Upgrading my laptop from Windows Vista to Windows 7, please advise

It's not too hard to upgrade from one OS to the other.

The best way to upgrade any OS is to go down the route of back all important documents and settings up (usually just copying the "Users" folder (Vista or 7) or "Documents & Settings" (XP only - the Documents & Settings folder is there on Vista but it's just a reference to the Users folder for older programs) folder from your hard drive (C:\) will do, unless you have games as some games tend to store the save game files in unusual places like some of The Sims games tend to store their saved games in Program Files.

After backing everything up from your laptop, remove your backup device and reset your laptop with the Windows 7 CD in the drive (I presume you've got a big laptop with an optical drive and not one of these small netbooks, otherwise you might need to create a bootable USB installation using something like BartPE).

As long as your laptop BIOS is setup right it should come up with a message like

"Press any key to boot from CD...."

If this message doesn't come up you need to go into the BIOS (normally by keep tapping the DEL key (DELETE) just as you switch your computer on, although some manufacturers also use F10, it should say on the bottom of the screen as it's booting up someting like "Press DEL to enter Setup" or "F10 - Setup" or even better if it says something about boot order i.e. "F11 - Change Boot Order" press that instead), and then find the boot order and change it to boot from CDROM first instead of hard drive (nb - even if you've got a DVD drive it's still CDROM the BIOS doesn't bother to differentiate between what type of "optical" drive it is, some do actually just call it OPTICAL.

When it comes up with that message press a key to get the computer to boot from the Windows 7 disc.

VERY IMPORTANT BEFORE GOING ONTO THE NEXT STAGE ENSURE ALL DATA YOU WANTED TO KEEP IS BACKED UP AND THAT THE DRIVE YOU BACKED IT UP TO HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE SYSTEM THIS IS THE POINT OF NO RETURN!

Once it's booting use the disk management screen to delete all partitions on your hard drive (there may be one there labelled recovery - you can delete this if you don't intend to go back to Vista and gain more space on your drive, or just leave it there in case of any emergency, I always delete it, but I know exactly how to restore Windows without the need of a recovery partition, due to many years of experience, having a HND in Software Engineering and also having Asperger's (it all helps )).

Once you've removed all the partitions then select the "unpartitioned space and tell Windows to install there.

At this point Windows will ask you to format the drive giving an option of NTFS (Quick) or NTFS, most of the time just use NTFS (Quick), no need to go overboard here because if your drive is quite big it can take Windows ages to format.

After that just carry on through the set up process and you will end up with a computer running a nice, new, and fresh copy of Windows 7.

As with all versions of Windows there is the option of "upgrading" from within Windows Vista, however I strongly recommend against this, because Windows has never been very good at this, because there are many DLL's, drivers, etc that may not be quite compatible with the next version of Windows this method can cause a right mess, and lead to numerous system problems.

Hi Jean,
yes, it is a reasonably straightforward process, even for someone new to upgrading, the on screen instructions will walk you though the process and it works pretty much every time with no problems.

BUT before you even start, make ABSOLUTELY sure that you have a COMPLETE and VALIDATED backup of your Vista system. I use Acronis TrueImage Home Edition for this purpose and backup to an external hard drive using the Acronis distribution disk as a boot device, so that I can be completely sure that nothing is changing in my Windows system. Remember to check the box in the options that specifies a validation of the backup copy after it has been created. Then, should anything go wrong with your Win7 upgrade, you can just reverse the Acronis process and be back where you started. Be aware though, that depending on the speed of your machine and the USB port, the backup will take a couple of hours or so, with another hour for the validation.

Then as the other posters have said, all you need to do is decide whether to do a clean install or upgrade over the top of Vista. Personally, I always clean install to avoid carrying over junk from the previous system but the upgrade over the top is an easier process, in that you don't have to re-install all your applications. Personal choice, either is good.

