Doing a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

[gregrocker]

Under the EULA you have to stop using the Vista when you install Win7. That said, there is no way they can enforce it. But a lot of guys are coming here wanting to bail out of dual boots within a day or two after trying Win7, and it is a messy job which involves having to delete Vista off the first partition then move Win7 over onto the first one.

You would get a much cleaner and more permanent install by backing up your files and gathering your program installers, booting from your Win7 Installer, choosing Custom>Advanced tools and delete all partitions, create one big new one, then format and Install. The WIn7 disk will have already scanned your HDD to see you had Vista and pass a flag to accept your key and activate. This is the cleanest possible install.

After the job is finished, whether you dual boot or clean install, use Win7's new Backup Imaging utility to save an image of your HDD externally so you will never have to reinstall again (unless you choose dual boot and later Vista removal messes up, which it might).

 

[TimothyB]

Thanks, I don't plan to suddenly stop wanting dual boot. Or more importantly, I just won't care about it taking up space, no regrets. In the future I'll want to install windows 7 once more when I decide to get a faster drive just for the OS, probably when SSD prices go down and faster (not that I know if they are a good OS drive with cost, performance and reliability ratio right now.)

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks, I don't plan to suddenly stop wanting dual boot. Or more importantly, I just won't care about it taking up space, no regrets. In the future I'll want to install windows 7 once more when I decide to get a faster drive just for the OS, probably when SSD prices go down and faster (not that I know if they are a good OS drive with cost, performance and reliability ratio right now.)

In that case, you can either boot from the Installer or start your install from the Vista desktop to install to your second partition. You might want to boot the Installer so you can format the simple volume you created using Advanced Tools. The Installer will see your Vista as it is booting up and accept your key before formatting then activate when you get online.

Windows 7 should configure the dual boot; if not, start an Install help topic. When you get your Win7 up, you can copy files over from Vista via explorer, even browse from Win 7 Device Manager for missing drivers in Vista windows/system32/drivers

 

[TimothyB]

In that case, you can either boot from the Installer or start your install from the Vista desktop to install to your second partition. Windows 7 should configure the dual boot; if not, start an Install help topic. When you get your Win7 up, you can copy files over from Vista via explorer, even browse from Win 7 Device Manager for missing drivers in Vista windows/system32/drivers

Thanks again for the help. One reason I really want to keep Vista around is insurance for all my graphics software, especially 3D apps, you never know what bug you'll encounter in Win 7 and the state of video card drivers.

Update:

Windows 7 installed fine. Dual Boot screen is there. Also surprised that in My Computer, the Win 7 partition is still letter F, what Vista gave this Partition, and the Vista Partition still remains as C, and was visible right away.

 

[Maxkhoon]

Hi, just want to know that is it legal to use the upgrade kit to do the clean installation for Window 7, will my Window 7 consider as not genuine because of this? I have my genuine Vista at my PC, I was wondering if the upgrade kit have the option for me to choose either upgrade or clean install or not? Since the faqs keep mention about install window 7 in the blank HD, I thought that if I have the genuine Vista OS preinstall in my PC, then I don't have to go through many trouble is it? or I have to do the tricks in order to do the clean install since the upgrade kit not allowing peoples to do the clean install.. Thanks for the reply

The EULA only states that you must have a qualifying OS to upgrade which you then can't use afterward, so if you have Vista installed now then you can boot from the installer and do the cleanest of all installs: Custom using Advanced Tools to Delete, create New, and Format.

What happens is the Installer disk scans your HDD when it first boots up to find the Vista OS and passes a flag allowing it to accept key and activate down the line.

If you wipe your HDD ahead of time, then the installer may not see Vista and you will need to do the workarounds found earlier in this thread (upgrade over install, or registry fix). But you still have your Vista license to qualify.

When you finish the job, be sure to use Win7 Backup Imaging to store externally a backup image so that you never have to reinstall either again, just reimage the HDD (or a replacement) in 15 minutes flawlessly.

Thanks for the detailed reply, it was too technical for me though...
digesting in progress...really appreciated...

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks for the detailed reply, it was too technical for me though...
digesting in progress...really appreciated...

