Vista to Win 7

[sethm1]

Current machine has Vista SP2 (64 Bit) Home Premium,

Am I correct that I can buy the Upgrade Win 7 Disk and that during the set up I have the option of either Upgrade or a Custom (Advanced) install - which is what I want to do ?

If so, what happens in the future I need to reinstall win 7. Would I need to reinstall Vista, then install 7? (I have a OEM disk which I think is full version - of Vista).

What if I image the PC with Acronos True Image after the win 7 Install-- that would be a better way to re-install 7 if I have to - yes?

 

[clifford_cooley]

Hi sethm1 - Welcome to the site

Am I correct that I can buy the Upgrade Win 7 Disk and that during the set up I have the option of either Upgrade or a Custom (Advanced) install - which is what I want to do ?

Yes, You will have the option to upgrade if you ordered the correct version. If not a clean install will be required.

If so, what happens in the future I need to reinstall win 7. Would I need to reinstall Vista, then install 7? (I have a OEM disk which I think is full version - of Vista).

Windows 7 install will ask for your copy of the previous version of windows to prove you have upgrade rights.

What if I image the PC with Acronis True Image after the win 7 Install-- that would be a better way to re-install 7 if I have to - yes?

Yes, Disk cloning is exactly what I have planned so there will be no need in reinstalling.

 

[sethm1]

Clifford-
Thanks.

Going back to #2 (Windows 7 install will ask for your copy of the previous version of windows to prove you have upgrade rights.)

What happens if my PC crashes say in year and I need to re-install 7? If this weekend I do the full Clean/Advanced install (with the $120 upgrade disk) , the PC should not be considered an upgrade, so then I would not need the previous version of windows to re-install 7 - yes ?

But then having an imaged of 7 would be good too. I am just curious about the diff of a Upgrade disk vs the $199 version.

 

[sth1]

General comment/rant: mine field alert

I'm a seat-of-the-pants home system administrator, not by choice . Professional Civil Engineer by choice, semi-retired, still have to do a little consulting to make ends meet. I run several legacy packaged productivity applications like AutoCad, WaterCad, HydroCad and others which will likely require virtual XP mode in Win 7 Pro to run.

I successfully installed one Home network utilizing XP Pro with two PC's. All went well even when adding a third PC with Vista Ultimate, except when trying to print to a network printer....adding a new dedicated printer to the Vista PC solved that problem (thank you MS for the hidden added cost of upgrading to Vista)

I would like to eventually migrate all three PC's to Win 7 but haven't yet figured out a sensible and effective way to deploy.....other than very carefully, one at a time with lots of time in between upgrades.

I feel like I'm in the middle of a mine field with an old metal detector
1. Family Pack - only for Home Premium but product not available/not activated .... OK, never mind, I need Pro version anyhow.
2. OEM - but it is very limited in application. Hope your mobo never crashes...OK, never mind.
3. Retail - this looks like the choice for me, except the price, $300 per licence. Three machines, $900 for a home/office based network. Ugh oh yea...and never mind

Maybe I'll just deploy one unit of Win 7 on a new build, integrate it into the network and leave the other PC's alone.....sounds like a plan.

Please excuse rant.......

 

[SilverBullit]

Hi,

Like you, I'm a seat-of-the-pants home system administrator, by choice (slight difference) as I'm a retired VZ computer/network engineer. Faced with several PCs with different OSs (Vista Ultimate & XP Pro) I decided to upgrade the Vista to W7 and leave the XP box as a "old faithful", and network the two, along with the wireless laptop running XP Pro.
Thus far ( 6- 7 days) , this has worked fine. The only issue in the upgrade was needing a scanner driver for W7. Oh yes, during the W7 upgrade re-boot cycle, the re-start executable got lost and I had to manually search for it. In retrospect, it;s OK to upgrade, but, buy the CD as opposed to the download.
Just my 2 cents.
Good Luck in your planning.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Am I correct that I can buy the Upgrade Win 7 Disk and that during the set up I have the option of either Upgrade or a Custom (Advanced) install - which is what I want to do ?

