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Upgrade path problem: Win7 RC to Vista to Win7 upgrade

Forum Windows 7 : Windows 7 General Discussion - Upgrade path problem: Win7 RC to Vista to Win7 upgrade

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boylawton   11-13-2009 at 03:42:18 PM

I installed Win 7 RC on a new build and purchased Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM with upgrade to Win 7 Home premium. The Win 7 upgrade disc has arrived. I understand that Vista must be installed and activated for the upgrade to work. Attempts to install Vista with Win 7 RC running or booting from the Vista disc lead to error code 0x80070103, insufficient free space. My HDD has > 450 Gb free space in 2 partitions. Do I need to reformat the HDD in order to install Vista over Win 7?

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Bronze Win 7 badge TheViper   11-13-2009 at 05:56:56 PM
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May as well. It will solve the problem. And by the sounds of it, prevent a few other possible problems in the future.

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Bronze Win 7 badge Jonmor68   11-13-2009 at 06:25:47 PM
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W7 RC is Ultimate version, you can't install a lower version, ie; using Home Premium.
Boot in with the Vista disk, select custom install, disk management, then format the W7 RC partition.

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RetiredChief   11-13-2009 at 07:29:09 PM
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You can do a Clean Install over Win 7 RC using an upgrade Win 7 Home premium

This from one of my previous post on how to do it.

I Just did a Clean install on a tosibia loptop using their Upgrade disk.. Had win 7 RC installed on a SSD (Although I have a qualifing Operating system - it was not in the computer.

Ref: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/c [...] _media.asp
Open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE
Easier - Just do a search for " MediaBootInstall"

Change MediaBootInstall from "1" to "0". (Double-click it and then enter 0 in the dialog that appears.)

Close RegEdit.

Open the Start Menu again and type cmd in Start Menu search to display a shortcut to the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose "Run as administrator." Handle the UAC prompt.

In the command line window, type: slmgr /rearm

Then tap ENTER and wait for the "Command completed successfully" dialog.

Then, close the command line window and reboot. When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and activate windows.

Alternate method.
(1) do a clean install (disconnect your XP HDD if installing on a 2nd HDD) WITHOUT entering your KEY. Uncheck activate as soon as installed.
(2) When it has installed, Let it do any updates. Reboot
(3) Reinstall over the top of your first install, this time entering your key.
When installation finishes you can check Dword for a "0". Shut down and reattach XP HDD if disconnected in (1). You can now dual boot to XP, or Win 7 using key during booting (F12 on My gigabyte MB)



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Bronze Win 7 badge Jonmor68   11-13-2009 at 11:05:59 PM
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RetiredChief
I understand what you're saying, but as he has just purchased Vista with the W7 upgrade, I figured it would be easier for him to do the normal install and upgrade.
Seeing as he tried to install Vista from W7 RC, he probably doesn't understand enough to manage workarounds.

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boylawton   11-14-2009 at 04:22:29 AM
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Jonmor68 wrote :

W7 RC is Ultimate version, you can't install a lower version, ie; using Home Premium.
Boot in with the Vista disk, select custom install, disk management, then format the W7 RC partition.



The problem is that I can't get to the page that would allow me to select Custom install. Whether I boot from the HDD with Win 7 running or boot from the Vista CD I end up with the welcome screen, hit Install now, and get the error message. I am amazed that booting from the Vista CD starts Win7 just like booting from the HDD.

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Bronze Win 7 badge TheViper   11-14-2009 at 04:26:45 AM
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Go ahead and reformat. You're not losing anything since you'd format it anyway during the install but this will at least alleviate the problem to start with.

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boylawton   11-14-2009 at 04:34:02 AM
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Jonmor68 wrote :

RetiredChief
I understand what you're saying, but as he has just purchased Vista with the W7 upgrade, I figured it would be easier for him to do the normal install and upgrade.
Seeing as he tried to install Vista from W7 RC, he probably doesn't understand enough to manage workarounds.



You are right about both statements. I would have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had installed Vista before Win 7RC. I just assumed that Microsoft would provide an upgrade from RC.

Thanks to all for the help.

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boylawton   11-14-2009 at 04:42:07 AM
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TheViper wrote :

Go ahead and reformat. You're not losing anything since you'd format it anyway during the install but this will at least alleviate the problem to start with.



Is it possible to use disc management to reformat the partition containing the OS that is carrying out the operation? This seems suicidal.

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Bronze Win 7 badge TheViper   11-14-2009 at 04:58:16 AM
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No. Can't do that to the partition the OS is operating on.

Burn a Live Linux CD and use the partition editor on it to reformat the HDD.

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