Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

How to Do a Clean Install with an Upgrade Windows 7 Version​

   Information

This will show you how to do a Clean Install using a retail Upgrade Windows 7 installation disc.

   Warning

Remember that you need to legally own a valid qualifying previous version of Windows to use a Upgrade Windows 7, and to stop using (or uninstall) the qualifying OS while you have the upgrade installed. Microsoft only made doing a clean install from a upgrade Windows 7 possible to make it more convenient so you do not have to reinstall both the old Windows version (ex: Vista) and upgrade to Windows 7 everytime you needed or wanted to reinstall.

If you do not legally own a valid qualifying previous version of Windows, then you are violating the terms of Microsoft's Windows 7 End User License Agreement and could get your product key number invalidated by Microsoft. Plus, it is considered illegal.

For more about this, please see: Microsoft SMB Community Blog : Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade. What you need to know.

OPTION ONE

A Normal Clean Install

1. Do a clean install at boot without checking the Automatically activate Windows when I'm online box during the installation process.

2. When the installation is finished, then manually activate Windows 7 with your product key number.

3. If your Windows should fail to activate, then pick up at step 2 in OPTION THREE below.

OPTION TWO

Through a Custom Install

   Note

This option will let you do a clean install of Windows 7 without formating the current Windows installation to have your current Windows installation backed up to the Windows.old folder during the installation of your retail upgrade Windows 7. This way you can copy any files back that you want from the C:\Windows.old folder (previous installation) back into your new installation afterwards.

1. Do a custom install at boot or from within your current Windows installation without checking the Automatically activate Windows when I'm online box during the installation process.

2. When the installation is finished, then manually activate Windows 7 with your product key number.

3. Copy any files that you want back from the C:\Windows.old folder into where you want it in you new installation.

4. You can now delete the Windows.old folder using Disk Cleanup to have a clean install now.

OPTION THREE

Clean Install with a Registry Workaround for Error Code 0xc004f061

   Note

If you get a activation error code 0xc004f061 while doing OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO above, then you will need to use this option instead

1. Do a clean install of your upgrade Windows 7 at boot without checking the Automatically activate Windows when I'm online box during the installation process.
NOTE: If you already did this from OPTION ONE above and got a activation error, then skip this step and just proceed to step 2 below instead. There's no need to reinstall again.

2. Click on the Download button below to download the .bat file below, and save it to your desktop.
Activate_Windows_Upgrade_after_Clean_Install.bat


Download


3. Right click on the downloaded .bat file, and click on Run as administrator.

4. If prompted, click/tap on Run and Yes (UAC).
NOTE: If you like, you can stop getting the Run prompt by unblocking the downloaded .bat file.

5. You will now notice a command prompt quickly open and close while applying the changes to your registry.

6. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

7. Restart the computer.

8. When the computer is finished restarting, then manually activate Windows 7 with your product key number.

OPTION FOUR

Double Installing Windows 7

   Note

This option is the same that was used to do a clean install of an upgrade copy of Windows 7. It's more work, but if the options above did not work for you, then this should since this is the most reliable option.

1. Do a clean install of your upgrade Windows 7 at boot without checking the Automatically activate Windows when I'm online box during the installation process, and do not activate Windows 7. When finished with the clean install, do not or install any Windows Updates, drivers, or programs yet.

2. When finished with the clean install, start at step 4 at this link to do an in-place "upgrade" install with your upgrade Windows 7 installation disk from within the just now finished clean install of Windows 7.

3. When the in-place upgrade installation is completely finished, then manually activate Windows 7 with your product key number. You can now also install any Windows Updates drivers, and programs you like.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Do a Upgrade Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 Installation USB Key
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/30470-make-bootable-iso-student-d-l.html
• How to Partition the Hard Drive in a Windows 7 Install
• How to Install Windows 7 on Computer with Less than 512MB RAM
• How to Install Windows 7 Using "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI)

 

[Brink]

Yes, they should provide you a unique product key number with the purchase. If it's a ISO file that you download, then you could also just burn it to DVD or extract to a USB flash drive to make them bootable to use to install with.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31541-windows-7-usb-dvd-download-tool.html

 

[mukhi]

If this is a Anytime Ugrade to Windows 7, then you will not be able to do a clean install. You'll need to upgrade from within Vista using Anytime Upgrade instead.

i can confirm this. if you have a win7pro64 upgrade disk and win7pro64 anytime upgrade key, no matter what options you go for (described by OP here), there is NO WAY that one can "clean install" windows. i have tried all the methods described here but all of them failed.
my OS is win7hp64 and i am trying to migrate the OS to an SSD and clean install win7pro64 by using genuine win7pro64 upgrade disk and win7pro64 anytime upgrade key.
looks like i can ONLY upgrade without a clean install. MS truly sucks in their installation policy.

NOTE: so far i could be able to successfully migrate win7hp64 from HDD to SSD by using a 3rd party software.

 

[Brink]

Thank you for the confirmation Mukhi.

