Upgrading to Win-7 - Help me

September 19, 2009 8:22 AM

Can I buy the "upgrade" version of Windows 7 if I am also upgrading my hard drive at the same time? I have a purchased OEM version Vista Ultimate (x86) on my desktop right now and I want to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional (x64); however, I also want to upgrade my hard drive at the same time to a solid-state drive. Can I get the upgrade version of win-7, and if so how would the installation work on a new hard drive? Or do I need the buy the full version?
posted by jameslavelle3 to computers & internet (8 answers total)

This is relative to your current windows license not your hardware. Since you have a full Vista license currently you are eligible for an upgrade license. You would only have to buy the full version if you didn't currently own a windows license.
posted by zennoshinjou at 8:25 AM on September 19, 2009

As a caveat however you may have to install Vista on the new drive and then "upgrade" to 7. I'm frankly not sure how it validates your old Vista license in that instance.
posted by zennoshinjou at 8:26 AM on September 19, 2009

You can definitely buy the upgrade version. You may suffer through one extra "validation" step, and it's even possible you'll have to (temporarily) install Vista on the new drive first... but you're certainly entitled to the upgrade version. A hard drive is not changing computers.
posted by rokusan at 8:27 AM on September 19, 2009

From Microsoft's website:

In general, if you are running a PC with Windows Vista and the Windows Upgrade Advisor says you can upgrade it, the transition to Windows 7 should be pretty smooth, although you may first need to update your Windows Vista system to the latest service pack. If you do decide to upgrade your PC, Windows 7 will be available for purchase October 22.

Basically what you're going to need to do is buy the new hard drive, install your old Windows Vista on it, and then upgrade. I'm not sure how this will work going from x86 to x64 but I'm sure it will all be made clear while updating.
posted by kthxbi at 8:33 AM on September 19, 2009

I'm going to copy and paste a great answer from ArkhanJG on another forum:

There's two aspects to windows upgrade versions; the legal, and the technical aspect.

With regards the legal aspect, you need an existing windows licence in some shape or form; an old oem licence will do fine. For 7, an existing xp or vista licence is required for the pc you're installing 7 on. Any version of xp or vista can upgrade to any version of 7, legally speaking. Windows 98 and 2000 do not qualify for upgrade pricing, and nor does windows 7 beta or RC.

The technical aspect works like this:

When windows XP upgrade came out, you just needed a copy of the windows 98 install files; we used to have a windows 98 boot floppy with the key files it looked for, so we could do a clean install on a customer's pc with their upgrade copy of windows xp, stick the floppy in at the appropriate time, and it would allow the install. They removed this function with vista upgrades; you had to have a copy of windows xp or 2000 installed on the hard-drive of the computer you were upgrading. You could do an 'in-place' upgrade i.e. upgrade from within from the existing install and go up to Vista, but with a number of restrictions; home could only go to home basic, home premium or ultimate, xp pro could only go to vista business or ultimate.

The other option was to do a custom install; you boot from DVD, type in the upgrade key, at which point it would check there was a copy of windows already on the hard-drive, then allow you to continue - either into a new partition, or format the old one and install a clean copy there. Of course, you lose your files and programs doing that, so you need to do a backup first.

Bear in mind, there are NO official copies of windows 7 upgrade or upgrade keys available to the public yet; all the technet and MSDN versions etc are volume licence or full retail licence keys, so nobody has had a chance to actually test the new upgrade process using an upgrade key yet outside of microsoft and possibly some OEMs. From what microsoft technical have been saying, you'll need to do a clean install from windows 7 beta or RC; you certainly won't be able to do an in-place upgrade without modifying the installer dvd.

Whether windows 7 RC will count for a valid copy of windows installed on the hard-drive, for the purposes of using an upgrade key when installing clean, I honestly don't know. It doesn't count from a legal perspective, so it may well be blocked by technical means also. We'll find out in October. However; even if it doesn't work, you can always install windows 7 twice; once with the trial key, then again with the upgrade key. I've used that method repeatedly on vista upgrade, and it's actually an official microsoft method, so should still work fine with windows 7. Note, you have to use the upgrade key when doing an actual upgrade clean install; it won't allow you to enter if afterwards (it rejects it) and won't allow you to continue the install if you use an upgrade key but it can't find a valid install of windows on the hard-drive.

We've been told it will allow the use of a physical windows xp or vista disc to qualify the install process, which vista upgrade didn't. So your other option is to borrow a windows XP physical disc from a friend, or acquire it by *ahem* other means and use it to validate the install. As long as you really do have an existing XP oem licence, and a valid windows 7 key you're covered legally and it's not like they're going to be going round knocking on doors that you installed it using the 'proper' method; nor do you need to use the XP or vista key at any point of the install.
posted by lohmannn at 8:37 AM on September 19, 2009

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I am planning to wait for the Oct-22 launch to buy my copy, in any case, but I was just trying to formulate my plan ahead of time. However, sounds like I should just wait for the official launch to figure out what I need to do so that all the theories from ArkhanJG's re-post can be put to test in the wild. I am definitely trying to avoid doing an install of Vista first on the new drive, but the XP license trick might be viable for me.

Chrisfromthelc, I am planning to get a 60 GB OCZ drive (a Vertex or one of the discount models), or maybe the a generation-2 Intel 80 GB drive, depending on price in a month from now. All the research I have done recently suggests that MLC SSD has finally ironed out all of the major kinks for consumer use (including upcoming Win-7 trim and OCZ's new garbage collector firmware) and is well worth it for an OS drive for any semi-serious user. I don't do anything super high-end, but I am a multi-tasker and want a snappy machine. Also, the other components on my desktop are generally higher end (core i7), so its a commensurate upgrade. Not like I am installing an SSD on a netbook here.
posted by jameslavelle3 at 9:20 AM on September 19, 2009

This is relative to your current windows license not your hardware.

Actually it is, a couple of years ago Microsoft altered the terms of OEM Licenses, under the new terms you can replace any computer part except the motherboard. Once you do that it becomes "new" computer though, there's an exception if the motherboard died an untimely death.
posted by squeak at 9:36 AM on September 19, 2009

If you are a student you will be able to buy Windows v7 for $30.
posted by TDIpod at 9:36 AM on September 19, 2009