Upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 7 - An overview

Pt. 1 of 6 | 2:38 |

Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7

Monday October 19, 2009

You may be able to upgrade your copy of

Windows Vista to Windows 7

without having to do a clean install. Of course, it depends on what version of Windows Vista you have as well as what version of Windows 7 you get your hands on. Only some versions of Vista can upgrade to Windows 7 without doing a clean install. Watch our series to learn all you need to know about upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7.

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Upgrading to Windows 7 from Vista

ONLY these versions can upgrade, all others require a clean install!

Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium

Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional

- You must install Windows 7 to the same directory where your current Windows Vista install resides.

- Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 requires 6GB of free disk space. A clean install of Windows 7 requires 16GB.

- You must choose the same system language (i.e. English US) in Windows 7 as you currently have in Windows Vista.

- If you do an upgrade your Vista folder will be renamed to C:\Windows.Old and you'll have access to it.

If you have one of these versions of Windows Vista, this video series will offer a step-by-step tutorial on upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 7. If not, see the series on clean install of Windows 7.

A clean install is required if:

- You have any other version of Vista besides the three listed above.

- If you're going from a 32-bit version of Vista to 64-bit version Windows 7.

- If you're upgrading from Windows XP.

- Note that Windows XP users can buy the less expensive Window 7 "upgrade," but a clean install is still required.

Tagged:

clean install

install

upgrade

Windows 7

Windows Vista

Comments (2)

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By drff about two years ago
(2010-01-03 12:40:12)

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For myself I would agree that doing a clean install might be better. Our purpose here, however, was to go through the process of upgrading from Vista to Windows 7. Upgrade is an option with three versions of Windows Vista and you have to upgrade to specific versions of Windows 7. So, we covered it for those who wanted to take that route. We've also covered doing the full, "clean install". So, I/we aren't saying "upgrade" we're just showing how you do it if that's your choice. .... Doc

By lmbee59 about two years ago
(2009-12-12 14:22:58)

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I've been on a couple of computer message boards, and the majority of the comments I hear about is that it's better to do a clean install regardless of OS. Somehow, this tutorial makes a lot of sense, mainly because I just bought a new computer months ago, and I ended up getting a free upgrade to Windows 7. I intentionally kept my new computer as clean as possible and did not download or install a lot of things, knowing that I'll need to upgrade to Win7. So long I get it super squeaky clean, and back up my data & emails, I should be good to go. That is my understanding. The ONLY hitch is finding drivers for my printer as I had it set up for Windows Vista. And having to re-install java, chat clients, updating AVG...etc. What a PITA (pain in the @$$) LOL Sorry for rambling~ but I do want to know why out of all the choruses of "clean install" you say "UPGRADE" Care to explain? thanks, lmbee59