 

[mukhi]

Thank you for the confirmation Mukhi.

welcome, Brink!
i tried very hard for the last two days attempting different methods for a clean install. i will now go for normal upgrade from win7hp64 to win7pro64 today and am not happy that i will not be able to do clean install despite having GENUINE key. this certainly encourages people to go for pirated version, and i will not be surprised if i do this in future.

if you see my other posts, you will see that another laptop of mine is screwed up because of MS stupid update. since then i could not fix it and still using ubuntu there. boo, MS.

honestly, i use windows because of software flexibility, blu-ray/HDMI advantages. after these couple of incidences, i will definitely give a second thought about "buying" windows next time.

 

[Britton30]

Millions of users have done this without issue. Steps are very specific and will work. I have done a clean install with a Systems Student Upgrade MS Campus Agreement version. Did you purchase a Windows 7 Professional key?

 

[Brink]

Hello Gary,

A "Anytime Upgrade" copy is different than a "Student upgrade" copy. You will be able to do so with a student copy, but I have yet had a Anytime Upgrade copy able to do a clean install.

 

[Britton30]

Oops! Sorry, having/had a see Nile moment.

 

[mukhi]

Millions of users have done this without issue. Steps are very specific and will work. I have done a clean install with a Systems Student Upgrade MS Campus Agreement version. Did you purchase a Windows 7 Professional key?

Hello Gary,

A "Anytime Upgrade" copy is different than a "Student upgrade" copy. You will be able to do so with a student copy, but I have yet had a Anytime Upgrade copy able to do a clean install.

my anytime upgrade key is a "purchased" one (from a sony store). although for "millions" it worked, it did not work for me, and FYI, my computer knowledge is NOT very basic, IMHO.

Brink is right, it is failing for anytime upgrade key for sure no matter what you do. i also have a student upgrade genuine key for another computer. i will see whether i can get success if i try a clean install in that computer in future (will report here about failure/success).

crazy MS.

 

[unoplayer]

Is there a big difference between the custom install that leaves the windows.old folder and the clean install after wiping your hard drive?

 

[Brink]

Hello UnoPlayer, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You pretty much stated the main differences. A clean install is when you format the computer for a fresh new installation with everything back to default. A custom install is for when you wanted to have your current installation backed up to the Windows.old folder and say also wanted to do a clean install of a upgrade copy.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[unoplayer]

My bad for that poorly worded question. I meant, "Is there a big difference in performance?" between the two methods. Thanks.

 

[Brink]

UnoPlayer,

Oh, sorry. No, there's no difference in performance between the two other than a custom install using a bit more HDD space for the Windows.old folder.

 

[Britton30]

I'll verify that I've used both a retail and an upgrade for a clean install, both take 30-40 minutes or so. Much better than the XP set up will complete in 39 minutes. Then an hour later...

 

[benjoo]

Sorry I don't understand
But does this work as in I can buy the upgrade version and install it on a machine thats got no OS on it or previously?

 

[Brink]

Hello Benjoo, and welcome to Seven Forums.

The tutorial will allow you to be able to do a clean install with a retail upgrade copy of Windows 7 instead of having to install a previous edition of Windows (ex: Vista) then upgrading it to Windows 7.

In agreement with the EULA (End User License Agreement) of Microsoft Windows, you need to own a legal copy of a qualifying previous version of Windows to legally be able to just do a clean install with a upgrade copy of Windows like this. This is why upgrade copies are cheaper than full retail copies. Please see the red warning box at the top of the tutorial and the links in it to get a more detailed explanation of this to help.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[raven2510]

Ok, so I read the entire post...let me make sure I'm getting this right.

I have an old dell laptop I purchased years back that has Windows XP Pro on it. Now the screen broke on it a year ago, so its been in its case since then. I'm planning a new build and I have a legally purchased Windows 7 Upgrade copy/key. I'm planning on pulling the HDD from the busted laptop.

So if I'm understanding this right, I can install Win7 on the new build and use the key from the old HDD right?
Which key do I need to input? The Win7 upgrade key or the Win XP key from the drive?

Thanks

 

[Brink]

Hello Raven, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Sorry, but incorrect.

The key from the old laptop is a OEM product key number, and can only be used to activate the Windows XP Pro that was originally on the computer it was first activated on and not on any other computer ever.

When you install Windows 7 on the new build, you will need to use the product key number that came with the Windows 7 instead to be able to activate it.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[raven2510]

Hello Raven, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Sorry, but incorrect.

The key from the old laptop is a OEM product key number, and can only be used to activate the Windows XP Pro that was originally on the computer it was first activated on and not on any other computer ever.

When you install Windows 7 on the new build, you will need to use the product key number that came with the Windows 7 instead to be able to activate it.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

So I can use the upgrade key that came with my Win7 upgrade pack for a new install on a new system? I just wanna make sure I'm understanding this right.

 

[Brink]

Yep, that would be correct.

 

[raven2510]

Yep, that would be correct.

Well thats great. Thanks alot.