Is there any way to upgrade an Acer to Windows 7 Ultimate

[reddevilthp]

I got an Acer Aspire 5732Z a few days ago. It came with a windows 7 Home Basic x64 installed. No CDs were provided with the package. I want to upgrade it to windows 7 ultimate. This is my first laptop ever. I was initially going to do it the desktop way — insert disc, boot, etc. Didnt do it when i realised i didnt have any CDs for drivers and all. Googled and read around a few forums too. Apparently people have serious problems installing ANY OS on a laptop!

So IS there a way to install a different OS on a laptop without screwing it up? if so then could anyone please tell me how to install windows 7 Ultimate from the retail DVD iv got? the DVD version is x86. If thats a problem then i could get an x64 too. Just as long as i can get rid of the home basic version!

Thanks in advance!

 

[505090]

I don’t have a DVD drive. How do I install Windows 7?

*

You can use a USB drive. Here’s how: Go to Microsoft Store and buy a download of Windows 7 . While you’re there, get the free Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool and the instructions for how it works. Then use the tool to set up a USB drive that you can use to install the operating system.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-considerations.aspx

 

[Toysmith]

Almost no manufacturer ships machines with included CDs any longer. You are expected to make your own backup when you first fire up the machine.

You can change the OS on a laptop, but there are things you need to do first. Check with Acer and see if they've released the drivers as a download (or CD you can order). FYI doing a basic Win7 install over the top will wipe the drive as home basic is not designed to be upgraded. Same issue if you want to go to 64 bit from a 32 bit install. Won't work.

A basic install of Win7 on a laptop will work, but your real issues are the extras (Acer's tools) and any device drivers/applications for things like the fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, etc. For those you have to hunt down the drivers, or get them from Acer. Best to hunt it all down before you start and burn a CD/DVD or put on a thumb drive.

If you are really paranoid about this upgrade, get a 2nd 2.5" external drive (with USB and case) and swap the drive and install onto the new blank drive. Once everything is working beautifully (and you have all the apps and drivers installed), you can put your original back in the external drive housing and wipe it. Then use it for backing up your laptop...

 

[mrmark27]

You can upgrade through Microsoft. Heres a link.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/features/windows-anytime-upgrade.aspx

 

[reddevilthp]

Almost no manufacturer ships machines with included CDs any longer. You are expected to make your own backup when you first fire up the machine.

You can change the OS on a laptop, but there are things you need to do first. Check with Acer and see if they've released the drivers as a download (or CD you can order). FYI doing a basic Win7 install over the top will wipe the drive as home basic is not designed to be upgraded. Same issue if you want to go to 64 bit from a 32 bit install. Won't work.

A basic install of Win7 on a laptop will work, but your real issues are the extras (Acer's tools) and any device drivers/applications for things like the fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, etc. For those you have to hunt down the drivers, or get them from Acer. Best to hunt it all down before you start and burn a CD/DVD or put on a thumb drive.

If you are really paranoid about this upgrade, get a 2nd 2.5" external drive (with USB and case) and swap the drive and install onto the new blank drive. Once everything is working beautifully (and you have all the apps and drivers installed), you can put your original back in the external drive housing and wipe it. Then use it for backing up your laptop...

Thanks a lot for that response! cleared a lot of things up.

Acer has the drivers and applications available on there site for download. But i'll just double check with customer service to make sure if there are other important setups that are not available for download.


If i dont get a proper response i'll definitely go with the external drive method! sorry to bug more but have just one more question: u said we are expected to make our own backup when we fire up the machine. What am i supposed to be backing up? and how?

 

[Toysmith]

If i dont get a proper response i'll definitely go with the external drive method! sorry to bug more but have just one more question: u said we are expected to make our own backup when we fire up the machine. What am i supposed to be backing up? and how?

When you first boot up a new machine it will ask you to make a backup CD/DVD of your system for restoring. Almost no one does it...

I'd have to look but there is a way later to do it but I can't recall where it is, and I haven't done with Win7 yet as all my machines are RC1 or fresh Win7 installs, not a new machine.

If you get an external drive and CMS (or other) backup software, you can make an image of your drive.

 

[reddevilthp]

When you first boot up a new machine it will ask you to make a backup CD/DVD of your system for restoring. Almost no one does it...

I'd have to look but there is a way later to do it but I can't recall where it is, and I haven't done with Win7 yet as all my machines are RC1 or fresh Win7 installs, not a new machine.

If you get an external drive and CMS (or other) backup software, you can make an image of your drive.

Found it! Acer has a recovery system pre installed in a separate hidden drive apparently. There is a nifty recovery software which lets the user create a factory default disc to restore the system to the default state and also a disc containing the setups of all the drivers!!

im just asking this cause im not familiar with laptop lingo at all apparently. factory default state means the state in whcih i got the laptop right? with windows 7 home basic installed? so i could just follow ur initial advice and install Ultimate plus the drivers. if anything does go wrong i could use the factory default disc to go back to the original state.

or is there some other fine point im missing? besides the fact that my warranty will be void.

 

[hero9989]

Found it! Acer has a recovery system pre installed in a separate hidden drive apparently. There is a nifty recovery software which lets the user create a factory default disc to restore the system to the default state and also a disc containing the setups of all the drivers!!

im just asking this cause im not familiar with laptop lingo at all apparently. factory default state means the state in whcih i got the laptop right? with windows 7 home basic installed? so i could just follow ur initial advice and install Ultimate plus the drivers. if anything does go wrong i could use the factory default disc to go back to the original state.

or is there some other fine point im missing? besides the fact that my warranty will be void.

Yeah you can do that. Also, I can't see why upgrading the OS would void the warranty... Warranty is for the hardware, not the software (unless for some weird unknown and totally unlikely reason the software harms the hardware).
When you restore from a factory disk, EVERYTHING about the laptop will be exactly as when you bought it. (unless you changed the hardware yourself)

 

[Toysmith]

Found it! Acer has a recovery system pre installed in a separate hidden drive apparently. There is a nifty recovery software which lets the user create a factory default disc to restore the system to the default state and also a disc containing the setups of all the drivers!!

im just asking this cause im not familiar with laptop lingo at all apparently. factory default state means the state in whcih i got the laptop right? with windows 7 home basic installed? so i could just follow ur initial advice and install Ultimate plus the drivers. if anything does go wrong i could use the factory default disc to go back to the original state.

or is there some other fine point im missing? besides the fact that my warranty will be void.

I forgot about the recovery partition on Acer as I don't think it is visible. Many new systems use a separate partioned drive (that you can see in my computer) and as long as you leave it as-is, you can restore. And no you won't void your warranty, but it is possible for someone (a tech) to point to your windows installation as the problem before looking at the devices. Service guys like to do that to 3rd party memory and video also.

Just make sure you have the backup or an image of your drive before you start so you have a fallback position in case anything goes wrong. It should be just fine, but better safe than sorry.

 

[reddevilthp]

alright thanks a lot people. burning all the DVDs now.will backup my drive after that. and then install ultimate! thanks a lot for the help!

 

[profteck]

Be careful on upgrading an Acer example windows premium to ultimate voids warrenty according to acer support....I think this is ridiculous !!!!