OK, I rewrote it to (hopefully) make more sense. Just ask if you have any questions:

The EULA only states that you must have a qualifying OS to upgrade, which you then can't use afterward. So if you have Vista installed now, then you can boot from the installer and do the cleanest of all installs: Custom, using Advanced Tools to Delete old partition(s), create New one(s), and Format.

What happens is the Installer disk scans your HDD when it first boots up to find the Vista OS and passes a flag allowing it to accept Upgrade key and activate down the line.

If you wipe your HDD ahead of time, then the installer may not see Vista and you will need to do a workaround if it rejects your key. But you still have your Vista license to prove you qualify if the issue should ever arise.

When you finish the job, be sure to use Win7 Backup Imaging to store externally a backup image so that you never have to reinstall either again, just reimage the HDD (or a replacement) in 15 minutes flawlessly.

 

[Techymike]

Hello Brink
A familiar face from the Vista forum. I just bought the upgrade from Vista to windows 7 Home, I know the Pro version has the XP option but did not wish to do a complete install and the cost of the upgrade I have was real cheap on eBay. I will read a bit here and see what is best to do for my application. It is a nice forum just as the other is.

OHHHHHHH I loose all my stuff from the last forum. Bummer!

 

[Brink]

Hello Brink
A familiar face from the Vista forum. I just bought the upgrade from Vista to windows 7 Home, I know the Pro version has the XP option but did not wish to do a complete install and the cost of the upgrade I have was real cheap on eBay. I will read a bit here and see what is best to do for my application. It is a nice forum just as the other is.

OHHHHHHH I loose all my stuff from the last forum. Bummer!

Hi Mike, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I'm sure that it'll take you no time to get them here as well.

 

[rbrzezinski1]

Upgrade Install is the way to go.

I don't know why people don't just do an Upgrade! You don't have to back anything up, and all your docs and files just carry over. This is what I did coming from Vista to 7, Both premium versions, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter.

Best of Luck,
Rbrzezinski1

 

[SilverGator]

I don't know why people don't just do an Upgrade! You don't have to back anything up, and all your docs and files just carry over. This is what I did coming from Vista to 7, Both premium versions, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter.

Best of Luck,
Rbrzezinski1

Because doing a clean/custom install is refreshing to the hard drive. You get to zero everything out and start from scratch. If there is even something tiny going on wrong or slowing your drive down, it corrects it. It's like asking - why trim your beard when you can shave it?

 

[torrentg]

Less or no reason to do with drive speed; advantage of clean install is purely for software-based reasons.

 

[ddeen]

I can confirm that you can activate a custom installed Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Amazon Pre-Order to a hard drive that was wiped clean with Boot N Nuke prior to installation. I custom installed 7 and did not put the Product Key in until after the installation was finished and all updates were done. Then I activated with the Upgrade product key and after a few minutes my installation was activated.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

I don't know why people don't just do an Upgrade! You don't have to back anything up, and all your docs and files just carry over. This is what I did coming from Vista to 7, Both premium versions, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter.

Best of Luck,
Rbrzezinski1

Because doing a clean/custom install is refreshing to the hard drive. You get to zero everything out and start from scratch. If there is even something tiny going on wrong or slowing your drive down, it corrects it. It's like asking - why trim your beard when you can shave it?

And, at least as important:

1. Non-clean installs of earlier OS have been known to cause problems.
2. Nobody should delete an older OS until they are CERTAIN that all apps work in the new OS.
3. Many folkes have to support/program each OS, so they cannot just ditch an OS.
4. There are advantages to having multiple OS. For example when something goes wring in one OS, you can still boot to the other OS and get things done, including, e.g., deleting files in one OS while booted to the other OS. One example, earlier this year Kaspersky AV went nuts and create a report file that was 2GB+. Could not delete from within the running OS, so booted to another OS and deleted the file

 

[Maxkhoon]

Thanks for the detailed reply, it was too technical for me though...
digesting in progress...really appreciated...

OK, I rewrote it to (hopefully) make more sense. Just ask if you have any questions:

The EULA only states that you must have a qualifying OS to upgrade, which you then can't use afterward. So if you have Vista installed now, then you can boot from the installer and do the cleanest of all installs: Custom, using Advanced Tools to Delete old partition(s), create New one(s), and Format.

