Reinstall a clean Windows 7 Pro 64 from upgrade disk

I want to completely start fresh with a new install of Windows 7 on my W510. And I wouldn't mind not having all the lenovo stuff that came with my W510 four years ago.

I haven't figured out how to do this with the Rescue and Recovery feature that is part of the Lenovo toolkit.

So I am thinking of just using a Windows 7 Pro upgrade disk that I bought from Microsoft a while back. That upgrade disk was not purchased for this computer.

I could boot from that disk and go straight into a clean install and then when it asks for the reg code I believe I could use the code that is stuck on my Lenovo, inside the battery cavity.

Will this work? Will Microsoft accept it? And will I be able to get to point where I can download any specific drivers that I need for the W510 after the Windows is installed?

I am thinking about taking this path because I can't see any other way to do a clean install of Windows 7.

 

I'm fairly certain that your "upgrade" path will not work since there's no OS to upgrade from.

If you don't feel like dealing with Lenovo's bloat present on recovery disks, download W7 from here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html

Burn the media and do a fresh install. Most of the devices will be recognized and working "out of the" box.

You'll likely have to call M$ in order to activate the install, but that's about it.

After all of that is said and done, you can install System Update from Lenovo's site, run it and choose which drivers/utilities you'd like to install.

 

I kind of screwed up and started running the recovery. It asked me to insert disk 1 of recovery and I did have a disk 1, and I loaded it. But then it got to disk 2, which I didn't have. So after that I was not able to boot because I had only done part of the recovery.

So I did install from the Win 7 upgrade disk. That doesn't seem to be a problem. I have in the past done full new installs from the disk. Recently I did that into a VM and I think I have 30 days before win7 will want to time out because I've already used the key number on another computer. But this hopeully will work with the w510 key that I have used.

THE PROBLEM NOW: I was able to install Win7 but I can't connect to the internet, I imagine because I am missing drivers. When I go to this site

Drivers and software - ThinkPad W510

to get the drivers that are a whole bunch. All separate downloads.

1) which driver from the stie do I need to connect to get online?
2) which other drivers do I need?
3) is there a way to download all of them as one big file?

 

Here's your wired LAN driver:

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/6irf26ww_64.exe

Install it following the instructions and you should be able to get online.

After that, download the System Update and run it, it should pick up most if not all missing drivers. You might have to run it more than once.

Good luck.

 

Here's another possibility that I stumbled upon (but haven't tried). I was reading random threads about making the recovery disk set, and came upon a thread in one of the Windows help forums in which someone had done this: 1. He burned the DVD recovery set, which was, I think, three disks; 2. He started a recovery from his disks; 3. For some reason, he cancelled the install after disk 1; 4. He reported that he was left with an install of Windows 7 with nothing else, and also missing some drivers.

To add to this, I read in the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the T440p that the three DVDs burned in a recovery set include 1. Windows, 2. Apps and drivers, and 3. Additional apps. So...it may be possible to do a fresh install by bailing out of a recovery install after disk 1. But you had better make sure that you've correctly burned the set because the first disk will wipe your drive, including the Q partition.

 

Thanks. That one driver you pointed me to got me on to the internet and then I ran the Windows Update. It is now loading 144 updates - 668Mg.

thank you for the help. (nice citroen)

 

Okay. Now I have loaded the Windows 7 and am current on the updates.
t appears that the two USB ports on the left side of the w510 are not working. The USB port on the back is working. It was working even before I did all the updates.

1) Which driver should I install from this driver page?

Drivers and software - ThinkPad W510

2) are there any other drivers that I will also need to install... like the Displayport, the smartcard reader, etc? Prior to me asking about what to do here, I did download about every driver I saw on that page but I have no idea which ones I should be running.

 

Download the system update:

http://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/thinkvantage_en/systemupdate503-2013-10-31.exe

Install and run it a couple of times, let's see what it picks up and whether that resolves your issues...

Good luck.

 

A full install from Windows 7 can be done from an upgrade disc by installing, and then reinstalling over that as an upgrade.

 

zhenya00, I did only one installation from the upgrade disk. Or so it seems. When I first thought that I was going to have to reinstall Windows 7 it was because the w510 was not booting to windows because I had screwed up the recovery. It seems that windows was wiped out from only completing disk1 of the recovery and stopping when I didn't have disk2. Maybe when I stuck the Windows7 upgrade disk in and let it install it was what you consider the second install on top but I am not sure about that. All I know is that I now have a fresh version of Windows installed.

One other thing, when i was doing that install I think I blew past a question about partitions. I now apparently have windows on C: with the windows on it,
and a SYSTEM_DRV (D and
Lenovo_Recovery (E and inside the E drive there a directory called FactoryRecovery with a lot of cdrivebackup.swm files.

Can I blow away the files in E drive? and maybe remove the partitions?

 

ajkula66, I ran the Lenovo System update and that installed all the needed drivers, or so it seems, I haven't checked device, like the smart card reader or displayport, but the USB ports are now installed and working.

I realize that is what you suggested I do when you first told me to download and run the System Update. You meant the Lenovo System Update. I thought you meant the Windows system update and I ran that first.

Anyway that Lenovo System Update took a lot of time because even though windows had done 144 updates the Lenovo System Update still had more to do -- lots of rebooting, logins and License agreement answers between each of about 15 more updates. But it is done.

Except that this morning I logged in, then thought I ought to check to see if the computer had activated the license key that I had entered when I had installed from the upgrade disk and saw that it still needed to be activated. So went to the MS activation site and re entered the key from inside the battery compartment and it accepted it (good!) - and then it needed to install another 14 updates.

Now I think I am done.

I would like to image the hard drive at this point. Any suggestions about that? I am going to write the file to an external drive.

 

Create system image with Windows 7 in the backup and restore app, and keep that saved as a baseline.

Download and install Macrium Reflect free edition. Create an image with that one as a second. If you like Macrium, then pay for their standard version which allows incremental and differential images, as well as file copies, also with incremental and differential. It's a very nice program.

 

I made a system image. The whole thing was a good learning experience for me and I think the second time I do this will be a lot easier.

And I am thinking about doing it a second time or maybe trying to do a restore from the system image. This is a spare computer so I can be casual about this.

I am thinking that I might want to really wipe the hard drive to get it as clean as possible before I do either a clean install or a reinstall from image. I have no indication that I have anything wrong with the boot sector or whatever is below windows but I'm wondering if this makes sense?

Also do you guys have any tips specific to the lenovo w510 that I would need to know if I choose to do either another fresh install or a reinstall from image? I did not notice it when I did the install from the upgrade disk, but I have read that there is an Advanced option at the beginning of the install that will allow me to do a format to the disk. Is that true and does it go deep to the boot sector and make for a cleaner install? As it is now I do have a D: and E: still left on my disk left from before the reinstall from the upgrade disk.

 

You could use Darik's Boot and Nuke if you want a clean slate. Also, when installing Windows, always disconnect any drives other than the target. If you don't, the installer is likely to split boot components between drives.