Vista to Windows 7 upgrade with Hardware Changes

[Topgun3]

I'm currently running Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM on an Asus P5QL Pro mobo with E8400 chip.

I'm planning to upgrade my hardware to an AMD chip (6core 1090T) and a [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H mobo with 8gig of DDR3 ram.

Since I'm running an OEM Vista, I should be buying new Windows with this change, so I will be getting the Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM as well.

My question....how do I do this upgrade so I will preserve my software installations?
Don't want to lose my multitude of registered software I have installed over the past 2 years.

Do I run the Windows 7 Upgrade first and then change the hardware, or do I start the Windows 7 Upgrade and during reboot change the hardware? Or change the hardware and then try to get Vista running before upgrading to W7 OEM?

Any help would be appreciated.

Please don't bother suggesting doing a CLEAN install, since that is not a realistic option. I might not get all my software back again.

Thanks
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[Solarstarshines]

just run the upgrade and have win 7 do a update and hopefully it will have everything in order i did do a upgrade off of vista but later changed my mine to clean install if you have programs that are not to old with in 2 years then you should be ok

I never had problems upgrading from vista to 7 just keep in mind drivers might be a problem other then that i think you would be good


the hardware changes i would think should be done first that way win 7 can reconize what needs to be installed DO HARDEWARE CHANGES FIRST THEN UPGRADE

 

[Topgun3]

So if I understand the reply correctly: Change hardware first, boot into Vista and then run Windows 7 upgrade?

What if Vista doesn't start up with the new hardware?

 

[Solarstarshines]

well the question is where do you have the valuebles installed ? secondary or main drive also you can do the hardware changes after but i would think major conflicts would arise in this case i think it would be fair to use a clean drive for then win 7 and run the vista off the second drive

cause with a hardware change vista wouldn't boot or win 7 if you changed it after the fact cause the os wouldnt know the mobo or the cpu

i would think it would be a better chance of dual booting them both and getting vista to reconize the new hardware once you boot that os

 

[Topgun3]

Dual boot doesn't seem to be a viable option as well...since I NEED to have my current programs installed under Vista transferred into W7 without re-installing them. Dual boot would just give me a clean Windows 7 without any of the software.

 

[zigzag3143]

Dual boot doesn't seem to be a viable option as well...since I NEED to have my current programs installed under Vista transferred into W7 without re-installing them. Dual boot would just give me a clean Windows 7 without any of the software.

You will be disappointed in the upgrade. You are importing every registry errors, driver problem, and other system faults.

Win 7 is a better OS but MS, like most of us recommend a clean install for a reason.


Be sure to back up (my choice would be acronis home) and a restore point just in case.


Ken

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Topgun3, welcome to Seven Forums!



If you change that amount of hardware, not to mention the mainboard, what an OEM version is tied to, the old Vista will not start at all; you had better get everything off of it you can before the HW upgrades.

An OEM version of Windows lives and dies with the motherboard.

 

[Topgun3]

Hello Topgun3, welcome to Seven Forums!



If you change that amount of hardware, not to mention the mainboard, what an OEM version is tied to, the old Vista will not start at all; you had better get everything off of it you can before the HW upgrades.

An OEM version of Windows lives and dies with the motherboard.

Thanks.....that is what I was thinking.....therefore the reason for my question. The issue here is keeping my installed software. If I could upgrade the Hardware and keep my Vista OEM, I would do that, therefore I'm upgrading to W7 OEM with the HW upgrade....don't want Microsoft to feel cheated by not purchasing another OS from them.

I guess I should have asked is: How do I keep all my installed software while upgrading my Hardware (and possibly the OS)?

 

[whs]

You are mixing things up.

1. If you change your mobo, your old systems will only be valid if you have a retail version. You will still have to upgrade a few drivers and revalidate the OS. OEM versions will be obsolete.
2. If you install Win7 AFTER you changed your mobo, that is no problem. It will just validate with the new id. But you need to do a clean install.
3. All your programs you have to reinstall. Your Vista installations are of no use for Win7.
4. For your data you have a variety of options. a) you can create a seperate data partition under Vista and INCLUDE the folders into the win7 libraries. And b) you can just backup your data and then put it into the Win7 folders.

 

[Solarstarshines]

You are mixing things up.

1. If you change your mobo, your old systems will only be valid if you have a retail version. You will still have to upgrade a few drivers and revalidate the OS. OEM versions will be obsolete.
2. If you install Win7 AFTER you changed your mobo, that is no problem. It will just validate with the new id. But you need to do a clean install.
3. All your programs you have to reinstall. Your Vista installations are of no use for Win7.
4. For your data you have a variety of options. a) you can create a seperate data partition under Vista and INCLUDE the folders into the win7 libraries. And b) you can just backup your data and then put it into the Win7 folders.

I was kinda explaining this once you have switched coponents the os is no good you would have to back everything up then proceed to install on new hardware to avoid conflicts because doing it any other way will just cause great malfunctions

 

[Topgun3]

In my solution search I came upon this software: Parallels Desktop Upgrade to Windows 7 2011

It might be able to do want I'm trying to accomplish.

 

[gregrocker]

The only way to start up Win7 on new hardware with certainty is to use Acronis Universal Restore which removes all of the drivers before reimaging from a saved image.

Or you can boot and run Paragon Adaptive Restore from CD which will prepare Vista to boot on the changed hardware.

Then you can run an in-place Upgrade with Win7 Upgrade version since retail Vista is a qualifying OS for upgrade version.

The problem is that you lose your OEM activation when you change the mobo so you'll be at the mercy of MS phone activation agent to give you an exception to keep Vista activation, so that it even remains a qualifying OS to upgrade to Win7.

 

[Topgun3]

Thanks Gregrocker.....that is some good info. I'm sure MS support would be understanding in what I"m trying to accomplish, since they would still be getting more money from me (ie. purchasing new windows). In theory, once I'm done with the upgrade, I should be able to take my old hardware and re-activate Vista on it...since that was the original combination and I do own the OEM license on it.

 

[Solarstarshines]

OEM version are cheaper but in the long run it is better just to buy the retail version you basicly get one chance with a oem version retail version don't have to worry about all that nonsense unless you installed and uninstalled to much

calling ms is a major pain but what can you do >?