Windows 7 versions, upgrades, installation options?

G'day mates,

I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Questions:

1. Do the various upgrade versions permit upgrading from XP? If so,
has anyone who's done it been happy with the result and do they have
any advice on the process re "gotchas" to avoid?

2. If upgrading from XP is legit, can it be done on a clean system by
"showing" the XP CD at the right time, or does it have to be done over
the installed XP system?

3. Are there likely to be problems with upgrading from an XP OEM
product? (Particularly if trying to do it on a clean system using a
Dell XP installation CD.)

4. Finally, what features and limitations of the various Win7 versions
would be important to consider for a single user home network where
the user is not presently into the "entertainment" side of things, but
perhaps could be persuaded down the track if it's a Really Good Thing!
I'm really only wondering here why one would pay nearly twice as much
for an upgrade to "Professional" or "Ultimate" (which happen to be
priced the same at the moment) over the cost of "Home Premium". [And,
if looking at needing the full version (i.e. can't upgrade from XP)
then the extra cost for the higher versions is about 50% above Home --
and in this case Ultimate is only marginally dearer than Pro.]

Thanks for any guidance and advice you can offer.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

"Phred" wrote in message
...
G'day mates,

I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Questions:

1. Do the various upgrade versions permit upgrading from XP? If so,
has anyone who's done it been happy with the result and do they have
any advice on the process re "gotchas" to avoid?

Just about anybody qualifies for upgrading pricing.
From WIN7 EULA
"To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that
is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of
the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may
no longer use the software you upgraded from."




2. If upgrading from XP is legit, can it be done on a clean system by
"showing" the XP CD at the right time, or does it have to be done over
the installed XP system?

To upgrade an XP system you would need to select the custom instal option if
installing over the old OS.
A custom installation doesn't preserve your programs, files, or settings so
it will be a "clean" installation.
You could also use the upgrade 7 media to do a clean instal on a blank hard
drive if you so desire.
For most people it just works although if the installer doesn't accept the
serial number there are simple ways around that detailed here.
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp


3. Are there likely to be problems with upgrading from an XP OEM
product? (Particularly if trying to do it on a clean system using a
Dell XP installation CD.)

**** happens but Microsoft have a Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor trhat can advise
about some known issues.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en


4. Finally, what features and limitations of the various Win7 versions
would be important to consider for a single user home network where
the user is not presently into the "entertainment" side of things, but
perhaps could be persuaded down the track if it's a Really Good Thing!
I'm really only wondering here why one would pay nearly twice as much
for an upgrade to "Professional" or "Ultimate" (which happen to be
priced the same at the moment) over the cost of "Home Premium". [And,
if looking at needing the full version (i.e. can't upgrade from XP)
then the extra cost for the higher versions is about 50% above Home --
and in this case Ultimate is only marginally dearer than Pro.]

The home premium version should suffice.
Professional adds the possibility to download and run a virtual XP mode
designed for running legacy business type software. Not designed to run
intensive games.
Professional allows the included backup and restore to be used over a
network if it matters.
Ultimate adds disc encryption.


Thanks for any guidance and advice you can offer.

For most people at this stage there isn't a great need to move from XP to 7
unless it comes with a new pc or you want to satisfy your curiosity.

Phred wrote:
G'day mates,

I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Questions:

1. Do the various upgrade versions permit upgrading from XP? If so,
has anyone who's done it been happy with the result and do they have
any advice on the process re "gotchas" to avoid?

2. If upgrading from XP is legit, can it be done on a clean system by
"showing" the XP CD at the right time, or does it have to be done over
the installed XP system?

3. Are there likely to be problems with upgrading from an XP OEM
product? (Particularly if trying to do it on a clean system using a
Dell XP installation CD.)

