upgrade of Windows 7

Originally Posted by tblount

If you have to do a clean install... which is recommended by the most experienced here as well as Microsoft

As far as I know, Microsoft does not recommend doing what it officially calls a "custom" installation (which is what the rest of the world calls a "clean" installation) over an upgrade. Like most other people, they understand that the method that you choose depends on your situation. See their FAQ at

Installing Windows: frequently asked questions

and note their answer to the question "Should I upgrade or perform a custom installation?". However, if Microsoft does actively advocate a custom installation over an upgrade, I would be grateful to see a link to that advice from them.

Whatever you do, read that FAQ.

Nevertheless, I have found that a clean installation is less frustrating than an upgrade if the upgrade fails, although a "clean" installation will require more time to perform since you have to reinstall your applications. But I have had some upgrades turn out fine -- and they finished almost before the coffee was ready. Give it a shot. If it doesn't work then you can always do it clean.

But do a full backup in case you need to go back to your old OS, and use Windows Easy Transfer to save your files and settings in case you are forced to do a clean installation. Do both before using either method, just in case.

Note that you can use Windows Easy Transfer (WET) to create an archive file containing all of your personal files and settings from your old operating system. You can then import this file into Windows 7. You can download WET for Windows XP at:

Download details: Windows Easy Transfer for Windows XP

and for Windows Vista at

Download details: Windows Easy Transfer for transferring from Windows Vista (32 bit) to Windows 7

or

Download details: Windows Easy Transfer for transferring from Windows Vista (64 bit) to Windows 7

Also see:

Installing Windows: recommended links

and click the link to "Installing and reinstalling Windows 7". You can find links to Microsoft's recommended procedure for either scenario under that link, too. Those pages can help you decide which scenario is best for you, and they provide very good instructions.

One other thing: there is no email client built into Windows 7. If you use Windows Mail or Outlook Express and want to import your mail or contacts, you're pretty much screwed. Windows Live Email might be able to do it, but I don't use it so I'm not sure.

Before you leave your old operating system, make sure you export your mail to a .pst file (used by Exchange and Outlook) and your contacts to a .csv file (a more or less universal structure). Maybe you'll be able to import those back into whatever email client you end up using, e.g., Microssoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, if any.

Experts like me always recommend that you pickup a new hard drive since the price is down to about 5 cents per GB. You can get a 2 tb 7,200 rpm drive for $115. Do a clean install to it.... take your time move over everything you want to keep from the old drive then eventually format it and clone your new drive so you have a perfect BOOTABLE backup. Should something go wrong you can simply modify your boot priority and be up and running in about 60 to 90 seconds. .. no hastle with unEASY transfer, no restoring any backup, no re-activation, not dependent on 3rd party program to get to the files in your backup, no risk in the backup archive being corrupt.. or your backup TOTALLY LOST if you had put it on another partition and your hard drive failed.

If you google you'll find several references to Microsoft recommending a clean (custom) install... ALWAYS, if you upgrade from XP, RC, and from 32 to 64 bit. MOST of the time if you run your problem through their troubleshooting page it will return the solution = custom install. Here is the url.

https://support.microsoft.com/oas/de...rid=14019&st=1


As for using a "workaround" to custom / clean install to a new harddrive,
Microsoft Says Windows 7 Install Workaround Is Legal

Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Oct 30, 2009 12:00 am
Microsoft today confirmed that users can apply a workaround trick to do a clean install of Windows 7 on a blank hard drive ....that follows the relaxed rules Microsoft announced in January 2008 for Windows Vista, when it modified the EULA for Home Premium .

Originally Posted by tblount

If you google you'll find several references to Microsoft recommending a clean (custom) install
ALWAYS, if you upgrade from XP, RC, and from 32 to 64 bit. MOST of the time if you run your problem through their troubleshooting page it will return the solution = custom install.

Can you provide a link to where Microsoft recommends a clean installation over an upgrade when an in-place upgrade is possible? I haven't found any.

However, since it isn't possible to do an in-place upgrade from XP or a release candidate to Windows 7, or from a 32-bit to a 64-bit operating system, I suppose you could say that Microsoft "recommends" a clean installation, although it would be more correct to say that it is mandatory since you don't have the choice to do an in-place upgrade. And, naturally, if an in-place upgrade fails then your only option is to do a custom installation. So I suppose you could call that a "recommendation", too, even though, once again, you don't have any alternative.

As for using a "workaround" to custom / clean install to a new harddrive,
Microsoft Says Windows 7 Install Workaround Is Legal

Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Oct 30, 2009 12:00 am
Microsoft today confirmed that users can apply a workaround trick to do a clean install of Windows 7 on a blank hard drive ....that follows the relaxed rules Microsoft announced in January 2008 for Windows Vista, when it modified the EULA for Home Premium .

