Solved I need to wipr HD and reinstall But...

[billberry12]

Laptop came with Vista Business, and has sticker on the bottom. I bought W7 Home Premium upgrade and installed it a couple of years back. How do I reinstall W7 on this laptop correctly?
Thanks,
Bill

 

[gregrocker]

Boot the Win7 installer to Clean Install Windows 7.

At the drive selection screen, use the drive tools shown in Steps 6/7 to delete all partitions, create New as you wish, format and click Next to install.

The installer will see an underlying OS at boot and allow use of Upgrade version key during install. Only if no OS is on the drive would you need to install without providing the key, then afterwards do the quick registry workaround shown in Option 3 of Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version.

In addition if you're interested in the collected tools and methods which work best for Win7 to get and keep a perfect install, look over these steps for Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

 

[billberry12]

Thanks. In step 6, do I click on Custom or Upgrade?
Bill

 

[gregrocker]

It says to choose Custom.

In Steps 7 and 8 use the Drive Options link to delete all partitions, create New as you wish, then Format before installing.

 

[billberry12]

Did it as you said, but when I entered the license # for the W7 upgrade CD, it says it is for upgrade only, and will not work for a clean install. I then reinstalled Vista with my recover dvd's. Now it won't let me boot to the upgrade cd. Very lost here.
Thanks,
Bill

 

[VistaKing]

Hi billberrh12

See if the link below will be some of help

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

   Note

To boot off the DVD or USB drive press F12 on the Dell Splash screen choose optical drive for the DVD drive or USB device for USB flash drive

Press enter when you see the screen that says Press any key to boot from cd or DVD…( image below )

If you want to format the hard drive before installing do the commands below


When you get to this screen ( image below )

Press Shift and F10 . You will get a command prompt window . It should open up to X:\Sources . In there input these commands and press enter after each line .

DISKPART LIST DISK SELECT DISK 0 CLEAN CREATE PRIMARY PARTITION SELECT PARTITION 1 ACTIVE FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="ANYTHING YOU WANT HERE" QUICK ASSIGN LETTER=C EXIT EXIT

Back on the image above press Install Now . Check the I accept the license terms box and click on Next. Click on the Custom (advanced) option. Then choose
Disk 0 Partition 1: Window (C:\) and click Next

 

[gregrocker]

Did it as you said, but when I entered the license # for the W7 upgrade CD, it says it is for upgrade only, and will not work for a clean install. I then reinstalled Vista with my recover dvd's. Now it won't let me boot to the upgrade cd. Very lost here.
Thanks,
Bill

I was quite specific about what to do if Upgrade key is rejected in my first post. Did you miss it?

The installer will see an underlying OS at boot and allow use of Upgrade version key during install. Only if no OS is on the drive would you need to install without providing the key, then afterwards do the quick registry workaround shown in Option 3 of Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version.

Apparently it isn't seeing the OS on the HD.

 

[Faladu]

Bill, if totally stuck still, call Microsoft, they will walk you through getting it working.

 

[billberry12]

gregrocker,

Thanks for reminding me to read directions better. Got it done. Worked fine. Great workaround.
Thanks,
Bill

 

[gregrocker]

Glad it helped, Bill. Enjoy Win7.