installing win 7 question

[dtotheb86]

I have a question.

first time poster on here.

when installing win 7, can I just install it onto the hard drive in my CPU but i also notice people using Virtual PC but id rather not use any of that stuff.

Is it possible to just install it directly onto my computer.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Brink]

Hello Dave, and welcome to Windows 7 Forums.

Yes, you can install it on your hard drive just like Vista. Since Windows 7 is still a pre-beta, some people have chosen to install Windows 7 on a second partition or hard drive instead to dual boot with Vista and Windows 7.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[MegaFixer]

Moreover, you can upgrade your current Windows Vista installation unless its language does not differ with W7's or 32/64 conflict

 

[Mark]

Are you sure about that, have you tried it, it may be another unfinished feature that is not available yet.

 

[davehc]

Yes. I did try the upgrade, but it runs into quite a few problems after install.

 

[Barman58]

It does seem that Microsoft may be having similar issues with the Vista to Windows 7 upgrade route as the did with the XP to vista route.

Sometimes it works fine - most of the time an upgraded install will have the some issues that are not present with a clean install.

This is Pre-Beta so hopefully this will improve.

I'm sure if a fresh copy of vista was updated to windows 7 everything would be straightforward, but in the real world I would always advise

New OS = Clean install

And with a pre-beta you always need another OS for a worse case scenario, and keep your data separate and backed up

just my opinion

PS Just noticed - Congratulations Shawn - 500 posts , and I'm sure that's only the start

 

[davehc]

Not only your opinion, Barman, a very sensible observation. It's a pre beta. Except for testing purposes, it makes no sense to try an upgrade.

 

[johngalt]

Then again, having this OS installed at all, as opposed to installing it in a Virtual machine, makes no sense - except for testing purposes the begin with, so....

I am going to move everything from the 250 WD I have over to the slack space on my 500 GB HD (only a 60 GB partition for Vista, nothing else used yet) and then I ma going to format the WD and install W7 on the WD so I can see the tricky 200 MB partition *and* see if it's boot partition will automatically see Vista on the other drive or if I will have to play around, and then I can do some other testing as well - including some app testing and game testing....

Again, though, this is for testing purposes - once I get done _ am probably going to wipe the drive and give it to my folks to set up a backup on their machine for their data....

 

[davehc]

"Then again, having this OS installed at all, as opposed to installing it in a Virtual machine, makes no sense - except for testing purposes "
Would that not be the only reason for installing a pre beta? Excepting pure curiosity.
I do not use a VM for beta testing of this or previous products, but would't it sloww down reaction times? I have no idea and cannot find any postive comments through browsing.
One of the obsessions, at the moment, seems to be with the start up and close down times, rather unimportant at the end of the day. Could reliable figures be assessed through a VM?

 

[johngalt]

Yup - I currently only have it in VBox - and it is probably a whole 2 seconds slower in VBox than in the real world - because VBox makes use of Virtualization Extensions via the BIOS, so the virtual machine that W7 is thinks it is actually running on my real system. Well, in terms of the CPU and mobo anyway.

 

[Brink]

I just run it on both Virtual PC and installed on the hard drive. This way all bases are covered.

 

[Barman58]

On the subject of the upgrade capability, if I ever have to re-install I may try the upgrade method, ( in place upgrade ), just for the experience of doing it - in just over a year I will probably be doing it for real on users machines.- so the knowledge of any potential pitfalls will be useful - after all one of the reasons for me running the Beta in the first place is so that when the final retail is released I'm able to understand the system to help the users I support

 

[Brink]

Nigel,

I can tell you from experience that if you are able to, it's always best to do a clean install. No matter how careful you are, there may be some remnant of the old OS that could cause some quark or problem with the new one.

 

[Barman58]

Thanks Shawn,

I agree with you totally, unfortunately I will sometimes get a call from someone who has done, or is in the process, of an upgrade install, and they expect me to get them out of the problems , and of course most of those who start the upgrade themselves also forget to back-up their personal files before they start so I can't just start again with a fresh install.

Hopefully at least some of them, will find this forum, and read your good advice before they start and save me pulling out what little hair I have left to get them out of a mess.

I always try to be prepared and try out things before I'm in front of a paying customer, and that is the only reason I would try the upgrade install
I, like you, have personal experience of upgrades .

New OS = Fresh install for me, but I have to be prepared for what others do

Hope this explains my earlier post

 

[Brink]

This may be helpful to for you if one of your customers has already did the upgrade install and needs to restore the previous OS.

How to restore a computer to a previous Windows installation after you install Windows Vista