Will in-place upgrade of working win7 destroy my programs?

[7powerWannabe]

I have a Win7-64 box that works perfectly. Except that I cannot install any driver past 270.61 for my nVidia GTX-580. nVidia said this is a known problem with many users due to "The install failed because a control panel binary is failing to register because of a missing dependency." In other words, one of their installers/un-installers has removed a dll that's needed. I don't have a free week of my life to re-install everything on the box from scratch. It was suggested on the EVGA forum that I might: " in-place upgrade install of the OS. In other words, insert your OS disk. Start the install and select 'Upgrade'. What will this do to me? I have high end software like Maya, CS6, SQL Server - and many others (but no games, this is a business machine with no extra software). Thanks!!!!

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello mate.


Have a look through the information in this tutorial at the link below for some additional ideas and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7

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[gregrocker]

It can fail like any install, but often will roll back the changes its already made.

You'd need to back up a System image to have a sure path back: Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

Is this known to work for this specific issue because it isn't intuitive that it would necessarily work for what you describe. But it's possibly worth a try short of reinstalling.

I'd post up the issue again but in our Drivers forum where someone may know for sure.

I'd never be afraid of a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 as it's not that bad and almost always better than getting a new computer considering all of the crapware that comes preinstalled.