You might want to read through an article in Windows Secrets on upgrading to Windows 7:

http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/clean-install-windows-7-from-the-upgrade-disc/

The options for upgrading are explored there, including how to clean install from an upgrade disk (if you had XP instead of Vista, you wouldn't be able to physically upgrade). You might like to sign up for their weekly newsletter, too, it might seem a bit advanced to begin with but you'll soon start to build your knowledge. Start with the free edition, to see if you like it first.

And good luck with your upgrade!

I did a clean install on my Toshiba laptop this year without problems. I first checked out the Toshiba website for all the necessary updates but Windows did it all for me as part of the clean install. I also used Windows Easy Transfer which will save anything you don't want to lose. I am 70 years old so it can be done just be well prepared. Of course there will be less problems using this method but in means you have to purchase a full installation from Microsoft but I thought it was worth £99 to get my laptop running smoothly and it also cleans up all rubbish from you system.
Everything ran very well once all updates for peripherals was completed. One more thing you can check on Microsofts website if your machine is capable of running Win7 and discover any incompatibilities first. Good luck!

Jean,

You're doing yourself a favor. We bought a HP Pavilion "Entertainment PC" 17" laptop with a Centrino Chip and 4GB of ram in Jan 09. Slower to boot than it should have been IMHO, and the HD always seemed to be spinning whether in use or not. 6-months ago I put W7 64B Ultimate on. And it was an easy swap (I did a clean install just to get rid of Vista as completely as is possible). It is now a faster and quieter machine--both of which I can only attribute to W7. Office 2010 and all other programs run extremely fast and as advertised. No BSOD since the conversion. Good luck and enjoy. Almost forgot, as someone else mentioned, run the W7 Upgrade advisor and also check the install disks of your peripherals, particularly your printer. In fall 2010 I bought an HP Photosmart Premium printer. It's install CD says its compatible with Vista and XP. Well, guess what? That install disk would not work with the machine now running W7. Forget "compatibility mode" that won't help. You'll need to go the the manufacturer of your peripheral's website and download the W7 drivers--if they are available.

Hi Jean,

When Windows 7 came out last year, obviously a lot of people were in the same position you are . So Microsoft prepared a "Windows 7 readiness " tool. This basically checks your system and your hardware to see if your machine can install Windows 7. Go to Microsoft.com to see if the tool is still available.

Next,if you can find an upgrade disc from Vista to 7 it would make your install much easier.
If you're unsure about how to perform a clean install of Windows 7, go to your local computer store. A clean install is about $100.00. But make sure your hardware is up to date or you'll just be wasting your time and money.

DF

The questions whether update your operating system to a newer version or not, especially in case you can't risk any break in your work, is always difficult. I will advise a solution I've been adopting myself for about 12 years on all my computers (and computers in my firm).

Install a new version on a separate partition leaving the old version working as long as you are sure that a new version works as you expected, all drivers and programs are installed and working properly and you find that you can do all your work from the new system. Then you eventually delete the partition with an old system (or not).

The sizes of disks, even in notebooks, are so huge now that there shouldn't be a problem with disk space. To manage effectively all your partitions and operating systems you need a partition manager program. Multiboot option in Windows itself is too primitive and not user's friendly. I use BootIt Bare Metal (previously BootIt NG) and I can honestly recommend it (BTW it's even recommended by Microsoft). You can get it from Terabyte Unlimited (www.terabyteunlimited.com). I've been using this program for 10 years on about 10 computers and I had never any problems with it. On the contrary, many times this program protected me against data loss or work break, when one of my operating systems crashed or needed reinstallation.

You can easily create new partitions, resize, move or copy existing partitions without risking any data loss, and you can install even 255 various operating systems on one physical disk. You must only read the documentation before, but the program (and the documentation) is very user's friendly.

To be able to have access to all your data form two (or more) operating systems, even if one of them crashes, it's wise to keep on each booting partition only the system and programs. For all your data create a separate partition. It's a good idea not to use My Documents folder in its default place at all, or change My Documents to point to your data partition (for example D:/). You can do it in all newer versions of Windows. It's also good to keep other data (like your e-mails, address books etc.) on your data disk (partition) and not on any system disk. Most of the programs (like Microsoft Outlook) allow changing the default place of their data folders and files to be kept and saved on another logical drive.

