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    How to clean install with upgrade disc?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by maumu, Jun 7, 2009.

  1. maumu

    maumu Notebook Consultant

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    Suppose we get a lappy after 26 June that is pre-installed with Vista Business. Since we're eligible for the free windows 7 upgrade, I reckon most retailers will only provide the upgrade disc, rather than the full installation disc.

    Is it possible to do a clean install of windows 7 with the upgrade disc? How?
     
    maumu, Jun 7, 2009
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  2. LiveStrong

    LiveStrong Notebook Consultant

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    If its like Vista, I believe what you can do is use the disk to do a clean-install the first time, except don't enter the key when you are prompted. After you finish installing, run setup again and do an "upgrade". That will essentially give you a clean install.

    I think thats how it works; please do correct me if I'm wrong.
     
    LiveStrong, Jun 7, 2009
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  3. sirgraystar

    sirgraystar Notebook Enthusiast

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    LiveStrong is right.
     
    sirgraystar, Jun 8, 2009
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  4. Shyster1

    Shyster1 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Mind you, this was for upgrading XP Home to XP Pro, so it's possible it no longer applies to _Vista and/or Win7; however, for what it's worth, here's what worked for me in that situation.

    Basically, I had an XP Home installation that I upgraded to XP Pro, and then found that I needed to do a clean installation. Instead of re-installing XP Home and then doing the upgrade to XP Pro, I booted up with the XP Pro upgrade disc. On boot, the disc went looking for a pre-existing XP installation with a valid product key, and once it found that installation, it gave me the option of formatting the system disc and then installing XP Pro onto the newly formatted partition. Even though the old installation was borked, it wasn't so badly done in that the upgrade disc wouldn't accept it as a valid installation.

    I would suspect that it might be possible to do the same thing with a Win7 upgrade disc - boot with the upgrade disc and see if it'll give you the option to format the system drive and do a full installation based on it's finding a valid pre-existing _Vista installation.
     
    Shyster1, Jun 8, 2009
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  5. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

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    No one will know until an upgrade disk is available. If Windows 7 requires a key (unlike Vista, where you can leave it blank and deselect "automatically activate Windows when online"), then you won't be able to do the upgrade to full install trick.
     
    kegobeer, Jun 8, 2009
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