Vista To Win7

[drinkingcola86]

I was looking up upgrade my systems os to windows 7. I'm just getting tired of Vista, well I was tired of it a long time ago but just now getting around to having the time and money to do this. I was looking and found 2 different ways to go about this.

1) Buying a full copy of windows 7 home premium and doing a completely new re-install on my main hard drive.
2) Buying the windows 7 home premium upgrade and doing it via that.

Which way should I look at doing this?

 

[rearendhat]

I would do a clean complete install. Especially from Vista.

 

[rearendhat]

Doing a clean install gets rid of all the little quirks and problems that your Vista computer built up over its time of use. It basically will make your computer run like new.

 

[mightymaxio]

Are you a student by chance? If so you can get a really cheap version from microsoft

 

[RetiredChief]

BUY the cheaper Upgrade not the the more expensive full version, you QUALIFY, do not give uSoft more YOUR money than you have to.

And YES, Do a clean install, and Yes you can do a clean install using the upgrade version, Just select Custom install and do NOT enter your key when prompted.
Will come back and explain the processes.

Simplest way.
1) Do the install selecting custom,
2) On page showing HDD(s) select advanced and delete the Vista partition. Personnally I recommend Backing up the HDD and deleting ALL partitions. return to HDD page and select the UNpartitioned area to install to. If you deleted all partitions Just set size to what you need for OS ie 200->300 Gigs.
3) do Not enter Key when prompted.
4) when completed, Re-insert win 7 upgrade disk and select upgrate, this time entering your Key.
This method is so BC (Before color TV) see my next post.

 

[RetiredChief]

Back
A more eloquent method of using Upgrade version to do a Clean Install.
First Must clarify – YOU must own a qualifying Previous version such as Vista or WinXP (YOU DO).
First step:
QUOTE: A true geek has never been intimidated by the registry, but lets face it, it's a mess in there. To access the registry you will first need to open up the start menu and type "regedit" into the search field, followed by enter. To find the proverbial needle in this haystack, you will need to navigate through the tabs listed on the left in the following order:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/ . If you don't like doing it the hard way just click Edit then Find and type MediaBootInstall into the search field, and press enter.
Once found, double click MediaBootInstall and change the "1" to a "0". Once you have finished this, simply click Ok and close out the Registry Editor
2nd Step:
Before we try to activate our copy of Windows, we need to reset or "Re-Arm" the activation sequence. To do this, simply open up the start menu and type cmd but instead of just pressing enter, you need to press "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "Enter" to run it as an administrator. You can also accomplish this by clicking the start menu, typing cmd into the search box, then right clicking the command prompt application and selecting Run as administrator.
Once the command prompt appears type slmgr /rearm and press enter. Next simply type Exit and hit enter again, after which it will ask you to restart your machine
Before we try to activate our copy of Windows, we need to reset or "Re-Arm" the activation sequence. To do this, simply open up the start menu and type cmd but instead of just pressing enter, you need to press "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "Enter" to run it as an administrator. You can also accomplish this by clicking the start menu, typing cmd into the search box, then right clicking the command prompt application and selecting Run as administrator.
Once the command prompt appears type slmgr /rearm and press enter. Next simply type Exit and hit enter again, after which it will ask you to restart your machine. END QUOTE
REF: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_use_your_windows_7_upgrade_disk_fresh_pc?page=0,1

Next Item on the agenda.
Windows 7 does NOT have an email client. Three Options
1) Use windows live mail.
2) Use a 3rd party program such as Thunderbird
3) If You have the more expensive version of Microsoft office you can use OUTLOOK – Cannot use outlook express.
4) Most difficult. Port over your Vista winmail program. Had to do this for my wife as she hates change.
SEE: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5481-windows-mail.html
http://www.techspot.com/community/topics/how-to-enable-windows-mail-app-in-windows-7.137494/

For 1 -> 3 just google.

 

[electronian]

Just remember--if you get the upgrade, and your current Vista does not have SP1 (or 2 [what I call "SP0"]), then you will need to do an SP1 install, before the Windows 7 upgrade. This becomes important, when needing to reformat, since Vista SP0 does not have a firewall, so you will not be able to securely download Vista SP1 "on that computer"....just download it, before a reformat (or with another computer), and burn it onto a disk.

Just remember upgrades to Windows 7 Home require SP1 or SP2.
(don't forget to check the bit-edition of the new Windows disk, also, of course (don't get 64-bit edition, if you have a 32-bit processor on that computer).
Good luck, and happy 1 and 0'ing!

 

[RetiredChief]

^ Using the Upgrade Version and doing a "CLEAN" install could care less what service packs are installed in Vista

 

[electronian]

Unless Vista SP1 is a system requirement of Windows 7 upgrade.
Seeing http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd772579(v=ws.10).aspx I think I see Vista SP1 (or SP2) is a requirement.

 

[RetiredChief]

Try again, You are correct if using the upgrade to do an upgrade Vista inplace.
My Explaination was for His #1 - a Clean install, which he can do using the upgrade win 7.
The Clean Install (using the Upgrade Win 7 Installation disk) can be done even on a on a "emtpy" (or Brand new HDD). In which case Whatever service pac was (Past tense) is mute.
For an OS that has been on a system for quite some time it is often better to do a Clean install rather than an upgrade. And I'm providing that option at the LOWER cost of buying an upgrade win 7.

 

[geofelt]

Buy the upgrade version. If you have two or three pc's that need the upgrade, look for something called the family pack.
http://gamestoysonline.com/product/28347_Microsoft-Windows-7-Home-Premium-Upgrade-Family-Pack-3-User.html

RetiredChief has given you a nice explanation.

Here is another source that explains it all:
http://winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media-128512

 

[TommyGunDam]

Just wondering, will the ISO from Digital River be used with the Upgrade Key? If so then no regedits needed.

 

[electronian]

I have not been always able to to a clean upgrade, eventhough I was supposed to be able to. Like when I had a Gateway desktop with a Gateway "System Restoration" disk (Windows 98se), and bought an XP Home upgrade disk: the XP installation disk wouldn't recognize my Gateway System Restoration disk as "a legitimate" o/s disk (or the other disk labelled "Operating System Disk" [that was quite a while ago, though). So I had to have a Windows 98 installation on the hard drive to upgrade.
Maybe that's not the case, anymore.
You learn something new every day.

 

[drinkingcola86]

Thank you all. I'll be doing this at the end of the month just wanted to make sure what I was looking at doing was the right way.