Upgrade from Vista to 7

[ptim]

Will windows 7 upgrade Vista, or will I have to format drive and start from scratch, to load windows 7.

 

[gbhall]

You will probably have a choice. An 'upgrade' version will be cheaper than a 'full' version, and could be installed either as an upgrade or as a separate dual-boot configuration.

In the case of a 'full' install copy, you would also have a choice of dual booting or captuing the existing settings you have.

Sorry it is quite a complicated picture, but personally I would recommend a full separate installation in all cases.

 

[socal]

I have a Vista Premium 32 bits HP desktop. Will I be able to upgrade with Windows 7 premium 64 bits version? Is it OK to use the 64 bits OS on a 32 bits PC?

 

[gbhall]

socal - sorry, absolutely not. A 32-bit system cannot possibly runa 64-bit version of anything. You will, however be able to upgrade to 32-bit Win 7 and will notice no difference. You will be restricted to a maximum of about 3.2 Gb of memory, but in actual fact, Win 7 runs better than Vista with the same amount of memory.

You could also check the HP website in case your PC really has a 64-bit processor and motherboard, but simply has a 32-bit version of Windows installed. Most AMD processor over the last several years have all been 64-bit, but few have been running 64-bit, mostly because of poor support for hardware drivers on 64-bit platforms. That problem is now much diminished.

For example, my PC is over 4 years old, came with a 64-bit AMD processor, but 32-bit Windows XP-home. I upgraded the memory to 2Gb and XP-pro. Still 32-bit. Lately, I dual-boot a 64-bit Win 7 release candidate which runs perfectly and supplies all the necessary 64-bit drivers for my existing hardware by itself.

Good luck and dont worry about it.....

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

If your system does have a 64-bit CPU, you can use a 64-bit OS, but cannot upgrade and will need to do a clean install instead. As gbhall pointed out, you can use a 64-bit OS if you have an Athlon 64 or newer AMD CPU, or a Pentium 4 Prescott-core 5x1 series and Celeron Cedar Mill or later Intel CPU.

 

[NameBrandHuman]

You can upgrade from 64bit vista to 64bit windows 7, or 32bit vista to 32bit 7, But not 32bit vista to 64bit 7.

 

[socal]

Thanks all for the suggestions and info.

My HP computer is ~2 years old and it has AMD Athlon 64X2 dual core 2.5GHz processor. So even though it is using Vista Premium 32 bits OS, I should be able to do a "clean install" of Windows 7 Premium 64 bits version instead of an "upgrade", right?

Do I have to choose the "clean install" manually, or will the Windows 7 upgrade disk detect it automatically and do the "clean install"?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

You'd need to choose the clean install option manually. Also, make sure to boot your PC
off the disk. Backup your data first, since you'd have to format the Windows Vista partition to do a clean install of Windows 7.

 

[raybay]

I have been disappointed and angered over every Upgrade of anything Microsoft ever put out... is this going to be any better?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

It actually is better raybay, since you just need to own a copy of Vista or XP to be eligible for buying the upgrade version of Windows 7. Plus, the OS takes very little time to install (the RC took about 20 minutes for me on my current rig). An upgrade install does take some time though, but it's a very smooth process from what I've seen.

And W7 really is the best Windows till now IMO; better-looking than Vista and as snappy as XP.