Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional

TANGLEWOOD

Looking to upgrade from Vista. Upgrading professional 64 bit is cheaper than Windows Home Premium 32 bit. Anybody know why? Although I had 32 bit Vista and I got a trial lend of Window7 Home Premium 64 bit and it works fine but need to get my own copy now to validate. Should there be a problem? Excuse my ignorance. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

maki

There are only certain upgrade paths you can use depending on what version of Vista you have.
Firstly, you cannot upgrade 32 bit Vista to 64 bit Win7.
You can also only upgrade Vista Business to Win7 Professional.

Handy chart here to clarify things a little:
http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/windows_7_upgrade_chart.png

TheBigEvil

If you buy the "Windows 7 Upgrade Home Premium" Upgrade version, is it still possible to do a clean install or do you have to install it over your existing version of vista?

I prefer to do a clean install rather than "Upgrade Vista".

TANGLEWOOD

Thanks for reply Maki. Like The Big Evil, I was wondering how you can do a clean sweep of the hard drive to get windows vista off and also to take the Windows 7 off that I got a loan of try so I can put my own Windows 7 on it. I don't need to keep anything as I have had to put a new hard drive onto my computer.

Thanks for your help.

TheBigEvil

TANGLEWOOD wrote: »

Thanks for reply Maki. Like The Big Evil, I was wondering how you can do a clean sweep of the hard drive to get windows vista off and also to take the Windows 7 off that I got a loan of try so I can put my own Windows 7 on it. I don't need to keep anything as I have had to put a new hard drive onto my computer.

Thanks for your help.

Normally you get the ability to re-partition your hard drive when installing a new OS, which should also allow you to format it. But I'm unsure, hence my question, if that ability is allowed on an "Upgrade" copy of Windows 7.

I much prefer clean installs, as I never trust what it will do with already installed apps. So I like to start from a clean slate and re-install any apps I need, plus it cleans you PC of any older apps/trials you no longer need.

So hopefully someone out there has bought an Upgrade version of Windows 7 and done a clean install. .... Lets us know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

maki

You can indeed perform a clean install, just pop the disk in and let it run at boot. However you do need to actually own the respective version of Vista you're supposed to be upgrading from. If you don't you'll be violating the EULA and will forever be labelled a scurvy pirate.

TheBigEvil

maki wrote: »

You can indeed perform a clean install, just pop the disk in and let it run at boot. However you do need to actually own the respective version of Vista you're supposed to be upgrading from. If you don't you'll be violating the EULA and will forever be labelled a scurvy pirate.

Woooo Maki to the rescue!!!!! Good man thanks for that.....although I didn't like you insinuating that I would violate someone...something!! :eek:

Yea I own my Vista Copy, :mad: the piece of s*^!

TANGLEWOOD

I also own my own Vista and XP just got a loan of disk to see what 7 was like and do intend getting my own version to validate. The question I have is can you clean the hard drive completely?

chrism2007

TANGLEWOOD wrote: »

I also own my own Vista and XP just got a loan of disk to see what 7 was like and do intend getting my own version to validate. The question I have is can you clean the hard drive completely?

just boot from the disk and do a fresh install

TANGLEWOOD

Thanks guys for all your help.

TANGLEWOOD

Hi Guys,

I have a couple of more questions. I was looking at a version of Windows 7 64 bit and was just wondering if Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit, English, 1 Pack, DSP OEI (DVD) is full version. Also is it worth getting 64 bit over 32 bit it is just for general use. Is there much of a difference?

crótach

I would say if your PC is less than 3 years old there's no point in going with a 32-bit version. There is no visible difference, the main thing is that 32-bit windows can't see more than 3.5GB of RAM, and even then can't assign more than 2GB to a single application. These days 4GB is the standard, so even there you'll be reaching this limit.

The good news is that both 32-bit and 64-bit versions use the same key, so if you bought one, you just need the install disk for the other.

top_dog

crótach wrote: »

The good news is that both 32-bit and 64-bit versions use the same key, so if you bought one, you just need the install disk for the other.

Therefore is it possible to upgrade from a 32 bit vista version to a 64 bit windows 7 version?

crótach

top_dog wrote: »

Therefore is it possible to upgrade from a 32 bit vista version to a 64 bit windows 7 version?

I don't know, but a clean install would be a better idea.

I went from 64 bit vista to 64 bit win7 and I still did a clean install - didn't want any leftover bits to plague me later on.

Got 3 machines with win7, two are 32-bit and one is 64-bit, went with clean install on all of them.

crótach

Looking at other forums now, it seems that you can't directly upgrade/convert from 32-bit vista to a 64-bit win7, you need to do a clean install. (wipe everything and start from scratch)

TANGLEWOOD

Thank you. Do you know if following package is full version or what does it mean

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit, English, 1 Pack, DSP OEI (DVD)?

crótach

Yeah it's the full package. Microsoft went awol with their naming conventions. DSP stands for "Delivery Service Partner", which is an OEM that isn't big enough to be deserving of large discounts or getting their name printed on the CD/DVD media. Ridiculous.

OEI stands for "Original Equipment Integration", another brilliant Microsoft acronym.

It's the same software, just different packaging, meant to be sold to smaller system builders that don't qualify for the large volume discounts of OEMs like Dell, HP etc.

TANGLEWOOD

Thanks Crotach. So it shouldn't be a problem for a novice like me to install. Just boot it from DVD Drive and off I go are my right in saying that???!!!!

TANGLEWOOD

I only have 2 gb ram so is it worth getting 64 bit or should I just go with 32 bit?

Sorry if all these questions seem stupid but I'm only learning.

Thanks.

Carne

I'd stick with 32bit if you have no plans to upgrade your ram. If you ever upgrade it to 4gb or more you'll need 64bit.

TANGLEWOOD

Since there's not a huge difference in price so 64 bit for the future I think. Thanks for your help.

crótach

There's no need for 32-bit anymore, unless you have some legacy hardware without proper drivers. If you do have some old exotic and unsupported hardware then it's more likely that it won't have drivers for Windows 7 at all

64-bit will work with 2gb of ram as well, so there's really not much point in going with a 32-bit install. You're just limiting yourself in case you ever upgrade your ram, and it is silly cheap these days.

The main issue used to be drivers, only a few companies had 64-bit drivers and it was a nightmare to get a fully working setup, but that was back in the day of XP 64-bit. Thankfully we've gone past than and past Vista 64-bit and now pretty much everyone has the right drivers and a whole bunch of them come packaged into the windows install.

There's also a Microsoft tool that will check your system for you but I forgot what it's called. And like I said, the same serial number is used for 32-bit and 64-bit, you just need a different install disk.

Carne

You could always install both versions too and have the best of both, although we're probably getting a little complicated now

crótach

Or install Virtual PC and run both versions from your old Vista or XP install. lol

themacdaddy

Hi All,

Do not mean to hijack the thread but I bought Window 7 Home Prem 64 bit today. I have Vista home prem 64 bit and want to do the clean install. Am I correct in saying that if I do the custom install and click advanced I can format both my main drive and slave drive to wipe them totally clear there?

Googled it today but couldn't find a definitive answer.

Thanks