WinXP Pro to Student version Win 7 Ultimate

[Dave]

My son's computer currently runs Windows XP Pro SP3 and he's looking to go
to the student version of Windows 7 Ultimate. We've run the advisor and the
machine is more than capable of handling the change but we're a bit baffled
by some conflicting information on the http://www.software4students.co.uk/
website.

The Microsoft Upgrade Path Chart shows that a move from Windows XP to
Windows 7 Ultimate can be done, NOT as an in-place upgrade, but ONLY as a
"custom install". A custom install is also known as a clean install and can
be used to completely replace your existing operating system or you can
perform a custom (clean) install if your computer does not have an existing
OS or you want to multi-boot.

The software4students website says this:

*For the academic license version to install correctly, customers are
advised to have a previous Windows OS currently installed on their computer
or laptop.*

*S4S & Microsoft advise customers to choose the upgrade DVD's "Custom
Installation" option when available rather than "In-Place Upgrade" and to
back up all important files before beginning.*

The two paragraphs above seem (to me at least) to conflict with each other.
When installing an OS, I've always booted from the CD, formatted the hard
drive and then done the installation - that's what I consider a clean
install, or in Win7-speak, presumably a custom install.

Can anyone confirm - do you have to have an existing OS (which I would
consider as an in-place upgrade) or can you do a clean install (freshly
formatted hard drive) to install the student/academic version?

TIA,
Dave

 

[VanguardLH]

My son's computer currently runs Windows XP Pro SP3 and he's looking to go
to the student version of Windows 7 Ultimate. We've run the advisor and the
machine is more than capable of handling the change but we're a bit baffled
by some conflicting information on the http://www.software4students.co.uk/
website.

The Microsoft Upgrade Path Chart shows that a move from Windows XP to
Windows 7 Ultimate can be done, NOT as an in-place upgrade, but ONLY as a
"custom install". A custom install is also known as a clean install and can
be used to completely replace your existing operating system or you can
perform a custom (clean) install if your computer does not have an existing
OS or you want to multi-boot.

The software4students website says this:

*For the academic license version to install correctly, customers are
advised to have a previous Windows OS currently installed on their computer
or laptop.*

*S4S & Microsoft advise customers to choose the upgrade DVD's "Custom
Installation" option when available rather than "In-Place Upgrade" and to
back up all important files before beginning.*

The two paragraphs above seem (to me at least) to conflict with each other.
When installing an OS, I've always booted from the CD, formatted the hard
drive and then done the installation - that's what I consider a clean
install, or in Win7-speak, presumably a custom install.

Can anyone confirm - do you have to have an existing OS (which I would
consider as an in-place upgrade) or can you do a clean install (freshly
formatted hard drive) to install the student/academic version?

TIA,
Dave

Windows 7 upgrade paths
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyId=e170eba1-5bab-401f-bbf5-00f0ee7fe0fb

There is no upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7. You can migrate but
you cannot upgrade. If you have Windows XP (installed or its install CD),
the install of Windows 7 does a *fresh* installation. The OS partition gets
wiped when Windows 7 gets installed. A data transfer wizard is provided
that is to help you move your data files into the fresh install of Windows
7; however, if you want to ensure your data files survive the migration, do
a backup of them onto other media before the migration so you can restore
them from that backup media.

 

[Roy Smith]

My son's computer currently runs Windows XP Pro SP3 and he's looking to go
to the student version of Windows 7 Ultimate. We've run the advisor and the
machine is more than capable of handling the change but we're a bit baffled
by some conflicting information on the http://www.software4students.co.uk/
website.

The Microsoft Upgrade Path Chart shows that a move from Windows XP to
Windows 7 Ultimate can be done, NOT as an in-place upgrade, but ONLY as a
"custom install". A custom install is also known as a clean install and can
be used to completely replace your existing operating system or you can
perform a custom (clean) install if your computer does not have an existing
OS or you want to multi-boot.

The software4students website says this:

*For the academic license version to install correctly, customers are
advised to have a previous Windows OS currently installed on their computer
or laptop.*

*S4S & Microsoft advise customers to choose the upgrade DVD's "Custom
Installation" option when available rather than "In-Place Upgrade" and to
back up all important files before beginning.*

The two paragraphs above seem (to me at least) to conflict with each other.
When installing an OS, I've always booted from the CD, formatted the hard
drive and then done the installation - that's what I consider a clean
install, or in Win7-speak, presumably a custom install.

Can anyone confirm - do you have to have an existing OS (which I would
consider as an in-place upgrade) or can you do a clean install (freshly
formatted hard drive) to install the student/academic version?

When you run the installer off of the Windows 7 DVD, before it formats
the drive it checks for a previous version of Windows. If one isn't
found then you are asked to provide the install CD from a previous
version of Windows.

 

[relic]

My son's computer currently runs Windows XP Pro SP3 and he's looking to go
to the student version of Windows 7 Ultimate. We've run the advisor and
the machine is more than capable of handling the change but we're a bit
baffled by some conflicting information on the
http://www.software4students.co.uk/ website.

The Microsoft Upgrade Path Chart shows that a move from Windows XP to
Windows 7 Ultimate can be done, NOT as an in-place upgrade, but ONLY as a
"custom install". A custom install is also known as a clean install and
can be used to completely replace your existing operating system or you
can perform a custom (clean) install if your computer does not have an
existing OS or you want to multi-boot.

The software4students website says this:

*For the academic license version to install correctly, customers are
advised to have a previous Windows OS currently installed on their
computer or laptop.*

*S4S & Microsoft advise customers to choose the upgrade DVD's "Custom
Installation" option when available rather than "In-Place Upgrade" and to
back up all important files before beginning.*

The two paragraphs above seem (to me at least) to conflict with each
other. When installing an OS, I've always booted from the CD, formatted
the hard drive and then done the installation - that's what I consider a
clean install, or in Win7-speak, presumably a custom install.

Can anyone confirm - do you have to have an existing OS (which I would
consider as an in-place upgrade) or can you do a clean install (freshly
formatted hard drive) to install the student/academic version?

What you've gotten so far is correct. Also, if you do an install without a
format it will move everything from your XP system into a folder labeled
Windows.old. You can retrieve your data from there.

 

[Dave-UK]

When you run the installer off of the Windows 7 DVD, before it formats
the drive it checks for a previous version of Windows. If one isn't
found then you are asked to provide the install CD from a previous
version of Windows.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-considerations.aspx
From this website:
"Depending on the version of Windows you're currently running,....."
The setup routine looks at what's installed and doesn't ask
for a CD like it did with XP.

 

[Dave]

What you've gotten so far is correct. Also, if you do an install
without a format it will move everything from your XP system into a
folder labeled Windows.old. You can retrieve your data from there.

Thanks everyone, I'll tell him he can get it ordered )

 

[paul_36]

Thanks everyone, I'll tell him he can get it ordered )

Be sure that he get the iso file which was made available AFTER
problems came up with winxp users; some idiot thought that all students
were running vista. If the site doesn't have the iso, then complain.

However, if he orders the dvd, then there may not be any problems for
installing.