Upgrading from Vista Ultimate to W7 Premium or Pro

My desktop has Vista Ultimate on it and I don't want to pay $220 to upgrade and I was wondering, If I get Windows 7 or Pro do I need to do a clean install from Ultimate to that?

Originally Posted by zaboomafoo1212

My desktop has Vista Ultimate on it and I don't want to pay $220 to upgrade and I was wondering, If I get Windows 7 or Pro do I need to do a clean install from Ultimate to that?

I think you's be able to install any upgrade as an upgrade, if it were actually a downgrade(as in older os) you might have problems but there should be no issue at all with upgrading from vista ultimate to either home premium or professional...

Ok thanks. This is nice because I have been hearing that I may need a clean install. Thanks for the help

Originally Posted by zaboomafoo1212

Ok thanks. This is nice because I have been hearing that I may need a clean install. Thanks for the help

Why not do a clean install?? It truly is the best way to go.. Not only do you avoid the garbage that is left behind from an Upgrade but you get a nice fresh 'clean' OS.. Which will perform noticeably better than an Upgraded OS in most cases.. Of course there are always exceptions but a clean install still just makes more sense in my opinion..

Some argue that they don't want to do a clean install because it's too much of a pain to reinstall all their applications and burn all their personal files.. Well not to be harsh but tough sh!t, when testing BETA/RC and RTM versions of an OS it is NEVER recommended that you use them as your main OS (no matter how stable they are).. So it's kind of one of those scenarios where it's your own fault for putting all your personal files on the BETA/RC/RTM version of an OS in the first place..

as long as you don't have a bunch of stuff either not backed up or just don't know where the software came from, I would agree with the clean install, give your hard drive a fresh start, it's always nice, I format my hdd regularly and keep an external hdd for all my backup so I don't really need all the download, although it's a pain in my side, there's always things that don't go away when you delete and when you install over another update, go fresh if possible but to my knowledge it is totally possible to upgrade from vista ultimate to non ultimate win7...

Some argue that they don't want to do a clean install because it's too much of a pain to reinstall all their applications and burn all their personal files..

Agreed, in the long run, you will be better off with a clean install than an actual upgrade, that doesn't mean don't buy the upgrade media, just don't run it as an actual upgrade. If you own vista, there is no reason to purchase a full version of 7. But, I do understand MS are trying to make the upgrade process much more reliable, but at this time, I would not trust it.

External HDD's are extremely cheap, and you should have one anyway for doing backups.

There are 2 groups of people,,,, those who have lost data, and those who will lose data. Back it up.

From what you guys have said, I guess I will do a clean k
install. I'm not worried about data loss because I have a 500gb external drive I can put my stuff on. It's just the matter that I have I think four partitions on my one terrabite drive and I wasn't sure if I would format the partition with my OS or not. What would I do?

Originally Posted by zaboomafoo1212

Ok thanks. This is nice because I have been hearing that I may need a clean install. Thanks for the help

You'll need a clean install, if the upgrade matrix I've seen holds. (I'd give a link to it, but Microsoft has withdrawn it. Perhaps it will change.)

With an upgrade license, the normal approach moves stuff to "windows.old". I'm not certain that includes all files on the OS partition, but I believe so.

All of your applications will have to be re-installed.

For me, that'd be good. I'd rather get one of the pre-orders at $49 or $99. (I admit that I'm not a Vista Ultimate owner.) I hope to be able to format the OS partition and do a *really* clean install of Win7 using upgrade media, but it remains to be seen whether that will be practical.

Originally Posted by zaboomafoo1212

It's just the matter that I have I think four partitions on my one terrabite drive and I wasn't sure if I would format the partition with my OS or not. What would I do?

you should be able to specify which partition you want to install to without overwriting the whole drive. is that what you're asking?

Someone jump in to correct me, but I believe that an upgrade license requires that Win7 be installed in the partition of the qualifying OS.