EASY Windows 7 Clean Install Guide (using Sony Upgrade DVD)

Key word: EASY

I put off installing Windows 7 on my laptop for months because I thought it might be too complicated. When I finally got the urge to do this, the only complicated part was finding all the information I needed to do a simple install. All the confusion made the process a few hours longer than it should have been. So I thought I'd make a thread detailing my process for people who might be in that same situation.

First, you can't do a clean install if you use the Sony Upgrade DVD. But there is an easy "hack" for this. It involves burning an .iso file and it's very easy as long as you follow the directions.


Info taken from this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=430379


Creating Bootable DVD

1. Insert the Upgrade DVD (the black one) and click "Browse" to open up Windows Explorer

2. Browse to the DVD rom drive and expand it to show the directories, 2 of which are "Win7OS32" and "Win7OS64"

3. Right click on "Win7OS32" if you want 32 bit, or "Win7OS64" if 64 bit, then select "Copy"

4. Create a new directory in C: called "Win7DVD" and paste the copied folder in it

6. Download "oscdimg.exe" (A Windows ISO creator tool) from: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BJORY9VO

7. When it is done downloading, cut/paste the file into C:\

8. Load the command prompt (cmd), then make sure you are at C:\. It might say you are at C:\users\xxx, and if so you need to change the directory back to just C: by typing the command "cd". You will probably need to do this twice to get to C:

9. Type this command: C:\oscdimg.exe -bC:\Win7DVD\Win7OS64\boot\etfsboot.com -u2 -h -m -lWIN_EN_DVD C:\Win7DVD\Win7OS64 C:\Win7.iso

*** The line before "WIN_EN_DVD" is actually a lower-case L

10. When the process is 100% complete, you will have a file in your C drive called Win7.iso, burn this to a DVD with an image burning software. I downloaded ImgBurn, it was free and simple to use.

Now you have a bootable Windows 7 DVD that you can use to format and do a clean install. Make sure your data is backed up and then proceed to the next part.


Installing Windows 7:


1. Put in the DVD and start up your computer. The screen should say "Press any key to boot up from CD or DVD", so press a key

2. If this screen does not come up, you need to make sure your Optical Drive is set as first priority to boot from. Restart and hit F2 until the Bios screen pops up, and change that setting, and restart

3. The dialog for your DVD should pop up, and click "Run setup.exe"

4. "Install Now", then it will ask what type of installation you want and click "Custom/Advanced"

5. It will ask you where you want Windows 7, and choose "Disk 0: Partition 2." Messing with the Recovery partition (1) is strongly discouraged. If you haven't already formatted it, you can click on "Format" down at the bottom, before you hit "Next" and continue on with the install.


That's pretty much it for the installation. The next tricky part is installing all the Sony drivers. I tried to do this individually, and it was too much of a headache, so I just let the Companion DVD do the work for me. It doesn't let you pick and choose what you want to install, but afterward you can go back and uninstall everything that you don't want. And now you have Windows 7, and if you are like me, regret not ditching Vista sooner.