4. Finally, what features and limitations of the various Win7 versions
would be important to consider for a single user home network where
the user is not presently into the "entertainment" side of things, but
perhaps could be persuaded down the track if it's a Really Good Thing!
I'm really only wondering here why one would pay nearly twice as much
for an upgrade to "Professional" or "Ultimate" (which happen to be
priced the same at the moment) over the cost of "Home Premium". [And,
if looking at needing the full version (i.e. can't upgrade from XP)
then the extra cost for the higher versions is about 50% above Home --
and in this case Ultimate is only marginally dearer than Pro.]

Thanks for any guidance and advice you can offer.

Cheers, Phred.


Starting with Windows 7, you can no longer use an upgrade disk on a
blank hard drive.

If you want to do a clean install - it's called a 'custom install' in
Win7 - with an Upgrade disc, you have to boot from the Upgrade disc, and
use the Upgrade disc to format your hard drive. This allows the Upgrade
disc to 'see' that you have a qualifying earlier version of Windows
installed.

After your hard drive is formatted, you can proceed with installing
Windows 7 from the Upgrade disc.

This is now the only *legal* way to do a clean install with an Upgrade disc.

Daddy

G'day Fred, Hank, and others,

Thanks very much for your comments and advice. If I interpret you all
correctly:

a. It is *legal* to use the Win7 upgrade option if you own Win XP.

b. But you can't "upgrade" over the XP system, you need to do a fresh
install in that case [done as a "Custom installation"]..

c. Using a [Dell] XP OEM CD to authenticate your entitlement to the
upgrade is possible -- there may be "issues", but there are solutions.
[E.g. see above -- booting from the Win7 upgrade CD solves this?]

d. You can configure Win7 to run older software (e.g. WinXP programs)
but NOT run games [or other stuff?] that *requires* XP _per se_.

e. "Home Premium" will do most things private individuals need, but
you need "Professional" for those legacy XP (and older?) programs.
Ultimate adds bugger all for most private users. [As a matter of
interest, a mate of mine found that Vista is more tolerant of his old
(Win95 and DOS) Pascal and C programs than XP was.]

Thanks again for your help.

In article , "Fred"
wrote:
"Phred" wrote in message
...
I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Questions:

1. Do the various upgrade versions permit upgrading from XP? If so,
has anyone who's done it been happy with the result and do they have
any advice on the process re "gotchas" to avoid?

Just about anybody qualifies for upgrading pricing.
From WIN7 EULA
"To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that
is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of
the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may
no longer use the software you upgraded from."

2. If upgrading from XP is legit, can it be done on a clean system by
"showing" the XP CD at the right time, or does it have to be done over
the installed XP system?

To upgrade an XP system you would need to select the custom instal option if
installing over the old OS.
A custom installation doesn't preserve your programs, files, or settings so
it will be a "clean" installation.
You could also use the upgrade 7 media to do a clean instal on a blank hard
drive if you so desire.
For most people it just works although if the installer doesn't accept the
serial number there are simple ways around that detailed here.
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp

3. Are there likely to be problems with upgrading from an XP OEM
product? (Particularly if trying to do it on a clean system using a
Dell XP installation CD.)

**** happens but Microsoft have a Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor trhat can advise
about some known issues.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...-7659-4bd9-9e5
1-2497c146af15&displaylang=en

4. Finally, what features and limitations of the various Win7 versions
would be important to consider for a single user home network where
the user is not presently into the "entertainment" side of things, but
perhaps could be persuaded down the track if it's a Really Good Thing!
I'm really only wondering here why one would pay nearly twice as much
for an upgrade to "Professional" or "Ultimate" (which happen to be
priced the same at the moment) over the cost of "Home Premium". [And,
if looking at needing the full version (i.e. can't upgrade from XP)
then the extra cost for the higher versions is about 50% above Home --
and in this case Ultimate is only marginally dearer than Pro.]

The home premium version should suffice.
Professional adds the possibility to download and run a virtual XP mode
designed for running legacy business type software. Not designed to run
intensive games.
Professional allows the included backup and restore to be used over a
network if it matters.
Ultimate adds disc encryption.

Thanks for any guidance and advice you can offer.

