Windows 7 Clean Install

[Sheep]

I'm currently using a Sony Vaio VGN-Z620D Notebook with Vista Business (32 bit), and I want to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate, for which I have a key. When I insert the disk for the "Upgrade" option, I'm informed that my operating system and the version of Windows 7 on the disk are not compatible, and that I should run a clean install.

My room mate tried upgrading his Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate using the disk, and it went off without a hitch, so I suppose if I wanted to upgrade, I'd have to purchase a Windows 7 Business key. I don't mind wiping my hard drive, so this shouldn't be required, as long as I can wipe my drive and do a clean install.

What is a problem, however, is that my hard drive is in MBR format, and Windows 7 can only install on a GPT format hard drive. I understand that one can easily convert an unpartitioned (and empty?) drive to GPT using Vista's Disk Management utility, but mine is partitioned. I have an empty EISA configuration (8.47 GBs) and a larger NTFS partition which I can access (where everything is installed, including Vista).

From what I understand, the EISA config partition is protected by the original equipment manufacturer, and so far, I haven't found any way to interact with it at all. I can only guess that it's reserved space into which a recovery disk could install. (Install Vista?)

Any insights the more technically proficient here could offer would be well received.

PS: Would it be worthwhile copying my entire WoW folder to a portable hard drive and copying it back onto the fresh Windows 7 install, or should I download WoW from Battle.Net. My download speed caps off at 1.4 MB/sec, I'm assuming B.Net caps off much lower?

[Chesspiece_face]

I can't respond to your hard drive question but regarding the WoW install, I recently upgraded to a new computer and used the Battle.net install option and it worked wonderfully. The biggest issue would be if you used a lot of addons and would have to redownload them and set them back up again. Installing a fresh copy of WoW using Battle.net took me about 30 minutes I believe.

Regarding your windows upgrade: Do you have the full version of Windows 7 Ultimate or just the upgrade? If it's the upgrade copy you will have to find a copy of vista or xp to install after you work out your hard drive issues so that you can upgrade off of it which may be easier or more cost efficient than purchasing a Windows 7 Business key.

[--Pete]

Hi,

I also do not have an answer for your main problem, but maybe I can be of a little bit of help.

The biggest issue would be if you used a lot of addons and would have to redownload them and set them back up again.

Just copy the AddOns and WTF folders to a thumb drive.

If it's the upgrade copy you will have to find a copy of vista or xp to install after you work out your hard drive issues so that you can upgrade off of it which may be easier or more cost efficient than purchasing a Windows 7 Business key.

None of this may be necessary. I remember seeing this article a while ago. Didn't pay it much heed since Windows 7 is not in my immediate future. But if I read it correctly, you might already have everything you need.

--Pete

[Lissa]

I'm currently using a Sony Vaio VGN-Z620D Notebook with Vista Business (32 bit), and I want to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate, for which I have a key. When I insert the disk for the "Upgrade" option, I'm informed that my operating system and the version of Windows 7 on the disk are not compatible, and that I should run a clean install.

My room mate tried upgrading his Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate using the disk, and it went off without a hitch, so I suppose if I wanted to upgrade, I'd have to purchase a Windows 7 Business key. I don't mind wiping my hard drive, so this shouldn't be required, as long as I can wipe my drive and do a clean install.

What is a problem, however, is that my hard drive is in MBR format, and Windows 7 can only install on a GPT format hard drive. I understand that one can easily convert an unpartitioned (and empty?) drive to GPT using Vista's Disk Management utility, but mine is partitioned. I have an empty EISA configuration (8.47 GBs) and a larger NTFS partition which I can access (where everything is installed, including Vista).

From what I understand, the EISA config partition is protected by the original equipment manufacturer, and so far, I haven't found any way to interact with it at all. I can only guess that it's reserved space into which a recovery disk could install. (Install Vista?)

Any insights the more technically proficient here could offer would be well received.

PS: Would it be worthwhile copying my entire WoW folder to a portable hard drive and copying it back onto the fresh Windows 7 install, or should I download WoW from Battle.Net. My download speed caps off at 1.4 MB/sec, I'm assuming B.Net caps off much lower?

When you look at the system in disk manager, how are the partitions listed? Do you see a restore partition of some kind (there's probably one there as most OEM laptops do this)?

A clean install will wipe whatever you want to remove from the hard disk which could entail the removal of the restore partition. If you want to go this route, there are several things you should do (I would say must, but not everyone cares that much).

First, if the restore partition has an option to create restore CDs and you have a CD-R or DVD-R in this laptop, create those disks (you will need anywhere from 1 to 4 blank CDs as this various between OEMs, my HP required 3).

Once the disks are created, backup any pertinent data either to CDs, a USB thumb drive, or USB Hard Drive.

Next, and this is very, very, important, go to Sony's website and look up your laptop and download all of the Windows 7 drives and burn them to a CD/DVD as you are going to need them once the install of Windows 7 completes.

Now, once everything is backed up you want to keep, driver CD/DVD ready, and you have functioning restore CDs as needed, there is one last thing that is needed. If your roomate has Vista media (or XP), borrow theirs and make a copy of the disk (you may need this for the install to go forward, if they don't have the media, see if you can track some down so that Windows 7 can check you are upgrading as you don't need to install the prior media, just confirm to the install that you have a prior version for an upgrade). Once you have a prior edition's media in hand along with the restore disks and backed up information, you're ready to begin.

