Upgrading From Vista Ultimate to Seven Pro

[4iedemon]

Hi all,

I currently have Windows Vista Ultimate installed in my laptop. However, I have just received a free Windows Seven Pro upgrade from my MSDNAA program.

I have seen in another post (http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/25570-upgrade-questions.html) that to upgrade from Vista Ultimate to Seven Pro, I will need to do clean install. I have also tried Windows Seven Upgrade Advisor and it says the same thing.

The question is, how do I install the Win7 Pro Upgrade in my laptop?

Do I have to format it?

Is there a way to 'force upgrade' it?

Since my laptop was initially installed with Vista Business, is there a way to roll back to that version without losing my settings?

Can a Win7 Pro Upgrade disc be used for a clean install?

And one of the most stupid question is, does the clean install mean that I have to format everything
or
Does it simply mean that the files can be overridden but no settings will be carried over?

If settings are not carried over to my Win7, does that mean I will lose registry entries of all my installed programs?

Thank you in advance, and sorry if these questions were filed already in another post.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Yes, there is way to do a clean install with an upgrade copy.
Here is a link to the article.

No, you do not need to format your hard drive. Simply install over your existing installation. Your old installation will be renamed "Windows.old" and placed in the root directory of the C: drive

As far as I know, there is no way to "force" an upgrade.

Unless you have a backup of your Vista Business, there is no way to roll back.

The upgrade mostly just copies files and Windows settings over, not programs. You will still have to reinstall all of your programs, and yes, they will lose their registry settings.

 

[4iedemon]

I have my Vista Business OS in the recovery CD for my Toshiba laptop. Is there a way to roll-back using that recovery CD?

 

[Jonathan_King]

probably not, unless that "recovery" CD is actually the main installation disk.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I have my Vista Business OS in the recovery CD for my Toshiba laptop. Is there a way to roll-back using that recovery CD?

If you mean rollback to having Vista Business installed, as it was the day you took delivery of the laptop, then yes, that's what the recovery CD is for. Were you wanting to do something else?

 

[Barman58]

With any question such as this the answer given will be dependent on the actual specification and current set-up of your system.

If you could please complete you system specs and also provide details of the current disk set-up you have that would assist people to tailor a solution to your specific system.

As there are as many recovery systems in use as there are manufacturers providing them - a minimum requirement would be the make model of the system and major changes you may have made