Win7 News confirms Upgrade same as Full Retail


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So I got my copy of Windows 7 Pro upgrade today, first i read on some sites the disc was not bootable that you had to be in vista or xp tostart the install process.

Well the disc is bootable I can confirm.

Second, I was able to clean install Windows 7 Pro (using upgrade media) on a blank HD (WD 1TB) and it did not ask me for any previous installation, contrary to what has been posted on some sites.

Now the only thing is my old primary drive that had vista installed has now been relegated to a secondary drive (slave if you will) and that was hooked up during the setup.

My question is...Is windows 7 smart enough to see that vista installation on the secondary drive? is this why it allowed me to install win 7, wouldnt the setup process only look at the primary drive which it was installing on?

I had read that which the upgrade media you had to be in windows GUI (either XP or vista) to allow the setup to begin either clean or upgrade, this is not the case.

Well im activated and all, off to install my programs.

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I have a full retail copy of Vista Business and so I pre-ordered the 7 Pro Upgrade.

I presumed that if I tried booting the Win 7 upgrade disk with a formatted HD that it would just have me insert my full version Vista disk to verify then continue with a full fresh install like XP used to.

Any ideas if this is true?!

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I think upgrade is the same as full. I know when I brought Windows 95 upgrade all them years ago the first thing I did was do a format on c and removed my old OS. Then did a clean install using the 95 cd. Never once did it ask me for a old disk to prove to it that it is upgrading, it just installed.

Im thinking its the same again, upgrade media is full.

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I have a full retail copy of Vista Business and so I pre-ordered the 7 Pro Upgrade.

I presumed that if I tried booting the Win 7 upgrade disk with a formatted HD that it would just have me insert my full version Vista disk to verify then continue with a full fresh install like XP used to.

Any ideas if this is true?!

This is not true, it will require you to have something installed on that HDD. :/ You can still do a clean install, but something has to be installed on the HDD beforehand, you can't just insert the Vista DVD or key as proof. :crazy:

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Actually, thats exactly how it works...

I'd love to see some other success stories from people here trying to install the upgrade version to a blank drive. Or at least what the limitations are to the upgrade process, it has never been fully spelled out from what I've read.

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Where did you obtain the upgrade from? Did you buy it retail or from a promotion or a school? A lot of the not-retail way of obtaining it give you an upgrade "license" except the key they give you really is a full version key.

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I got Windows Vista for free from MS as a beta tester... would I be able to buy the upgrade version still for 7?

Of course, it doesn't care where you have your previous OS from. :laugh: The software just checks that you have it.

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:| This would be a real shocker if it is true.

I have read pages of Technet blogs from MS techs explaining how the software cannot read the activation from boot, that it hasn't asked for the key in a bootable Upgrade since XP, that it absolutely positively has to be from the qualifying activated XP/Vista/RC OS. :blush:

Then there is the debate over whether the install can be done to another partition or HDD, which is heavily favored as allowed, said to have been allowed all along in Vista/XP, that the EULA only says Upgrade has to be started from the qualifying OS and doesn't restrict where it is installed from that point as long as the old OS is not used going forward. :rofl:

The head spins when I'm reading on the MS WIn7 site about Upgrades and it says that XP can't be 'upgraded" but must be "clean installed" but it can be done with the "Upgrade" disk? Hello, marketing? :woot:

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It still needs to check that you have a valid copy of Windows you're upgrading from before it installs. I'm sure you're more than welcome to spend twice the money on the full retail version instead if that's too inconvenient for you.

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I believe the install process is different compared to Vista's. You don't put in the key until you get into Windows and not the setup, or at the end of the setup before the system fully boots up into the new install...

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Hi,

When I tried doing a clean install using my Vista upgrade media a few years ago I had the exact same idea. I didn't want to do any in-place upgrades, so decided to boot from my Vista upgrade media, did a format of my partition, decided not to enter my product key upon installation (something you probably didn't do either, if the process has remainted the same for Windows 7) and huray... Vista installed just fine.

Now before I activate Windows I always perform my first round of driver and software installations. This way, if something were to go terribly wrong, I can re-start without having to worry about the fact that I wasted an activation (you know, avoid having to call Microsoft and all that).

When I finally got around entering my product key and activate Vista... Nasty surprise... It told me the key I entered didn't match my installation. Only option for me was to perform an in-place upgrade and start all over.

Long story to tell you you might want to be careful with this and not be happy too early... You might just find (like I did a few years ago) that you simply won't be able to activate your copy of Windows. I hope I'm wrong though, and that Microsoft made some changes to the activation process in Windows 7 :-)

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I have a full retail copy of Vista Business and so I pre-ordered the 7 Pro Upgrade.

I presumed that if I tried booting the Win 7 upgrade disk with a formatted HD that it would just have me insert my full version Vista disk to verify then continue with a full fresh install like XP used to.

Any ideas if this is true?!

