Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Chris White said:

....
During the install process, will it ask me to insert the install disk of the qualifying previous version? I have the XP disc for my PC, but don't have the Vista disc for my wife's PC because it came pre-installed from HP.

No it did not ask me for any disks. Disks don't matter anyway because there is no "key" associated with a disk.

The install process searches out installed versions. If you don't have an installed version then you have to use the registry mod at the beginning of this thread to set things straight before it will activate. I had a laptop with Vista where the HD had crashed. I booted from the upgrade disk and when asked about automatic activation I said yes. -- DON'T DO THAT.

This whole thing is a somewhat confusing mess (IMHO). They say one thing but something quite different is the way it works.

Read all the threads about the process and I think you will see what to do.

daSpud said:

Chris White said:

....
During the install process, will it ask me to insert the install disk of the qualifying previous version? I have the XP disc for my PC, but don't have the Vista disc for my wife's PC because it came pre-installed from HP.

No it did not ask me for any disks. Disks don't matter anyway because there is no "key" associated with a disk.

The install process searches out installed versions. If you don't have an installed version then you have to use the registry mod at the beginning of this thread to set things straight before it will activate. I had a laptop with Vista where the HD had crashed. I booted from the upgrade disk and when asked about automatic activation I said yes. -- DON'T DO THAT.

I installed Win 7 (upgrade disc) on a Toshiba laptop pre-installed with vista. My Laptop crashed yesterday, and subsequently required a format of the HDD.

When I tried to reisntall Win7, i had an error message that the KEY WAS INVALID.

I contacted MS who were happy with my explanation and verified the key was in fact valid. They explained that although the disc was an UPGRADE, they would talk me through the setup , which would involve altering the registry.

The process was to install without entering the KEY
Then once installation complete open regedit and search MEDIABOOT
Dbl click MEDIABOOTINSTALL and alter 1 to 0 then exit regedit
Open CMD with admin rights
then enter the following; cscript.exe slmgr.vbs -rearm
exit CMD then reboot
You can then goto activate win and enter your VALID procuct key.

REMEMBER you still need to own a previous version of win to legally do this

I have done tried to do a clean install with an upgrade dicsc on a new formatted hdd and but when I type the product key in it says "the product key is not vaild" the key is correct and it worked when I used it on the same pc before I needed to re format, oh and its not conected to the internet as I need to get windows on so I can put my wep code in.

Any ideas

Brink said:

Hello Ballie,

What type (ex: OEM, student, retail) of Windows 7 do you have?

You may need to either do a phone activate or METHOD THREE in the tutorial instead.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Its a retail win7 upgrade home pre, I couldn't get past the enter key code bit but in the end I used another win 7 oem upgrade key code which did get it to boot into win7 then I tried to activate the correct key code but had to do the phone thing but its all activated now. Thanks