Re-installing Windows 7 Upgrade

PZH

Ok good people, another one in conjunction with the impending upgrade as per this thread...

I have a geniune Windows 7 Upgrade disk and license, but will be installing a new Hard drive and therefore reloading the OS.

I know that I may have to call Micro$oft following the reload because the validation may fail due to it thinking it is installed elsewhere.

But, do I have to put a basic load of XP on the Hard drive in order to get the "Upgrade" to work or is there an easier way ?

(I do have the XP disc and lisence by the way)

chrisichris

you can't upgrade directly from XP to 7; you have to do what's called a clean install, which means you have to jump through some hoops to keep your old data and programs.

debitcardmayhem

Copy the old disk onto the new one using something like clonezilla or if the new/old disk are maxtor and or other vendows that allow their backup software (based on acronis) I cant access/remember the list here but someone will point you to it soon Hopefully guys.....

JJ_Egan

If its an upgrade disc it may well require you to have a valid os to upgrade from or the cd for a relevant OS .


http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/windows_7_upgrade_guide_all_your_questions_answered

jje

spud17

Even better,

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media.aspx

http://windowssecrets.com/2009/11/12/02-Clean-install-Windows-7-from-the-upgrade-disc/#story1

PZH

chrisichris wrote: »

you can't upgrade directly from XP to 7; you have to do what's called a clean install, which means you have to jump through some hoops to keep your old data and programs.

The install disk looks for a valid copy of a Windows system in the first instance. When I installed Windows 7 originally, I had a licensed copy of XP on the PC which the install disk verified and then deleted.

So in effect, the Upgrade Disc did a "clean" install BUT checked first that there was a valid Microsoft OS already. (Hence the question - do I have to put XP back on in order for the Upgrade to delete it)

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Copy the old disk onto the new one using something like clonezilla or if the new/old disk are maxtor and or other vendows that allow their backup software (based on acronis) I cant access/remember the list here but someone will point you to it soon Hopefully guys.....

I did think about this - but would it cause havoc with all the hardware changes (Motherboard, CPU, Hard Drive and RAM)? Would the system still boot?

spud17 wrote: »

Even better,

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media.aspx

http://windowssecrets.com/2009/11/12/02-Clean-install-Windows-7-from-the-upgrade-disc/#story1

I'll have a look at the links - but suspect this is exactly what I am asking :T

PZH

Hi all.

As an update and maybe useful information to someone...


I upgraded my system over the weekend and this included installing a new Hard Drive. I wanted to load Windows 7 back on the PC, and I have an original Windows 7 Professional 32-bit upgrade disk and license code (disk does not contain the 64-bit version).

I contacted Micro$oft and they pointed me at the 64-bit version to download and burn to disk and stated that my license was valid with the 64-bit version as well.

When I went to install the OS, it would not allow me to do an "upgrade" because there was no OS on there to start with, so I opted for a new install (think it was "custom"). When it came to put the key in, it informed me it was an invalid key because it was for "Upgrades" only (fair enough). So, I left the field blank and installed it as a trial version.

Once completed, I ran the Upgrade Disk again, and this time it allowed me to select the "Upgrade" option (so in effect upgrading from Win 7 Professional 64-bit to Win 7 Professional 64-bit) and the upgrade completed fully and accepted my key :rotfl:

:T

spud17

Thanks for that, and just to add, MS are aware of this but are content to ignore it.

Perhaps they reason it's better to sell an upgrade for £cheap, than have a scrote download via a torrent and get nothing.