If so, then it's reverting back to the behavior of Windows XP. With Vista, Microsoft made it only possible to do an actual upgrade with upgrade DVD, not a clean install on top of nothing. This raised a pretty big stink at the time; maybe enough so that Microsoft dropped that limitation. I would say, it likely did find the Vista install, and even though he installed Windows 7 on a different partition, it was allowed since there was a qualifying OS on the computer already. Whether it would do the same (or like you said, simply ask for the DVD of Vista that you have) it's hard to say. Let us know how it turns out!

Actually, thats exactly how it works...

Well, it did not work that way with Vista. Microsoft made a change by requiring an upgrade disc to be installed only on a machine that had a previous qualifying OS installed. There was no more 'Insert a Qualifying Upgrade Media' thing like with XP and earlier. But a lot of people squawked about it, so maybe Microsoft changed things back.

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Where did you obtain the upgrade from? Did you buy it retail or from a promotion or a school? A lot of the not-retail way of obtaining it give you an upgrade "license" except the key they give you really is a full version key.

I ordered from quill, office supply vendor, its just the regular pro upgrade

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Now i installed without any operating system installed on the primary drive, did win 7 see the old vista installation on the secondary drive. is that why it let me install?

anyone else get their upgrade yet to test out.

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Qba73,

How about you unplug the second drive and try it all again. Just to confirm.

We want proper confirmation, not hearsay or broken telephone. Talking about Vista is irrelevant.

agreed, actually i have win 7 home premium coming from dell today and i am upgrading the HD on my laptop so that will be the perfect opportunity.

will report back.

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Until I get a confirmed report about it, i'm going with the "It's not possible" crew.

And TBH, I don't think it is. (But I agree it SHOULD be possible to put a disc in to verify, etc.)

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Hi,

When I tried doing a clean install using my Vista upgrade media a few years ago I had the exact same idea. I didn't want to do any in-place upgrades, so decided to boot from my Vista upgrade media, did a format of my partition, decided not to enter my product key upon installation (something you probably didn't do either, if the process has remainted the same for Windows 7) and huray... Vista installed just fine.

Now before I activate Windows I always perform my first round of driver and software installations. This way, if something were to go terribly wrong, I can re-start without having to worry about the fact that I wasted an activation (you know, avoid having to call Microsoft and all that).

When I finally got around entering my product key and activate Vista... Nasty surprise... It told me the key I entered didn't match my installation. Only option for me was to perform an in-place upgrade and start all over.

Long story to tell you you might want to be careful with this and not be happy too early... You might just find (like I did a few years ago) that you simply won't be able to activate your copy of Windows. I hope I'm wrong though, and that Microsoft made some changes to the activation process in Windows 7 :-)

There is a very funny solution to this - one that should have made MS very ashamed if it was very popular. After installing Vista Upgrade in that method (not entering a key), do an upgrade install on the previous Vista. Now it will work! :laugh:

It is the same with Windows 7, BTW.

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Where did you obtain the upgrade from? Did you buy it retail or from a promotion or a school? A lot of the not-retail way of obtaining it give you an upgrade "license" except the key they give you really is a full version key.

i keep thinking back to an article i read which said that the upgrade windows disc can be used to install windows , you just dont enter the key when you install it and when it finishes installing, its in evaluation mode... and that copy of windows is a valid OS to 'upgrade' from, and after you install windows a second time your upgrade key will work

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Hrm.. Let's see.

If it would ask you to insert the Vista DVD to verify during setup then people could download an ISO of Vista and just verify the Vista "licence" that way.

So I don't think thats the option :\

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Hrm.. Let's see.

If it would ask you to insert the Vista DVD to verify during setup then people could download an ISO of Vista and just verify the Vista "licence" that way.

So I don't think thats the option :\

And they can't install the pirated Vista in the same manner for verification? Any way you look at it, it's an extra hassle for legitimate users.

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Awesome! So here is my case:

- Had Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM) on my notebook

- Formatted Hard Disk in July

- Installed Windows 7 RTM Upgrade Home Premium (Edited ISO)

- Used Win 7 for 3 months without activation

- Got my Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Product Key from Microsoft Store today

- Entered the key into Windows and it ACTIVATED!!!!!!!!!!!

I had Win 7 running exactly the way I wanted for 3 months and was very worried that I would have to reinstall Win Vista, then upgrade again.

But it worked without doing any of that.

I do have a OEM partition before C: with the Vista Setup, in case that is a special provision for OEM notebooks that allows it to activate.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

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Hey Qba73...Quick Question:

Did you format the hard disk yourself (outside the Windows 7 Setup) or did you let Windows 7 setup detect the previous Windows and format the hard disk? I think this may have an impact on whether it considers it an upgrade or not.

I definitely did not have an activated copy of Windows running before installing Win 7. While, my Win Vista Home Premium was activated, I installed Win 7 Ultimate by mistake first. Then, I edited the ISO and installed Win 7 Home Premium. What I don't remember is if I let Windows 7 Setup format the hard disk or whether I did it myself. I think I let Win 7 Setup format it. In any case, clearly an activated copy is not a pre requirement,.

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