Insert the Windows Ultimate disks and start the install. As the install begins, it should talk about wanting to repartition the system, go into this option. Within here you will get options to partition the drive as needed, I would opt to creating a partition for the OS and other heavy use programs (minimum of 40G, but probably needs to be larger) and create a second partition for data (storing documents, music, video, etc) that takes up the remainder of the hard drive. Once the partitions are created, install windows 7 to the partition designated as your system partition, the install process should format and then copy files to this partition to do the install. Once the system reboots and starts the install, have the WinXP or Vista media handy, it might ask for it, if it does, insert the media into your CD/DVD drive. Once the install reads this media, it should continue and install. Once the install is complete and you are up in Windows 7, it's time to put the driver CD/DVD in and install all the drivers. Once all drivers are install and you see all drivers functioning properly in Device Manager, you should be able to install all you programs and bring back any data from your backups you made.

[Sheep]

When you look at the system in disk manager, how are the partitions listed? Do you see a restore partition of some kind (there's probably one there as most OEM laptops do this)?

The partitions are both on disk 0, one is C:, the other is unlabeled. When I boot from the Windows 7 CD, I have the choice of which partition to install to (neither can be selected, as per my original post), and this is where I see that the unlabeled partition is reserved by the OEM. The unlabeled one is empty in Computer Management, but mostly full when viewing from the Windows 7 install screen. Weird?

First, if the restore partition has an option to create restore CDs and you have a CD-R or DVD-R in this laptop, create those disks (you will need anywhere from 1 to 4 blank CDs as this various between OEMs, my HP required 3).

I'll create the backup CDs tonight. I've already located the Vaio Recovery Disk tool, so it should be fairly straightforward.

Once the disks are created, backup any pertinent data either to CDs, a USB thumb drive, or USB Hard Drive.

Backup complete.

Next, and this is very, very, important, go to Sony's website and look up your laptop and download all of the Windows 7 drives and burn them to a CD/DVD as you are going to need them once the install of Windows 7 completes.

I have the drivers on a thumb drive. Check.

Now, once everything is backed up you want to keep, driver CD/DVD ready, and you have functioning restore CDs as needed, there is one last thing that is needed. If your roomate has Vista media (or XP), borrow theirs and make a copy of the disk (you may need this for the install to go forward, if they don't have the media, see if you can track some down so that Windows 7 can check you are upgrading as you don't need to install the prior media, just confirm to the install that you have a prior version for an upgrade). Once you have a prior edition's media in hand along with the restore disks and backed up information, you're ready to begin.

How does one test the functionality of restore CDs?

Secondly, I don't have access to any Vista media in any immediate fashion. The Windows 7 CD I have is not an upgrade CD, but rather the complete OS. In any case, as per Pete's link, it appears you can install the OS from scratch from an upgrade CD anyways?

Insert the Windows Ultimate disks and start the install. As the install begins, it should talk about wanting to repartition the system, go into this option. Within here you will get options to partition the drive as needed, I would opt to creating a partition for the OS and other heavy use programs (minimum of 40G, but probably needs to be larger) and create a second partition for data (storing documents, music, video, etc) that takes up the remainder of the hard drive. Once the partitions are created, install windows 7 to the partition designated as your system partition, the install process should format and then copy files to this partition to do the install. Once the system reboots and starts the install, have the WinXP or Vista media handy, it might ask for it, if it does, insert the media into your CD/DVD drive. Once the install reads this media, it should continue and install. Once the install is complete and you are up in Windows 7, it's time to put the driver CD/DVD in and install all the drivers. Once all drivers are install and you see all drivers functioning properly in Device Manager, you should be able to install all you programs and bring back any data from your backups you made.

If you don't mind, would you explain the reasoning behind partitioning in this manner? For instance, why not have a single partition, and install everything to that. Or, on the other hand, what about a partition that is exclusively for the OS, with everything else on another partition? I remember when installing Vista, the OS needed more space on the hard drive to install than it eventually ended up taking after installation. Will this be the case for Windows 7 as well?

Thank you for the informative replies!

[Lissa]

If you don't mind, would you explain the reasoning behind partitioning in this manner? For instance, why not have a single partition, and install everything to that. Or, on the other hand, what about a partition that is exclusively for the OS, with everything else on another partition? I remember when installing Vista, the OS needed more space on the hard drive to install than it eventually ended up taking after installation. Will this be the case for Windows 7 as well?

Thank you for the informative replies!

The reason for having a second partition where you store data is in case you need to reinstall the O/S and the hard disk is fine, you don't need to backup the data per se. All the data is there without having to store it anywhere else.

And yes, very likely Windows 7 will show up smaller than it says it needs to install, but it will grow over time anyway as you patch it and the like. Typically the OS drive is where you put the OS and any files that you use a lot.

[Sheep]

Another setback: the recovery disks can only be made with RDVDs, which I don't have on hand. I'll pick some up next time I'm in town and let you know how it goes.

[Archon_Wing]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows...ta-to-windows-7

Some versions of Windows can't be upgraded with the installation disc you're trying to use. For example, you can't upgrade a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version, or upgrade from a higher edition of Windows, such as Windows Vista Ultimate, to a lower edition, such as Windows 7 Home Premium. If this is the case, you'll need to use the Custom option during installation.

Doesn't look like it'd work; only vista ultimate can go straight to 7 ultimate; vista buisness would only upgrade to 7 professional. :(Well that was needlessly confusing.
Edit: Oops, it seems like you were already aware of this.


According to the page, it also sucks badly for XP users who must do a clean install; and of course XP is still used the most... way to go M$ /rant. Sure it'd be hard to jump 2 generations and a clean install for new OS is always better , but it'd be really hard to convince people to go over to 7 like this.