Reinstalling Windows 7 with Upgrade Media

[therealjustin]

I installed Windows 7 from within Vista. I chose the custom installation which wiped me drive clean and installed 7 over Vista.

While everything is running smoothly for the most part I have been having a lot issues with Creative sound drivers. I have tried at least 3 different drivers and now have multiple stray registry files and a tab in the sound control panel that creates a shell error when I click on it. Small problem but I'm seriously thinking about doing a clean install.

My question is can I just pop the 7 disc into 7, chose custom install, and activate it normally?

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, but first take a look at your System Restore points to see if you have any choices before the apparent corruption occurred.

It sounds like settings are creating the problem, so running "sfc /scannow" to check system file integrity would most likely not fix those, nor running a Repair install which in 7 is an Upgrade over itself run from the desktop which saves settings.

Clean install it is, if you can't restore before the problem. Boot from installer and use Custom>Advanced tools to wipe and format the HDD. It will see the upgraded OS when first booting installer to allow activation without the "newdrive" workaround.

 

[wallyinnc]

Please check this tutorial

 

[sunrisecc]

Yes, you can upgrade Win 7 over itself. I did that Saturday under MS' direction. I has some file corruption and not found by sfc /scannow. I could not change the features installed the first upgrade. Hence to repair Win 7 , I ran an Inplace Upgrade as directed by MS.

The only thing that I lost was the downloaded Win 7 updates from the Update service. The Updates were automatically installed again. I lost nothing in my apps.

I rebooted and then turned off my AV (MSSE) followed by Disk Cleanup to remove all temp files. I then started the upgrade from within Windows.

I have not had any problems since.

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, you can upgrade Win 7 over itself. I did that Saturday under MS' direction. I has some file corruption and not found by sfc /scannow. I could not change the features installed the first upgrade. Hence to repair Win 7 , I ran an Inplace Upgrade as directed by MS.

The only thing that I lost was the downloaded Win 7 updates from the Update service. The Updates were automatically installed again. I lost nothing in my apps.

I rebooted and then turned off my AV (MSSE) followed by Disk Cleanup to remove all temp files. I then started the upgrade from within Windows.

I have not had any problems since.

You can try this but corrupt settings are also saved in an Upgrade (repair) install.

 

[sunrisecc]

Not according to the MS supervisor and my results. The registry was repaired. If one of the apps is corrupted, that is different.

In fact, I have documentation direct from MS and also from the private MS newsgroups to which I have access recommending this approach.

Also Paul Thurrott believes in doing an inplace upgrade of Win 7 over itself. This was published in the last day or two.

 

[gregrocker]

Not according to the MS supervisor and my results. The registry was repaired. If one of the apps is corrupted, that is different.

In fact, I have documentation direct from MS and also from the private MS newsgroups to which I have access recommending this approach.

Also Paul Thurrott believes in doing an inplace upgrade of Win 7 over itself. This was published in the last day or two.

Yes, and I'm a big fan of repair installs, have used them many times to correct dual boots that were otherwise unfixable, as well as other problems with system files which are unfixable running sfc /scannow.

But many times when corrupted User settings are at fault, repair install imports them just as it imports corrupt settings when upgrading OS's, making it only as effective as an in-place upgrade.

Here is one from yesterday here: http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/38016-upgrade-without-dvd.html#post374266

In fact it is why I felt obliged to warn the OP about possibility of corrupt settings being imported, because I didn't yesterday with this guy.

 

[sunrisecc]

The inplace (I was told) works only with the DVD and not the .iso. I have the retail version of the DVD (upgrade). There is a difference. Time will tell.

 

[gregrocker]

The inplace (I was told) works only with the DVD and not the .iso. I have the retail version of the DVD (upgrade). There is a difference. Time will tell.

Seymour, a repair install is a repair install. In Windows 7 it is performed by running the installer, whether that installer is a DVD, USB flash or files on the desktop. It runs the same, Upgrading over the old OS while keeping programs, files and settings in place.

In XP, a repair install was done by booting the installer. That has changed now.

 

[sunrisecc]

I agree that we disagree. I never mentioned XP. The inplace upgrade only started from Vista. The following are the Vista instructions.

Try to perform an Inplace Upgrade of Windows Vista:

1. Disable or uninstall all security software's on the computer.
2. Remove all third party CD and DVD burning software.
3. Click on Start, in the start search box type appwiz.cpl and press enter.
4. On the left side click on "Turn Windows feature On or Off".
5. Uncheck the following three components and then click on Ok.
· .Net Framework 3.0
· Remote Differential Compression
· Windows DFS Replication Service
6. Start the Inplace Upgrade.

Steps to perform an Inplace upgrade:
1. Exit all programs before you upgrade to Windows Vista. These programs include browsers and media players
2. Insert the Windows Vista DVD into the DVD drive.
3. When the "Install now" screen appears, click on "Install now".
4. On "Which type of installation do you want?" screen, click Upgrade and follow the instructions to install Windows Vista.
Once the upgrade is complete, follow the steps as below.
1. Click on Start, in the start search box type appwiz.cpl and press enter.
2. On the left side click on "Turn Windows feature On or Off".
3. Put a check mark against the following three components and then click on Ok.
· .Net Framework 3.0
· Remote Differential Compression
· Windows DFS Replication Service