For most people at this stage there isn't a great need to move from XP to 7
unless it comes with a new pc or you want to satisfy your curiosity.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

"Phred" wrote in message
...
G'day Fred, Hank, and others,

Thanks very much for your comments and advice. If I interpret you all
correctly:

a. It is *legal* to use the Win7 upgrade option if you own Win XP.

b. But you can't "upgrade" over the XP system, you need to do a fresh
install in that case [done as a "Custom installation"]..

c. Using a [Dell] XP OEM CD to authenticate your entitlement to the
upgrade is possible -- there may be "issues", but there are solutions.
[E.g. see above -- booting from the Win7 upgrade CD solves this?]

d. You can configure Win7 to run older software (e.g. WinXP programs)
but NOT run games [or other stuff?] that *requires* XP _per se_.

To reiterate. The Pro and Ultimate versions include the ability to run a
virtual pc and both versions entitle you to obtain and run a fully licensed
copy of XP under the virtual pc.
However the specs of the virtual components aren't equivalent to what you
have physically installed in your pc.
e.g. the Graphics card ia a "Virtual PC Integration Component S3 Trio32/64"
Sound is "Soundblaster 16 or AWE32"
I presume this allows people to run legacy type office applications on
Windows 7 that normally refuse to work on Windows7.

Additionally Windows7 also includes the Compatibility Mode option to run
programs in compatibility modes for one of 95/98/ME/200/XP/Vista and etc
OS's if required.


e. "Home Premium" will do most things private individuals need, but
you need "Professional" for those legacy XP (and older?) programs.
Ultimate adds bugger all for most private users. [As a matter of
interest, a mate of mine found that Vista is more tolerant of his old
(Win95 and DOS) Pascal and C programs than XP was.]

Yes the older programs I have run fine under Win7 without any intervention
on my part.
Many more recent programs have been updated to run better on Vista and 7.

Also I forgot to mention the Win7 DVD includes an "Easy Transfer Wizard"
that some might find useful
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...-transfer.aspx
Quote:
"Moving to a new PC or installing a new operating system on the one you
have is a lot easier with this tool. Windows Easy Transfer will copy your
files and settings to an external drive and move them back."


Thanks again for your help.

In article , "Fred"
wrote:
"Phred" wrote in message
...
I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Questions:

1. Do the various upgrade versions permit upgrading from XP? If so,
has anyone who's done it been happy with the result and do they have
any advice on the process re "gotchas" to avoid?

Just about anybody qualifies for upgrading pricing.
From WIN7 EULA
"To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that
is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place
of
the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you
may
no longer use the software you upgraded from."

2. If upgrading from XP is legit, can it be done on a clean system by
"showing" the XP CD at the right time, or does it have to be done over
the installed XP system?

To upgrade an XP system you would need to select the custom instal option
if
installing over the old OS.
A custom installation doesn't preserve your programs, files, or settings
so
it will be a "clean" installation.
You could also use the upgrade 7 media to do a clean instal on a blank
hard
drive if you so desire.
For most people it just works although if the installer doesn't accept the
serial number there are simple ways around that detailed here.
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp

3. Are there likely to be problems with upgrading from an XP OEM
product? (Particularly if trying to do it on a clean system using a
Dell XP installation CD.)

**** happens but Microsoft have a Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor trhat can
advise
about some known issues.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...-7659-4bd9-9e5
1-2497c146af15&displaylang=en

4. Finally, what features and limitations of the various Win7 versions
would be important to consider for a single user home network where
the user is not presently into the "entertainment" side of things, but
perhaps could be persuaded down the track if it's a Really Good Thing!
I'm really only wondering here why one would pay nearly twice as much
for an upgrade to "Professional" or "Ultimate" (which happen to be
priced the same at the moment) over the cost of "Home Premium". [And,
if looking at needing the full version (i.e. can't upgrade from XP)
then the extra cost for the higher versions is about 50% above Home --
and in this case Ultimate is only marginally dearer than Pro.]