What happens is the Installer disk scans your HDD when it first boots up to find the Vista OS and passes a flag allowing it to accept Upgrade key and activate down the line.

If you wipe your HDD ahead of time, then the installer may not see Vista and you will need to do a workaround if it rejects your key. But you still have your Vista license to prove you qualify if the issue should ever arise.

When you finish the job, be sure to use Win7 Backup Imaging to store externally a backup image so that you never have to reinstall either again, just reimage the HDD (or a replacement) in 15 minutes flawlessly.

First of all, please feel free to ignore me if I ask some stupid questions..sorry to waste your time..really appreciated at what u did..
here goes..

1. Were yours reply indicated that I had the qualification to clean install Window 7 legally? (like can accept upgrade online, totally original Window 7)

2. There are 3 methods to do the clean install according to the webpage u provided, is the custom one is the best method? and only the users that had preinstall genuine OS can use it legally?

3. For what I know, partition is split the hard disk to some fragment to make it more organized and fast..why delete the "old partition"as you said(my current laptop doesnt do any partition, just knew it recently), is the whose sentence relate to format the computer?so it means format the whole computer then install Window 7?

4. I had totally no idea about reimage HDD..and hdd is hard disk rite?

I'll received my upgrade kit hopefully in a few days later, really want to and need to know more about it..really nervous and excited to have this OS install in my laptop.. thx again for the kind reply
(sorry for the grammar mistakes..)

 

[gregrocker]

First of all, please feel free to ignore me if I ask some stupid questions..sorry to waste your time..really appreciated at what u did..
here goes..

1. Were yours reply indicated that I had the qualification to clean install Window 7 legally? (like can accept upgrade online, totally original Window 7)

Yes, if you have a previous qualifying OS like Vista, then you can clean Custom install Win7 either by booting from the installer, or running it from the Vista OS. Or you can do an in-place Upgrade from the Vista which reinstalls your programs, files and settings.

2. There are 3 methods to do the clean install according to the webpage u provided, is the custom one is the best method? and only the users that had preinstall genuine OS can use it legally?

Most tech enthusiasts recommend a Custom clean install rather than in-place Upgrade. Of those Custom installs, booting from the installer and choosing Advanced tools to delete your partition(s), create new one(s) then format before install is the cleanest of all.

THe installer will auto-detect Vista as it scans the HDD when starting or booting up. If you do not have Vista on the HDD at the time, you need to use the workaround I gave in earlier post.http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp

3. For what I know, partition is split the hard disk to some fragment to make it more organized and fast..why delete the "old partition"as you said(my current laptop doesnt do any partition, just knew it recently), is the whose sentence relate to format the computer?so it means format the whole computer then install Window 7?

You can use the Custom Advanced Tools to delete any or all partitions, create new one(s) and then format to install. You don't need to have any more than one partition, although many users like to have separate partitions to store data, or save the Backup Recovery image. You can format one partition to start and then later shrink it to create new partitions in Disk Management console.

4. I had totally no idea about reimage HDD..and hdd is hard disk rite?

Yes, hard disk drive. Type backup in the start box and choose Backup and Restore center, then Create an Image which you can store in a primary formatted Partition for easy detection, backed up to an external drive.

Then if you ever need to recover your OS, just boot into Installer>Repair My Computer (same as Repair disk you can make) and choose Recover from Image and it will reimage your HDD in 15 minutes. Be sure to back up the image externally in case of HDD failure.

I'll received my upgrade kit hopefully in a few days later, really want to and need to know more about it..really nervous and excited to have this OS install in my laptop.. thx again for the kind reply
(sorry for the grammar mistakes..)

Answers above in red.

 

[scared]

I am scared (hence the user id) to try a clean install! I am no computer pro! I know enough to keep computer running (most of the time). Have formatted drives and done clean installs back in the old days pre win 2000 but not since. So, I have a couple questions.
1)what if i don't have the install disk for Vista? I have 2 computers, 1 w/vista 32bit, 1 Vista 64 bit, both bought this yr and since they don't come with the instal disk and I never made the back up set.....what should I do? I can't find the program option to make that boot disk now that i may need it.
2)I'm waiting on HP to send my upgrade disk for the newest computer but had to buy the upgrade for the other one. Will it make a difference which computer I put each software on. The reason I ask is that I'm impatient and want to do the upgrade on the one that qualified for the free upgrade now, and use the disk they send for the back up computer.
3)I have used MSmoney since it came out. I've learned there is no more MSM coming out. I am currently running Money 2006. I do not use their online support. I do a direct download from my bank daily however. If I do a clean install which is what I prefer, will I be able to load the software if I do a clean install of Win 7?

