Windows 7 "Upgrade"...

[Byrna 0]

I feel like an idiot for not being able to figure this out, but Microsoft is not explicitly stating what software you must have in order to use an "upgrade" copy of Windows 7 anywhere that I can find. It appears to me that you need to upgrade from Windows Vista and Windows XP users will need to by a "full" copy of Windows 7. I just can't find this clearly laid out anywhere. So, that's the question. I'm running Windows XP Home 32 bit. Can I use an "upgrade" version or do I need a "full" version of Windows 7? Also, I could get a student discount on the Windows 7 Profesisonal Upgrade. If I can use an upgrade package, can I mix the XP Home I already have and the 7 Professional I could get? Thanks.

Hello ESzczesniak,In case you are not aware, it would be also wise to run the Microsoft "Windows Compatibility Advisor" on your current Windows XP to see which of you existing programs and hardware/drivers will work, which may have some "known issues" and which are downright "incompatible" with Win7. Here is the link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows...upgrade-advisorThis installs and runs and then generates a pretty detailed report on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 and its compatibility with many of your installed software and hardware. It may not be "perfect" in its assessment, but will still give you a good idea about what will work. By the way, you can run this whether or not you are doing a clean install or an upgrade. It won't matter. The Windows 7 installation DVD contains ALL THE VERSIONS of Windows 7 as an image. This is very different from the previous versions of Windows which contained only one version on each disk you purchased. With Win7, depending on what "option" you pick to install during your installation and the key that you enter, the correct version of Win 7 is then selected from the installation DVD and setup on your PC.Hope this helps.John

[smallstool 0]

I did a clean install of Windows 7 last week using a Windows 7 "Student upgrade" bought legitimately for under

[Guest -BeNt-]

And for you guys who are doing the "upgrade" install on a fresh disk I have one suggestion. To save yourself the problems like you had this time doing registry tweaks or double installs. Image your drive after installation, so next time you need to install you can simply re-image the drive and skip all that garbage. Look up Macrium Reflect it's free and works very very nice!