New Install + 2 Upgrades

I have a Desktop PC with a genuine Intel dual core motherboard that came with XP media edition on it, and two laptops with Vista. My Desktop HD crashed. I want to do a clean Win 7 install on the desktop's new SATA 500GB HD. Plus upgrade the 2 Vista laptops. Staples has a 3 user copy of Win 7 home Premium, for $129.00. They also have a Win 7 pro upgrade for $69.00. Can I do a clean install on the desktop, and upgrades to the 2 (Toshiba and Acer) laptops with the same Home Premium version, then just upgrade the Desktop? I remember in the past the full versions sometimes told you you needed an upgrade version to upgrade the laptops.

Back to the Desktop; I had tried to reinstall XP pro on the desktop, but it would only recognize and format 160GB of the new drive. It said I needed SP 2 or greater to see the full drive. I tried to slipstream the SP2 to create the install disk, but it said the XP disk was not genuine, hence the clean install.

Does this sound like a plan? Is there a less expensive way to do all this? Can the same version be used for a clean install, and upgrades?

One more issue; The SATA drive didn't originally get recognized by the XP install, and I had to create a boot floppy with the SATA drivers for the Intel MB. Floppy??? I had to dig up an old USB floppy drive to do so.. It worked as far as seeing the drive.. Will I have the same issue with the Win 7 Home Premium Install or will the installation disk recognize and format the entire 500GB?

win 7 will recongize your sata drive will not need sata drivers. yes the same version you decide will do the desktop and 2 laptops I would get the 3 user copy

Since you have a legal XP license for the desktop (even though it isn't installed on a HD) and licenses for the Vista laptops you are entitled to use the triple user upgrade version. Upgrading from XP requires a full install anyway even though it is an upgrade (without the XP on the drive it may require you to boot up with the install W7 DVD twice - I've never heard of it asking for the XP disk but have it available). The truth is it is also recommended to do full installs on the Vista machines (from the upgrade disks), and depending on which version of Vista you have it may be required (for instance if your Vista is 32-bit and you want to install 64-bit then it's a complete install, or if you have Vista Ultimate and are "down-versioning" to home premium it's a complete install).

As for needing Pro, the Pro version does offer two extras I find useful, one being the group policy editor and the other being free use of Virtual PC - XP mode (though this second one is not as important for you because you have XP disks so you could use Oracle's VirtualBox for free). So if you don't do many registry edits that would require the group policy editor then I think Home Premium may work fine for you. So if Home Premium is all you need then the triple pack should meet all your needs; you won't need the Pro as well.

W7 can see drives up to 2TB (4 x 500GB) so you shouldn't need a floppy.

If you do decide to do the full install over Vista rather than upgrading I recommend you download the Vista to W7 WET (Windows Easy Transfer) tool. Use WET to back-up you userids and data (hit the advanced option and verify it has all the data you want) to an external drive or DVD. With WET you would install W7, then restore with W7 WET which is built-in to get your userids/data back, then you reinstall all your software.

NOTE: WET will not work going from Vista 64-bit to W7 32-bit; all other migrations (32->32, 32->64, 64->64) are supported.

One more suggestion. Even though you are only upgrading the laptops from Vista I still recommend running the W7 upgrade advisor with all your devices (printers, projectors, external drives etc) plugged in to allow it to look for program and device issues.

I HIGHLY recommend against doing "Upgrade" installs over VISTA!!

You'll have nothing but problems, maybe not right away but within a few day or so.

Do a clean, custom install on all your computers and you'll be much happier and the systems will run much better.

Believe me, you don't know how many times I have had to fix an "Upgrade" install of Windows 7. A clean install is the only way to go with this operating system.

Google: Windows 7 upgrade install problems over Vista and you'll see what I mean.

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