This is my first post, so sorry if it is too long or not in the right place. Just gently guide me, please.
Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

I am scared (hence the user id) to try a clean install! I am no computer pro! I know enough to keep computer running (most of the time). Have formatted drives and done clean installs back in the old days pre win 2000 but not since. So, I have a couple questions.
1)what if i don't have the install disk for Vista? I have 2 computers, 1 w/vista 32bit, 1 Vista 64 bit, both bought this yr and since they don't come with the instal disk and I never made the back up set.....what should I do? I can't find the program option to make that boot disk now that i may need it.
2)I'm waiting on HP to send my upgrade disk for the newest computer but had to buy the upgrade for the other one. Will it make a difference which computer I put each software on. The reason I ask is that I'm impatient and want to do the upgrade on the one that qualified for the free upgrade now, and use the disk they send for the back up computer.
3)I have used MSmoney since it came out. I've learned there is no more MSM coming out. I am currently running Money 2006. I do not use their online support. I do a direct download from my bank daily however. If I do a clean install which is what I prefer, will I be able to load the software if I do a clean install of Win 7?

This is my first post, so sorry if it is too long or not in the right place. Just gently guide me, please.
Thanks

You can try again to make the backup disks for Vista, or call them now to order, or better yet just wait until you would need to ever reinstall Vista (which you won't) to call your maker to order them. To get Vista back on the machine without the bloatware is as easy as borrowing a Vista disk, btw.

The reason why reinstalls will never again be necessary is because Windows 7 brings backup imaging to the masses. Just type backup in the start box, Create an Image in the Backup Center which you store externally and even in a separate primary recovery partition. Then if you ever need to recover, you just boot from your installer>Repair My Computer>Recover Using an Image to reimage your HDD or a replacement in 15 minutes flawlessly.

If you have programs you are afraid to lose and cannot find installers for them, then you can always keep Vista on your boxes for awhile. Just use Disk Management to make a second partition to install Win7 upon. It will even configure you a nice un-scary boot menu for when you start up.

 

[jjthenovice]

Just thought I'd add another data point on upgrade clean install. I have a toshiba notebook (a105-s4074) with full version vista ultimate but it came with xp home. So I have each version. This is now my wife's computer, so I went to Office Depot and got the family pack. I then bought a new drive from fry's and installed the upgrade on it. When it asked for the product key, I put it in but it didn't accept it. So I did Paul Thurrott's hack of the registry and voila it's now activated. Another satisfied user. This was legal because I do have the qualifiying versions times 2. The reason for the family pack is I have a desktop to upgrade also. For those two (wife's and desktop), I only need premium. On my notebook I'm running full win7 ultimate.

 

[Darryl Licht]

I upgraded (Clean) a clients Acer Ferrari lappy to Win7 from XP 2 days ago. First I used the EZ Transfer tool to backup all user files and settings to an external HDD and started the install using her upgrade DVD.

I booted off the DVD, deleted the partitions (it had an OEM XP restore partition), created a new single partition using all available space, formatted NTFS, and started the clean install. Went without a hitch! Activated with ZERO issues!

My client is so happy... she thought she was going to have to buy an new laptop as it was slowing down with XP... now this 4-5 year old lappy is happy and fast! 4 seconds to awake from sleep to login!

 

[Symz]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forums, but I have 1 important question. I'm sitting here with my retail version of Vista home premium, and my retail version of Windows 7 Upgrade. I have them both out because I expected I would have to wipe my current OS (Windows 7 beta build 7100) and then do a full install of Vista... and THEN upgrade with the Windows 7 upgrade. Then I see this thread. So basically if I own Windows Vista and own the upgrade I can skirt around installing Vista and just do it with Windows 7? If so this would be awesome. It's legit?