The home premium version should suffice.
Professional adds the possibility to download and run a virtual XP mode
designed for running legacy business type software. Not designed to run
intensive games.
Professional allows the included backup and restore to be used over a
network if it matters.
Ultimate adds disc encryption.

Thanks for any guidance and advice you can offer.

For most people at this stage there isn't a great need to move from XP to
7
unless it comes with a new pc or you want to satisfy your curiosity.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

"Phred" wrote in message
...
G'day mates,

I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Any chance of letting us know where these reasonable priced Win 7s are
located??
Thanks
Lauren

True except for "c.". You don't need the XP CD since you aren't doing a
"true" upgrade.

--

Regards,
Hank Arnold
Microsoft MVP
Windows Server - Directory Services
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/personal-pc-assistant/

On 1/26/2010 10:31 AM, Phred wrote:
G'day Fred, Hank, and others,

Thanks very much for your comments and advice. If I interpret you all
correctly:

a. It is *legal* to use the Win7 upgrade option if you own Win XP.

b. But you can't "upgrade" over the XP system, you need to do a fresh
install in that case [done as a "Custom installation"]..

c. Using a [Dell] XP OEM CD to authenticate your entitlement to the
upgrade is possible -- there may be "issues", but there are solutions.
[E.g. see above -- booting from the Win7 upgrade CD solves this?]

d. You can configure Win7 to run older software (e.g. WinXP programs)
but NOT run games [or other stuff?] that *requires* XP _per se_.

e. "Home Premium" will do most things private individuals need, but
you need "Professional" for those legacy XP (and older?) programs.
Ultimate adds bugger all for most private users. [As a matter of
interest, a mate of mine found that Vista is more tolerant of his old
(Win95 and DOS) Pascal and C programs than XP was.]

Thanks again for your help.

In , "Fred"
wrote:
wrote in message
...
I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Questions:

1. Do the various upgrade versions permit upgrading from XP? If so,
has anyone who's done it been happy with the result and do they have
any advice on the process re "gotchas" to avoid?

Just about anybody qualifies for upgrading pricing.
From WIN7 EULA
"To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that
is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of
the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may
no longer use the software you upgraded from."

2. If upgrading from XP is legit, can it be done on a clean system by
"showing" the XP CD at the right time, or does it have to be done over
the installed XP system?

To upgrade an XP system you would need to select the custom instal option if
installing over the old OS.
A custom installation doesn't preserve your programs, files, or settings so
it will be a "clean" installation.
You could also use the upgrade 7 media to do a clean instal on a blank hard
drive if you so desire.
For most people it just works although if the installer doesn't accept the
serial number there are simple ways around that detailed here.
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp

3. Are there likely to be problems with upgrading from an XP OEM
product? (Particularly if trying to do it on a clean system using a
Dell XP installation CD.)

**** happens but Microsoft have a Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor trhat can advise
about some known issues.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...-7659-4bd9-9e5
1-2497c146af15&displaylang=en

4. Finally, what features and limitations of the various Win7 versions
would be important to consider for a single user home network where
the user is not presently into the "entertainment" side of things, but
perhaps could be persuaded down the track if it's a Really Good Thing!
I'm really only wondering here why one would pay nearly twice as much
for an upgrade to "Professional" or "Ultimate" (which happen to be
priced the same at the moment) over the cost of "Home Premium". [And,
if looking at needing the full version (i.e. can't upgrade from XP)
then the extra cost for the higher versions is about 50% above Home --
and in this case Ultimate is only marginally dearer than Pro.]

The home premium version should suffice.
Professional adds the possibility to download and run a virtual XP mode
designed for running legacy business type software. Not designed to run
intensive games.
Professional allows the included backup and restore to be used over a
network if it matters.
Ultimate adds disc encryption.

Thanks for any guidance and advice you can offer.

For most people at this stage there isn't a great need to move from XP to 7
unless it comes with a new pc or you want to satisfy your curiosity.

Cheers, Phred.

