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Using Upgrade media to perform a clean install of Windows 7

Jun. 15, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

I've gotten an unusual number of questions lately about whether it will be possible to use an Upgrade version of Windows 7 to perform a clean install, as is possible with Windows Vista (a process I validated with both the RTM and SP1 versions of Windows Vista ... I will do so with SP2 as well, once that media becomes available).

I suspect it will still work. But there's no real answer to this question yet because, well, there's no retail Windows 7 media to test. In order to see whether this works, I will need a copy of some Upgrade version of Windows 7. And Microsoft doesn't make that code available until it completes development of the product. Rest assured, I will be testing this process--both with Windows 7 and Vista SP2--as soon as the relevant code is available.

Discuss this Article 5

Waethorn
on Jun 15, 2009
Of course, users shouldn't have to be reminded that although you can do this, an upgrade version is not a full license. They still need a previous full version for it to be legit.
Waethorn
on Jun 15, 2009
....I should note that the previous full version has to have come bundled with the same computer, or else be a retail full version that's been transferred. You can't transfer OEM licenses.
whiplash55
on Jun 15, 2009
MS needs to tread lightly in this issue, I believe they will allow a clean install with the upgrade disk. If they won't they'll piss off all the Vista users who have ponied up for an upgrade but are tech savvy enough to know that it works best to do a clean install. The obvious alternative is do sell a very reasonably priced retail disk for each version. I'm thinking $129.00 for the Pro edition (the one I favor) for a price this cheap I wouldn't care if I got a "upgrade" discount or not.
JorgeAntonopoulos
on Jun 15, 2009
hey.. has anyone noticed that in Windows 7 RC help files there's instead of "[This content is preliminary and subject to change.]" it now shows "__elbasuer__". Also, they're all dead links and help content is really limited. What's that about? And why isn't there any topic about this on the internet?
jjch84@gmail.com
on Jun 16, 2009
Out here in the uk we're likely to get the windows 7 e version courtesy of microsft and the fault of the EU. Windows 7 will ship without internet explorer preinstalled and instead will be on an extra cd. As a result microsft will not allow conventional upgrades due to ie being on the previos system, ie vista. Basically we are forced to do a clan install. In that light i think it would be reasonable to expect that upgrade media allows a full install - unless microsft is particularly spiteful and only sells full versions in Europe.

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