How to upgrade from Vista to 7 without Vista Disc

[chuenmasiello]

I want to get a Toshiba Laptop at bestbuy, they offer free upgrade from vista 64bit to Windows 7 64bit. However, they will not give me Vista OS Disc.

I want to do a clean installation (Format my HDD, then install 7). But without Vista OS disc, will Windows 7 upgrade disc allow me to install 7?

 

[RetiredChief]

I think you have to get the disk from Toshiba via there upgrade program. I bought a laptop from Bestbuy the day after they started offering the free upgrade. Apllied for it via toshiba website. They are suppose to send me a disk. The laptop did NOT come with a vista instal disk, You had to make your own (3 DVD Disk) recovery set.

Will know more when I get it (Probably toward the end of Oct. If I can not do a clean install, I will be contacting Toshiba!!!! Any way contact Toshiba support and ask.

 

[chuenmasiello]

Thank You!!!

 

[daship]

All you need for it is the key, you just got to prove you had legit vista 1st.

 

[Bolbi]

One option would be to make a backup of you files, then clean install Win7 with the upgrade disk. The requirement is that you must have Vista (in your case) already installed on the computer. You can choose to do an upgrade (transfers over programs, settings, files, and bloat), or clean install (erases Vista and everything thing else on its partition, then installs Win7). To prove that you own Vista, you must have it installed; just the disk and/or product key is not enough. This was changed with Win7.
So, in the end, no need to reinstall Vista. You can do a clean install of Win7 from the upgrade disk, as long as Vista is already on the partition you want to install Win7 to.

 

[chuenmasiello]

One option would be to make a backup of you files, then clean install Win7 with the upgrade disk. The requirement is that you must have Vista (in your case) already installed on the computer. You can choose to do an upgrade (transfers over programs, settings, files, and bloat), or clean install (erases Vista and everything thing else on its partition, then installs Win7). To prove that you own Vista, you must have it installed; just the disk and/or product key is not enough. This was changed with Win7.
So, in the end, no need to reinstall Vista. You can do a clean install of Win7 from the upgrade disk, as long as Vista is already on the partition you want to install Win7 to.

If one day I want to reinstall Windows 7, do I have to reinstall Vista to my system first, and then use the Win7 upgrade disk again? Since I don't have a Vista disk, how can I reinstall Vista by then?

 

[Bolbi]

If one day I want to reinstall Windows 7, do I have to reinstall Vista to my system first, and then use the Win7 upgrade disk again? Since I don't have a Vista disk, how can I reinstall Vista by then?

Unfortunately, from what MS has said so far, that's right. I guess there's no way of knowing until October 22nd. It might be that MS will let you use the upgrade disk to reinstall if it sees an activated version of Win7 already on the system, or they might not; I don't know.
Even if you have to reinstall Vista first, you should be able to do that. I don't own a Toshiba computer, but it seems from other online sources that Toshiba laptops include a "recovery partition" that contains an image of the OS partition as it was shipped from the factory. You can boot into that recovery partition, and it will re-image the main OS partition with the original everything (Vista, trialware, etc.). Here's the link to a PDF from Toshiba giving instructions on how to recover from that hidden partition, as well as create recovery DVD/CD's that can be used instead.
That partition should be intact after upgrading to Win7 (whether true upgrade or clean install). To be on the safe side, though, you should create recovery discs before you upgrade.

 

[gcortes]

The trick to update a new machine to Vista was to first install it as a trial and then install again as an upgrade. Don't know if they fixed that loophole.

 

[Bolbi]

The trick to update a new machine to Vista was to first install it as a trial and then install again as an upgrade. Don't know if they fixed that loophole.

Yah, all reports indicate that loophole was closed.
Now, the upgrade disk requires an activated copy of Windows to be installed. The trial version is not activated, so no "upgrade" from it.

 

[chuenmasiello]

Can I make my own image of the Win7 OS on my laptop after I upgrade from Vista to Win7?

 

[Jonmor68]

Yes, it's a good idea anyway as it gives you a way to restore without having to reinstall all your programs and updates.
I use Acronis True Image Home 2009, it works with Windows 7, but it's not free $50 US and worth every cent. It can be used for auto backups as well as auto image backups at regular intervals set by you as long as the destination drive is connected.

 

[Bolbi]

Can I make my own image of the Win7 OS on my laptop after I upgrade from Vista to Win7?

Yes; that's what I'm going to do when I upgrade to Win7. It's handiest to just make a separate partition for the image. Then, you don't have to worry so much about accidentally deleting it when you're working with other stuff.
If you're lucky enough to have a Seagate HDD (not that I want to start Seagate vs. Western Digital again!), they offer a stripped-down version of Acronis True Image for use with their HDDs. I don't know about third-party free options if your drive comes from another manufacturer. Windows 7 itself comes with a simple disk-imaging utility. Here's how to use it. Not sure if it only comes with the higher versions, but worth a try if not.

 

[belial2k]

Here is a cheap way to get the Vista disc if you need one....beats paying your OEM $50 or more for it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290343071913&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

 

[crossett]

Yes; that's what I'm going to do when I upgrade to Win7. It's handiest to just make a separate partition for the image. Then, you don't have to worry so much about accidentally deleting it when you're working with other stuff.

I apologize for the newbie question: So when you make the image of Win7 on the separate partition, is it there for recovery purposes only? Or to do a clean install after the upgrade?

 

[Bolbi]

I apologize for the newbie question: So when you make the image of Win7 on the separate partition, is it there for recovery purposes only? Or to do a clean install after the upgrade?

It's there for either. An image is an exact copy of what was on the disc. So to get the OS back to its original state, all you do is tell the image program to erase what's on the disc, and put on it instead what is in the image.