Windows 7 - Upgrading from Vista Home Premium Work-Around?

[Levin Bolt]

Okay, I have Vista Home Premium currently installed (and oh how I loathe it) and I want to upgrade from that to Windows 7 Professional. However, it tells me I need to do a clean install for Windows 7 Pro. I do not want to do that; I want to keep all of my files and simply upgrade.

I know all of the typical Micro$oft help-sites say that you must clean-install, but surely there is a way around this that would allow me to upgrade from Vista Home Premium to 7 Pro and keep my files and programs.

Any suggestions? neutral

[Brenivin]

Follow? <3

Sel it on craigslist and buy premium?
Realize *le gasp!* 7 and vista look and act almost the same?

Fylgja? <3

[animer_21]

Move important files to external hard drive.
Wipe.
Clean install.
Move things back.

[Levin Bolt]

Hmmm. I just read somewhere that if I have Vista on a separate partition (and I do; I have two hard drives, C and D, where Vista is on C), I can simply do a clean install to C and it will put all of my old files in a windows.old folder, where I can then restore them as needed.

I'm looking further into this before actually proceeding...

Upgrade from Vista to 7 forum discussion

[Vandel Cat]

what language does your vista use atm?
both OS have to have the same languagem otherwise you cannot keep your data.

if you want to keep your data AND install win7, try installing it on a different HDD.

I personally used winXP (ger) and had to install win7 (US), i did install it on a separate HDD and put all the important files from my winXP HDD to my win7 HDD.
youll have to format your old OP afterwards.

greetings, Van

[Brenivin]

Vandel Cat

what language does your vista use atm?
both OS have to have the same languagem otherwise you cannot keep your data.

BULLLLLLLSHIT.

[Levin Bolt]

Vandel Cat

what language does your vista use atm?
both OS have to have the same languagem otherwise you cannot keep your data.

if you want to keep your data AND install win7, try installing it on a different HDD.

I personally used winXP (ger) and had to install win7 (US), i did install it on a separate HDD and put all the important files from my winXP HDD to my win7 HDD.
youll have to format your old OP afterwards.

greetings, Van

Both are US-English. I'm currently running the Windows Easy Transfer tool that I found on the Win7 installation disc to back-up all of my user files, just to be safe. That way I can transfer everything back over from my external hard drive to the hard drive with Windows on it, and all of my programs and files on my second hard drive should remain intact as they were with Vista.

[Vandel Cat]

Levin Bolt

Vandel Cat

what language does your vista use atm?
both OS have to have the same languagem otherwise you cannot keep your data.

if you want to keep your data AND install win7, try installing it on a different HDD.

I personally used winXP (ger) and had to install win7 (US), i did install it on a separate HDD and put all the important files from my winXP HDD to my win7 HDD.
youll have to format your old OP afterwards.

greetings, Van

Both are US-English. I'm currently running the Windows Easy Transfer tool that I found on the Win7 installation disc to back-up all of my user files, just to be safe. That way I can transfer everything back over from my external hard drive to the hard drive with Windows on it, and all of my programs and files on my second hard drive should remain intact as they were with Vista.

i must admit, im not familar with this tool.
as far as i know youll have probs with registry files which can be held with upgrading.
even if you copy those, its not sure whether you can use em since even through upgrading some registry wont be kept and your software and hardware needs to be re-installed. For other data files, youre just fine

[Unlicensed]

Levin Bolt

Hmmm. I just read somewhere that if I have Vista on a separate partition (and I do; I have two hard drives, C and D, where Vista is on C), I can simply do a clean install to C and it will put all of my old files in a windows.old folder, where I can then restore them as needed.

I'm looking further into this before actually proceeding...

Upgrade from Vista to 7 forum discussion

Yes, it will do exactly that.

I did the same thing (But from Vista to another Vista) and did exactly that.

[Levin Bolt]

Unlicensed

Levin Bolt

Hmmm. I just read somewhere that if I have Vista on a separate partition (and I do; I have two hard drives, C and D, where Vista is on C), I can simply do a clean install to C and it will put all of my old files in a windows.old folder, where I can then restore them as needed.

I'm looking further into this before actually proceeding...

Upgrade from Vista to 7 forum discussion

Yes, it will do exactly that.

I did the same thing (But from Vista to another Vista) and did exactly that.

Okay, thanks. I'm gonna try it out now and see how it goes. smile

[Sensorium139]

I dunno why you're upgrading when you hate Vista, they're almost exactly the same >_> . Oh well, your hassle and money, not mine.

[Levin Bolt]

Well, I made a clean install of Windows 7 but was able to keep all of my files and programs intact. I had to reinstall or reactivate a few things and reload a couple of drivers here and there, but other than that it seems to be working just fine.

7 Pro runs faster than Vista Home Premium and seems to be much more stable. I like it so far. ^^

Sensorium, the reason why I did not like Vista was because it was very buggy and took up a lot of system resources. Win 7 improves upon this and Pro has features that Home Premium did not have, such as the ability to join a domain on a network.

[Sensorium139]

Levin Bolt

Well, I made a clean install of Windows 7 but was able to keep all of my files and programs intact. I had to reinstall or reactivate a few things and reload a couple of drivers here and there, but other than that it seems to be working just fine.

7 Pro runs faster than Vista Home Premium and seems to be much more stable. I like it so far. ^^

Sensorium, the reason why I did not like Vista was because it was very buggy and took up a lot of system resources. Win 7 improves upon this and Pro has features that Home Premium did not have, such as the ability to join a domain on a network.

Windows 7 is exactly the same, you'll see it soon if you haven't already.

Trust me, I've used it on this computer (the RC granted, but close enough), this computer has Vista Home Premium , and they performed exactly the same. I tested around the usual software, and they used about the same if not the same amount of resources.

[ILOVEBOBSAGET]

i'd rather stick with my vista home premium :3

[Infinitypark003]

you cannot upgrade to Windows 7 Pro! just backup your files and then format ur hard drive. Install it and restore your files.