"Phred" wrote in message
...
G'day mates,

I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Questions:

1. Do the various upgrade versions permit upgrading from XP? If so,
has anyone who's done it been happy with the result and do they have
any advice on the process re "gotchas" to avoid?

2. If upgrading from XP is legit, can it be done on a clean system by
"showing" the XP CD at the right time, or does it have to be done over
the installed XP system?

3. Are there likely to be problems with upgrading from an XP OEM
product? (Particularly if trying to do it on a clean system using a
Dell XP installation CD.)

4. Finally, what features and limitations of the various Win7 versions
would be important to consider for a single user home network where
the user is not presently into the "entertainment" side of things, but
perhaps could be persuaded down the track if it's a Really Good Thing!
I'm really only wondering here why one would pay nearly twice as much
for an upgrade to "Professional" or "Ultimate" (which happen to be
priced the same at the moment) over the cost of "Home Premium". [And,
if looking at needing the full version (i.e. can't upgrade from XP)
then the extra cost for the higher versions is about 50% above Home --
and in this case Ultimate is only marginally dearer than Pro.]

Thanks for any guidance and advice you can offer.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

Worth a look

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp

In article , "Lauren
Orda" wrote:

"Phred" wrote in message
...

I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Any chance of letting us know where these reasonable priced Win 7s are
located??

G'day Lauren,

It was a recent "24-hour special" (in this case, it was a 48-hour
special because of Oz Day :-) offered by:
http://www.citysoftware.com.au/Browse/Browse.aspx
as one of their recent series of such offers ("Mega Deal of the Day"
to use their terminology). I don't really know how attractive the
pricing was ("was" because the deal finished about noon today) but
they had the Home Premium upgrade at $169 (full version at $265);
Professional was $329/379; and Ultimate was $329/389. [These prices
are Australian dollars.]

In the end I didn't take up the offer -- as someone said in this
thread, there's really no dire need to upgrade from XP; so I think
I'll wait until I *need* Win7, and by then I'll probably need a new
PC too. :-) In any case, maybe those prices aren't all that good
after all? (And, if they are, it's likely they'll be repeated in the
foreseeable future because CitySoft has done that in the past by
making a 24-hour offer covering a bunch of stuff they previously
listed individually.)

Thanks to all the folk who responded to my request for info and
guidance, and thanks again to Fred and Hank for their follow-up
comments. (Especially Fred, for setting out some pretty important
issues concerning the various versions of Win7.)

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

"Phred" wrote in message
...
In article , "Lauren
Orda" wrote:

"Phred" wrote in message
...

I saw some reasonable prices for the assorted Win 7 versions the other
day and wondered if it's worth buying.

Any chance of letting us know where these reasonable priced Win 7s are
located??

G'day Lauren,

It was a recent "24-hour special" (in this case, it was a 48-hour
special because of Oz Day :-) offered by:
http://www.citysoftware.com.au/Browse/Browse.aspx
as one of their recent series of such offers ("Mega Deal of the Day"
to use their terminology). I don't really know how attractive the
pricing was ("was" because the deal finished about noon today) but
they had the Home Premium upgrade at $169 (full version at $265);
Professional was $329/379; and Ultimate was $329/389. [These prices
are Australian dollars.]

In the end I didn't take up the offer -- as someone said in this
thread, there's really no dire need to upgrade from XP; so I think
I'll wait until I *need* Win7, and by then I'll probably need a new
PC too. :-) In any case, maybe those prices aren't all that good
after all? (And, if they are, it's likely they'll be repeated in the
foreseeable future because CitySoft has done that in the past by
making a 24-hour offer covering a bunch of stuff they previously
listed individually.)

Thanks to all the folk who responded to my request for info and
guidance, and thanks again to Fred and Hank for their follow-up
comments. (Especially Fred, for setting out some pretty important
issues concerning the various versions of Win7.)

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

I have a couple of Vista Home Premium Upgrades and am led to believe that
they qualify for uprade to Win 7 Home Premium. But have no idea what the Win
7 cost is to enable this.