Windows 7 seems to be a hit!
Since it’s release on October 22, I’ve installed it in one form or another MANY, times probably twelve in the last 6 days. The first couple of upgrades concerned me slightly because of the indefinite answer on whether or not you could do a clean install from the upgrade disk.
I had a couple of laptops running the release candidate and I DID NOT want to have to install Vista then do an upgrade. But to my surprise that was just as easy as the install from an OEM disk. It’s was “quick-ish” and really simple. Here’s how I did it each time and it worked like a charm.
- Back-up all your files and settings. (I used the Windows Easy Transfer Utility)
- Insert the upgrade DVD into the drive and reboot the computer. Booting to the DVD of course.
- Once the DVD loads you will see a menu to select “Upgrade” or “Custom Installation”
- I chose Custom. Selected the drive I wanted to install to.
- Clicked “Advanced” for that drive then chose format. You’ll get the usual warning saying all files will be deleted… blah blah.
- Select the newly formatted drive and install away.
- Once in windows you enter the Key and activate. Simple.
Once in windows, go into the Windows Transfer Utility and import all of your saved files and settings. Install any needed programs and Updates then you should be good to go.
I’ve seen where other people have had to do some Registry Hacks to get Windows to take the Upgrade key after this type of installation but, I did not have that issue during any of my upgrades. If you should get an error entering your key saying that it is not valid for that type of install check out these directions over at the Supersite for Windows.
© 2009, Robert Owen. All rights reserved.
