Vista : Upgrade Clean Install not possible?

NickO · 29 Jan 2007 at 00:35

Hiya, not sure if this has been covered before, but i have just read over on DailyTech http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5887 that people who buy Windows Vista upgrades can no longer do clean installs like they did for XP. I have a legit boxed version of XP and planned to buy the Vista Ultimate upgrade retail, as i change my pc bits a fair bit. Personally I dont like upgrading OS, but prefer to do clean installs to make sure I minimise probs, but this really messes things up.

Can anyone confirm please?

thanks

Slinwagh · 29 Jan 2007 at 00:37

My understanding is that you need a full copy of the previous operating system e.g. Windows XP and then you can perform the upgrade.

james32 · 29 Jan 2007 at 00:50

NickO said:
Hiya, not sure if this has been covered before, but i have just read over on DailyTech http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5887 that people who buy Windows Vista upgrades can no longer do clean installs like they did for XP. I have a legit boxed version of XP and planned to buy the Vista Ultimate upgrade retail, as i change my pc bits a fair bit. Personally I dont like upgrading OS, but prefer to do clean installs to make sure I minimise probs, but this really messes things up.

Can anyone confirm please?

thanks

this has been the same for any microsoft operating system, upgrade cds are
not worth the hassle as you would have to install your previous operating
system before you could install the new upgraded one.

MehulLakhani · 29 Jan 2007 at 06:56

Not quite - XP upgrade cd's let you do a full install, but it asks you for proof of your old operating system first - usually you just insert your win98 cd etc etc .

I think this is the same for Vista . . . . but could be wrong.

R

Mehul

gotheb1ues · 29 Jan 2007 at 09:16

This is why i am buying Ultimate OEM Only $253 australian. If i have to activate by phone because i have changed my hardware i will just tell the person on the phone that this is the exact same computer that came with my OEM install and is not installed on any other computers. They have to let you activate.

d.chatten · 29 Jan 2007 at 09:19

MehulLakhani is correct in reguards to the XP upgrade CD, but, with the Vista upgrade DVD you can't do a fresh install, you must have Windows XP/2000/2003 installed and activated in order to perform an upgrade to Vista, so, if you want to install Vista on a new HDD or a new system, you have to install and activate Windows XP/2000/2003 every time you want to install Vista using the upgrade DVD.

$c8t@ · 29 Jan 2007 at 10:02

d.chatten said:
MehulLakhani is correct in reguards to the XP upgrade CD, but, with the Vista upgrade DVD you can't do a fresh install, you must have Windows XP/2000/2003 installed and activated in order to perform an upgrade to Vista, so, if you want to install Vista on a new HDD or a new system, you have to install and activate Windows XP/2000/2003 every time you want to install Vista using the upgrade DVD.

this man speaketh the truth, i found out the hard way

although, it did let me upgrade a "non activated" version of XP Pro. (it was legitimate but there might be a chance people with ahem *other* copies might be able to perform an upgrade without a legal version. :confused:

might try it later and see. would imagine there is some xp blacklist key checker or something integrated into the install however it was rather odd it let me upgrade one that wasnt activated

NickO · 29 Jan 2007 at 10:36

thanks for the clarification. will get the upgrade but is a pain to install xp 1st. hmmmm will see how it goes

gotheb1ues · 29 Jan 2007 at 12:37

NickO said:
thanks for the clarification. will get the upgrade but is a pain to install xp 1st. hmmmm will see how it goes

Just means that it takes about 1-2 hours to install vista upgrade as you have to ring M$ to activate XP first and if worst comes to worst you have to ring them twice to activate BOTH...