W7 Upgrade Package & Clean Installs

I just ordered" Microsoft Windows 7 Family Pack/ Home Premium Upgrade - Retail 3 PCs" for $124 from Newegg. I have two questions that maybe I should have asked before I ordered it.

1 - Can I correctly assume that this version of Windows requires a previous version of Windows (e.g. XP or Vista) to be installed on the machine before it will install W7?

2 - Will it allow me to do a clean install and reformat the drive once it sees a previous version installed or will it just write over the existing XP or Vista installation?

I have a couple of XP laptops I want to upgrade to W7. This three pack will allow me to upgrade each very inexpensively (compared to buying a standalone W7 OEM package).

RhoXS said:

I just ordered" Microsoft Windows 7 Family Pack/ Home Premium Upgrade - Retail 3 PCs" for $124 from Newegg. I have two questions that maybe I should have asked before I ordered it.

1 - Can I correctly assume that this version of Windows requires a previous version of Windows (e.g. XP or Vista) to be installed on the machine before it will install W7?

2 - Will it allow me to do a clean install and reformat the drive once it sees a previous version installed or will it just write over the existing XP or Vista installation?

I have a couple of XP laptops I want to upgrade to W7. This three pack will allow me to upgrade each very inexpensively (compared to buying a standalone W7 OEM package).

Click to expand...

1. Yes

2. With XP, it will require you to do a Custom Install (aka drive format) and Vista will prompt you with an Upgrade or Custom Install option (Upgrade retains all programs / personal files).

You should also run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor prior to installing Windows 7 on those machines to validate they are capable of running Windows 7.

G33K454URU5 R3X said:

1. Yes

2. With XP, it will require you to do a Custom Install (aka drive format) and Vista will prompt you with an Upgrade or Custom Install option (Upgrade retains all programs / personal files).

You should also run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor prior to installing Windows 7 on those machines to validate they are capable of running Windows 7.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response.

I want to reformat the drives and have a true clean install so a custom install is exactly what I want.

Both machines will run W7 well as I did have the free W7 RC on them a few years ago with no problem although one of them (IBM R51 Thinkpad) will not handle the Aero graphics. I eventually restored both laptops to XP as I needed reliable and legit machines. I have grown to like W7 so I want to install W7 as long as the cost is not unreasonable. One of these machines is an older IBM R51 Thinkpad but it is still a great piece of machinery, especially after I installed a 160 GB drive. This three pack ends up with a cost per machine for W7 Home Premium at under $42 per machine.

Here is what i did, take from it what you want.

I bought a ssd to put my os on, i had vista32 on a spinner drive befor but didnt bother to instal it first befor using my upgrade win7 64bit cd on the new ssd. It would instal fine but would not accept my serial for win7. I tried to use my vista but it stated that i have upgraded that my vista serial is not longer in use and no longer valid. No problem i thinks as i dont want vista anyways, only the win7 genuine. Few months go by and no im forced to input my serial.....does not accept, use regret command to get another month, use regret command for another month..now im 5 months in. Figure ill just run ungenuine till i get time to call ms. Warnings become annoying so i just reinstall the os and get my 5 months over again. Finally call ms to fix it all. 3 hours on the phone for them to fix it. My email i recive later in the day states the issue was because i custom clean installed the os without using my vista disk first, they said the problem has been fixed on their end and ill no more issues..........unless i want to clean reinstall the os again.

RhoXS said:

Thanks for the response.

I want to reformat the drives and have a true clean install so a custom install is exactly what I want.

Both machines will run W7 well as I did have the free W7 RC on them a few years ago with no problem although one of them (IBM R51 Thinkpad) will not handle the Aero graphics. I eventually restored both laptops to XP as I needed reliable and legit machines. I have grown to like W7 so I want to install W7 as long as the cost is not unreasonable. One of these machines is an older IBM R51 Thinkpad but it is still a great piece of machinery, especially after I installed a 160 GB drive. This three pack ends up with a cost per machine for W7 Home Premium at under $42 per machine.

Click to expand...

You're welcome

Good luck with your custom installs; looks like you did all your homework so they should go smoothly for you! And you're right, you can't beat $42 per machine for the upgrade package.