You can do a clean install using the Upgrade disk. Many have done it so far. The most common way is to do a clean install from boot-up.

Here's what you do. Insert the Windows 7 Upgrade DVD in your PC's optical disc, reboot the computer, boot off the DVD, and then follow the steps to install Windows 7. If you are installing onto a computer that already has another version of Windows, be sure to back everything up first. Do not attempt to install Windows 7 to the same partition as a previous Windows version. Do not provide your product key during Setup.
After Windows 7 is set up, run Windows Update, download any pending updates, reboot as needed, and repeat until there are no more updates. Then, type activate in Start Menu Search to bring up the Activate Windows utility. Type in your product key and attempt to activate Windows.
If it works, you're all set. You're done. Congratulations.



If that doesn't work go to this website here. Try the 2nd option listed, which works as well.


Good Luck! I hope all it all works out well for ya! Let me know, so the rest of us here can see your results.

 

[Nibiru2012]

sth1:

2. OEM - but it is very limited in application. Hope your mobo never crashes...OK, never mind.

1. OEM is NOT limited in application. It is the same as the FULL retail version. The only difference is the product key. Instead of using M$ support, you're on you own. This disk is designed for system builders.

2. You can re-install as many times as you want on the SAME machine. IF you have changed hardware; such as a new mobo, DVD drive, etc. The phone activation will pop up, you call M$ support, tell them you've changed a piece of hardware on the original system and they'll give you a new activation code on the phone. They are there to help you, not vilify you. I have done this several times myself when I had XP Pro OEM.

 

[sethm1]

Ended up buying the Upgrade Disk.
Did the clean install - though surprised a Windows.Old folder showed up after completion.

so to be clear - that process is the same had I bought the full version at $200 ?

 

[Nibiru2012]

Ended up buying the Upgrade Disk.
Did the clean install - though surprised a Windows.Old folder showed up after completion.

so to be clear - that process is the same had I bought the full version at $200 ?

To answer your question; Yes! It is the same as the full version. You must not have done a re-format of your hard drive or partition where you installed Windows 7, since the Windows.Old folder is showing up. If you don't need it, then delete it, to free up HD space.

Congratulations! Glad it all worked out for you. BTW, which install method did you use to get the Upgrade version to work? Method 1, 2 or 3?

Just curious.

 

[sethm1]

During the install, 2 options showed up: Upgrade & Custom (Advanced).
I chose Custom (Advanced).

Process to full access to the Desktop (there was 2 or so re-boots).

What do you mean by 3 methods ? (yours "which install method did you use to get the Upgrade version to work? Method 1, 2 or 3?)"

 

[Nibiru2012]

If that doesn't work go to this website here. Try the 2nd option listed, which works as well.

If you went to the link, there were two other ways to activate if the first method didn't work. I was just trying to give you all the options possible. It wasn't meant to confuse.

 

[mwy885]

Having trouble with sleep function. upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 Home Premier on a Sony Vaio Laptop. Very easy but the Sleep mode is not working properly. Click Sleep and screen goes blank but laptop does not go to Sleep. Also, no way to get the computer back on without shutting it down and re-booting.

Suggestions

 

[Nibiru2012]

Having trouble with sleep function. upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 Home Premier on a Sony Vaio Laptop. Very easy but the Sleep mode is not working properly. Click Sleep and screen goes blank but laptop does not go to Sleep. Also, no way to get the computer back on without shutting it down and re-booting.

Suggestions

Go to the Control Panel and then Power Options; you should be able to configure the Sleep Option from there.

If that doesn't work you may have to do a clean install of Windows 7. There has been a lot of discussion on the web about folks having issues when doing an Upgrade Install. Besides, with a clean install Windows 7 will run faster and smoother. If you have files, documents, photos, etc., then save them to an external drive or a DVD-RWs.

Let us know how it works out for you.