I notice that you don't provide the link to the whole article so that we can read it for ourselves. The link that you do provide pertains only to Windows Vista Home Premium when used in a virtualized environment, which is not a relevant scenario for most users. In addition, when you read the entire article, you'll notice that neither the author nor the Microsoft spokesman say that an illegal workaround is legal. Perhaps this will clarify the issue:

Windows 7 upgrade media will do a "clean" installation without reverse-engineering it to allow installation of a version of Windows 7 which is not covered by that media's license. In other words, copying the media, deleting the ei.cfg file, and then burning new media is illegal. It is not necessary to do that to do a "clean" installation. It is only necessary to do that if you want to create media to install a version of Windows 7 for which you don't have a license, which is quite illegal.

To do a clean installation to a blank hard drive using upgrade media, all you need to do is to follow Microsoft's instructions. Install your old licensed operating system first, boot to it. If it is eligible for an in-place upgrade (e.g., if you're going from 64-bit Vista to 64-bit Windows 7), the Windows 7 installer will offer that option. If it is not, your only choice will be to do a "custom" installation, during which you can wipe your hard drive.

Of course, the registry hack and use of slmgr described here:

http://community.winsupersite.com/bl...he-answer.aspx

is quite legal if you meet the other licensing requirements. As Eric Ligman, of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Group has been widely quoted as saying, "'Technically possible' does not always mean legal". While that procedure can be used to install and activate Windows 7 to a computer when you don't own a previous version of Windows that could legally be run on that machine, doing so is illegal. You must own a version of Windows that is legal for that machine in order to install Windows from the upgrade media.

Oh, and one other thing: that hack is completely unnecessary if you follow Microsoft's instructions.

Hopefully, there will be no further mention of methods involving reverse-engineering Microsoft's installation media, such as by deleting the ei.cfg file. They are not legal, and when Microsoft deploys a WGA detector for such tricks, and you should not bet against it, then you won't be able to get Windows Updates anymore.

Originally Posted by EveningStarNM

I notice that you don't provide the link to the whole article so that we can read it for ourselves. .

I just made it up.

Don't be afraid people. If you activate windows... you will get updates. Microsoft NEEDS every system to be secure. They aren't stoopid. They don't want any unsecured computers waiting to be exploited when vulnerabilities are discovered.

Originally Posted by tblount

Don't be afraid people. If you activate windows... you will get updates. Microsoft NEEDS every system to be secure. They aren't stoopid. They don't want any unsecured computers waiting to be exploited when vulnerabilities are discovered.

If Microsoft wanted to allow Windows Updates for unlicensed machines, don't you think they would have done it already?

It appears that you are once again advocating using Windows 7 upgrade media illegally, as you did in this article. But when WGA puts such an installation into reduced functionality mode, it will turn out to not have been a good idea.

I recommend that people buy the correct media for the type of installation that they want to do. That way you avoid not only licensing problems, the time involved configuring workarounds, and WGA, but you also won't be breaking the law. If you want to save money, you can always buy an OEM version from a qualified vendor like NewEgg (there are lots of them out there). But you won't legally be able to move that installation to another computer when you decide to upgrade your hardware.

While some here may say that it's okay to violate Microsoft's EULA and the law, I don't. I prefer to not inject unnecessary complications into my life. "Doing the right thing" always has a better payoff.

Originally Posted by EveningStarNM

If Microsoft wanted to allow Windows Updates for unlicensed machines, don't you think they would have done it already? .

All running machines will update, during evaluation, during rearm...whatever. Licenses or even activation has nothing to do with updating.

Unlicensed machines eventuall won't boot up.


Microsoft Says Windows 7 Install Workaround Is Legal

Originally Posted by tblount

...whatever

A machine that Windows Genuine Advantage software says is illegal certainly is a running machine. Do you know what happens when you try to use Windows Update on such a machine?

It doesn't work.

Your "whatever" presents certain problems. I'm surprised that "an expert" like you, as you called yourself above, doesn't qualify your statement by warning people about those problems.

Oh, and if you rearm Windows 7, you'll be told that you that have to reinstall it. I prefer to avoid the hassles that following your advice would cause.

Originally Posted by EveningStarNM

A machine that Windows Genuine Advantage software says is illegal certainly is a running machine. Do you know what happens when you try to use Windows Update on such a machine?

It doesn't work.

You are right about that. A machine that is not activated doesn't work when the evaluation period runs out... you definitely can NOT update an OS that refuses to startup.

Your "whatever" presents certain problems. I'm surprised that "an expert" like you,.

You still want to make everything personal even after being warned and having 2 of your threads CLOSED.

I can't find even ONE of your messages helping anyone to try to solve a problem.

We have a total opposite view of the value of this forum.

Would you pleas just consider using your talents to help someone?

Using the workaround to do a clean install from a Windows 7 Upgrade... Here is a list of the first 20 links that Google finds: There is another page after this one.