Clean Install Windows 7

Brink,

Thanks so much for posting this tutorial. I plan on following it when I upgrade to W7.

However, I have one small silly question that I hope you can help with. I keep reading that Windows7 Upgrade requires a previously-installed OS, so I had assumed that all the installation methods on the Upgrade DVD required an OS verification. However, your tutorial states that the clean install works on a blank hard drive -- therefore, does this mean that the clean install will work without an OS reglardless of what media you use to perform the clean install?

I know the answer may be obvious but I just want to confirm that a clean install doesn't require an OS even if it's performed by an upgrade DVD.

Thanks a lot,
T.

Shawn,

Thank you for your reply, it's really appreciated.

Yes, I do own a copy of Vista but I was just trying to figure out what my options are. I had read that the old OS is deactivated after the upgrade so I was worried about having to reinstall W7 in the future without an activated version of Vista. But I think I will create a backup image of W7 for the future, as recommended by gregrocker in another thread.

Thanks again, Shawn!!!!

brother, OS action says that its optional which is not true, either make it mandatory or remove 'option'.
anyways, let me congrats u on ur initiative on starting this forum 4 ppl like us. its very simple n helpful, not to mention the screenshots. may god bless u... another thing, i had win xp pro on my laptop with a good processor but only with 512 mb ram. this OS started goofing up so i tried another XP in parallel with the old xp... for some reason i cudn't able to install the latter xp. now d situation is that my laptop doesn't even start. on the OS choice screen, it says 1, ms xp 2, ms xp setup. on choosing either of the two it doesn't get me anywhere n i tried even with the xp installation disk in the drive but still no success. the laptop just restarts by itself on choosing either one of them. ok leave this thing aside, out of curiosity, plz lemme know that if i get win 7 installation disk n put it in the drive, will my laptop be able to start the installation process n successfully able to install win 7... i am sure all my hardware is just fine? going back in the discussion, let me tell u that i have multiple xp installation disks for xp and i tried with all of them and my laptop still hangs in after choosing the OS, so dont be of the view dat my disks might have gone bad.
ur help will be appreciated, btw, i am from india and my name is navjot singh.
again, u AND UR FORUM ROCKS. CAN U CONTACT ME VIA EMAIL COZ I MAY LOOSE THE URL FOR UR FORUM, there r just so may forums like this, but dis one is amonst d top.
take care man!

i have a weird question about the clean install but lets say I have windows 7 home premium because i upgraded from vista. i was wondering if i could now do a clean install instead because i want to have my system free of any errors. i have already entered my product key for when i upgraded, would i have any problems with it if i was to now do a clean install?

Yes you can, but you must be careful that you format with the Win 7 disc at the time of your re install.
The win installer will see you present legal version and set a flag in RAM. It knows you are entitled to upgrade, and 'remembers' even after you format the partition in preparation for your new clean install.

Re enter your 25 digit Win 7 key when asked, and all should be well.

Note: Go NOT switch off your computer during the process at any time or the validation flag will be lost.

I just read the entire section. If you create a back up of files from the back up wizard in Vista 64 bit and then do a clean install with the upgrade of windows 7 home premium, can you then install the restore of the back up disk to have Vista as it was but a cleaned and fresh HD install of windows 7? I can do the simple upgrade as I have a valid Vista 64 version but I think a fresh install might be better to clean up what ever is lingering on the HD.