Windows 7 Question of the Year, Answered? (No. Updated.)

Here are my experiences trying to clean install Windows 7. First up is the successful try. My home computer had Vista Home Premium 32bit installed on the C drive. I had 3 games installed on a 2nd physical D drive. I ordered Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade from Amazon. Last night I, unplugged the hard drive containing the C drive. I unplugged the SATA cable to be exact. This left only the “D” drive which was not bootable. I booted my computer from the 64bit Windows 7 upgrade DVD. I choose the advanced install (or is called custom?). I formatted the drive. Windows 7 finished installing. I activated Windows 7, and even installed Microsoft Security Essentials which has its own check. There was no visible check for an older O/S. I didn’t have to put in an old media. There was no Windows.old folder to delete, just a clean install. My other experience was with my work computer. I downloaded the Windows 7 Pro 64bit upgrade ISO from Microsoft’s eopen site. I burned it to a DVD using Windows 7 RC ISO burner. This DVD was not bootable. So I had to format my computer, install Windows 7 RC, upgraded to Windows 7 RTM, and delete the Windows.old folder. Before this I tried upgrading from Vista Pro 32bit to Windows 7 Pro 64bit and that didn’t work. I had two different experiences with media from two different sources. So the questions is…was my D drive that was part of a Vista installation but only had three games installed and no operating system enough to pass the upgrade check? If yes, then what was it about that drive that was enough? Or was there no upgrade check?

chipwinter has a point...but most upgrades will go something like this, since in response to his question, most here are more tech-savvy than the general population. Of course, the obvious trolls are the exception. - Shutdown PC - Drive to Best Buy - Select a new PC or one of the package deals that they are offering - Collect Best Buy Reward points - Drive home - If Home setup was not selected; unbox, connect, and power on new PC(s) - Enjoy Windows 7 --tayme

"There's no way that upgrading a computer can be this head-scratching." Everything's easier on Windows. Right? "tayme" is right. Most people will just say "screw it" and buy a new PC. They're so cheap as to be basically disposable. Long live capitalism!

sjaak '"2006 OS (10.5 "Leopard") -> 2009 OS (10.6 "Snow Leopard") - Upgrade or clean install" ONLY if that mac has an intel processor. If it has a powerpc chip you also need to buy a new machine. ' Yeah, I was trying to be nice to the Mac people there. The reality is that they've abandoned their users about once a decade by picking the wrong processor family. M680x0 abandoned in 1998 after a 5-year transition PowerPC abandoned in 2009 after a 3-year transition What's pretty unforgivable this time was that they killed off PowerPC support only 3 years after they were still selling it for a premium and calling it the future of computing.