Just want to share my Win 7 from XP upgrade experience

[greeneg 0]

Earlier, I had posted my basic plan to upgrade from WinXP pro 32Bit to Win 7 Pro 64bit. I was aware that there would be no direct upgrade and that I would have to do a clean install of Win 7 and that was acceptable. I had backed up everything on two separate USB HDs, run the Windows 7 Upgrade advisor, updated drivers and had the needed 64 bit drivers available on CD. The basic system in a Quad 4 6600 @2.4gHz, 4G Ram, nVidia 9600 512RAM, drives defragged etc. WinXP on Drive F, Drive C: clean, ready for Win 7. Logged in as Administrator.Push the button.No joy. Install error:" Disc contains one or more dynamic volumes that are not supported for installation". Remember disc was clean, nothing on it. Try again. Error: " Setup unable to create system partition or locate existing partition."Call MS Support. After five hours over three days on the phone, the bottom line is that Win 7 Setup looks only on Drive C for the existing XP installation. IF it isn't there, Setup fails. This is at least is the explanation that I have been given from the MS Support Team ( At the end, I was talking to supervisory level personnel. Supposedly.) It is possible that there may be a way around this, but I haven't found one, and after Setup made several changes to the System, my computer is now in the shop to try and put things back the way it was. The shop technicians are also going to see if they can get Win 7 on the machine. We'll know the end result next week, and I will post what happens in this thread.At least from my viewpoint, there are issues in moving from XP to 7 even when following MS' procedure for a clean install if you do not have a standard, Drive C WinXP installation. As of now, I would suggest that anyone in a similar situation to me approach upgrading with caution.In all fairness, I have no intent to knock MS' Tech Support People in any respect. They did everything that they could to be helpful, I was treated courteously, and I honestly think that if they could have found a solution, we would have gotten it implemented. I think that the root problem is that when the Setup Program was written, an assumption was made that everyone used Drive C as their system drive and no provision for other configurations was made. At least that's how it seems to me as of now.Bottom Line: Think twice if you have a nonstandard PC Configuration.Hope this is useful to someone.Ed Green

[irocx 292]

............... the bottom line is that Win 7 Setup looks only on Drive C for the existing XP installation. IF it isn't there, Setup fails.Ed Green

Sorry to hear of your troubles Ed. Did you try booting into XP on F, exploring the W7 disc and running the setup from there and then point the clean install back to your C drive? Thats how I installed my W7 in a dual boot config and was done in 15 minutes. From what it sounds, it seems like you were almost trying to do an "upgrade" installation.

[greeneg 0]

Thanks for the thought, Kendall, but what I was actually trying to do was to follow MS' exact procedure in installing Win 7. On retrospect, I can see how what you are suggesting might have worked as long as Setup would allow you to "point" it towards C. I am actually very much of a novice at this and to tell the truth did not really understand the error message the way it was written at first ( to tell the truth even now I'm not totally certain what it means-- the MS Techs really didn't know either). At this point, I will have to wait and see what actually comes out of the shop to figure my next move.THanks,Ed Green

[irocx 292]

You're not alone - many have had this issue. Amazed the higher-level MS techs didn't have a clue - evidently they don't use google. Sorry if I came off with a "well why didn't you try that" attitude earlier - hate when others do it - I was only trying to give an option if someone else runs into this. Hope the shop gets you up and runnin' again soon.

[Guest Yolk]

greeneg, read this article :( Yolk

[greeneg 0]

Thanks, Yolk, that's an interesting and useful link. Unfortunately, he's really talking about activating WIN 7 after it installs, neither I nor MS support could get it to install at all; the installation failed after failing to find an "appropriate" partition. Perhaps the double install procedure might have done something, it would have never occurred to me to try the "upgrade" installation. Thanks again, learn something every day.Ed

[greggerm 312]

Yolk's installation process should certainly help you, Ed - By booting off the DVD drive (and directly into the setup program), you should be able to manually destroy any partitions on the drive without worrying about it being locked by a currently running OS. This would truly clean up your system and give you a blank slate to install W7 onto. (Note of caution - just remember not to delete partitions off of your backup drives, holding your data through the conversion!) That being said, the setup program should not "require" that anything be there, so once you've purged the C: drive, I would wager that all would go smoothly. No unsupported partitions.... in fact, no partitions at all... will stand in your way. You would then need to follow the "double install" process to properly activate Windows 7.I use the double-install method exclusively in my builds. Perhaps it's a little OCD of me, but it assures me of the utmost in clean installations to do it that way... without breaking the bank on a full version of the OS.Good luck!-Greg