way to backup is to save a Win7 backup image externally so you have your customized Install available to reimage to HD or its replacement in 20 minutes. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

So if you want to rely on a Win7 backup image and perhaps the Recovery Disks as a backup then you could delete all partitions during reinstall to utilize all of your HD. Some like to create a data partition linked to Win7 via Library - Include a Folder - Windows 7 Forums. This keeps your OS/Programs partition smaller for imaging purposes so that if you reimage your data is waiting and current on its own partition.

seavixen32 · 18 Apr 2012

If you go for the Windows Anytime Upgrade you can leave the partition structure as it is.

The system reserve partition contains the boot files and if you delete it it you would have to carry out a startup repair after making the C drive active.

Drive D contains the image for a factory restore and if you carry out a clean install you will be unable to restore to factory state unless you've created the recovery discs first.

If you're going for a clean install, create a set of recovery discs first, which gives you a method of getting back to the factory state should you want to.

Zyrandiel · 18 Apr 2012

How about if I just copy the Existing Backup from drive D to an external HDD? Can HP still access it after a clean install?

Zyrandiel · 19 Apr 2012

How about this: What if we do a complete factory reset using the image backup from drive d, and then create a new Image Backup of the restored system using Macrium Reflect and put it on an external HDD.

then do the clean install. how about that?

karlsnooks · 19 Apr 2012

Once again:
Read the link provided by TGSoldier so that you learn the differences between the versions, and, for your general info, despite the advice given to you re versions, we nearly all use Win 7 Ultimate. You must decide which version is adequate for your needs.

Forget all of the imaging etc tricks which will make you an unhappy camper. Simply make a clean install following the procedure given in the link provided to you by Greg Rocker.

Zyrandiel · 22 Apr 2012

okay karl. thanks :)

Reezy · 01 Feb 2014

I dont know if this applies to the conversation. .. but I recently got my samsung laptop repaired after the hard drive broke and so I had to get a new one... but the os was home basic and I wanted to find out the specifics of how to install windows 7 professional with the home basic on it already.
Thank you in advance

theog · 01 Feb 2014

Reezy said:

I dont know if this applies to the conversation. .. but I recently got my samsung laptop repaired after the hard drive broke and so I had to get a new one... but the os was home basic and I wanted to find out the specifics of how to install windows 7 professional with the home basic on it already.
Thank you in advance

No install files needed.
Only the Upgrade key is need.
Anytime upgrade only adds-on the Programs & Features from version to version.
Windows Anytime Upgrade - How to