The only problems you can have with a multisystem solution are licenses and activation rules of some programs and systems. You must check them for each program you use. Some licenses for one computer will recognize your computer as the same from all the systems, some not. Some licenses allow more than one activation, some activations you can transfer from one system to another, but you can't have them on two systems at the same time. But it's another subject.

I must admit that I, personally, can't imagine having only one operating system on any of my computers, even a netbook .

you should have information with the upgrade, can get upgrade adviser on the website and then when you start just follow the directions that came with the upgrade disk, disconnecting from the internet when it tells you and then connecting again to do the win7 updates when its installed, gl

Hi Jean,

You've gotten some good advice in this forum on how to safely upgrade your computer to Windows 7. Most have told you to go with Windows 7 64 bit and 4 Gb of RAM. Excellent advice. They also warned you about compatibility issues with software and hardware that you may encounter as well as to be sure to back everything up before you upgrade. Again good advice. Lastly, a clean install (full copy of Windows 7 64 bit preferably) versus an upgrade is the way to go. Once again good advice if you can afford it and are capable of setting up your programs again. Rather than repeat the same information I'm going to give you some quick help in the form of written advice and helpful links that will make the transition smoother. By the way if your system will run Vista (assuming it was not installed as an upgrade on top of Windows XP) then it should run Windows 7.

1. Minimum system requirements to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

2. Check your system by installing the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor that will tell you what hardware you may want to consider upgrading and drivers that may not work. It's available at:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor

3. After you run the Advisor you can go here to try and resolve your compatibility issues after you complete your clean install or upgrade:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx


4. If you do a "clean install" or "upgrade" I suggest:

Windows 7 Professional over Home Premium
The main advantages are networking, backup & restore options and running Windows XP business programs.

If your budget dictates that you go with Windows 7 HP for now you can upgrade to Windows 7 Pro later via the "Anytime Upgrade" option built into Windows 7. To find it:

-Click on the round Windows icon in the lower left of the Windows 7 task bar
-Click on All Programs
-Look for Windows Anytime Upgrade
-Click it and follow the instructions

Do go with a 64 Bit version if possible

If you are upgrading you cannot move from 32 bit to 64 bit. You must pick the version of Windows 7 (i.e. 64 bit or 32 bit) that is similar to your version of Vista.

5.After you have completed your clean install or upgrade to Windows 7 you may have some programs that won't behave properly. Windows 7 will allow you to run certain legacy programs in what's called a "compatibility mode" for previous versions of Windows. Here's how you accomplish it:

-Right click the program icon or in "programs" if that's where you launch from
-Select Properties
-Select Compatibility Tab
-Check the box "Run this program n compatibility mode for:
-Click drop down arrow
-Select your old version of Vista
-Click OK

Hopefully, this along with the other good advice in this forum will make your transition to Windows 7 painless.

BEFORE you decide on this upgrade BACKUP to an external device:
1. insure that you have backed up the entire USERS folder - some files won't copy but they are not necessary so you can ignore them.
2. Insure that you have the installation disks or install files for all the programs you are currently using on a CD/DVD/USB drive. Also that you have the keys necessary to reinstall the programs.
3. Verify that all programs you are using store data they create in the USERS folder. SOME do not, especially older programs. In those cases you must backup the data from the installation folder.

NOW you can get started. The best way to do an "upgrade" from/to anything is to do a clean install.
HOWEVER, it is more labor intensive and takes longer. Doing an UPGRADE may not be all Microsoft tells you it is. It depends on the state of each individual computer. ANY problems the current OS may have will be carried over to the new OS because the registry, with all of its current issues, is carried over. If it was not, as in the case of a clean install, then you would have to reinstall all your currently operational programs.

Doing an install on a new partition may or may not work as a clean install. - NOT recommended.

Doing a clean install by deleting ALL partitions on the HDD and recreating the C: drive partition during the install is the RECOMMENDED procedure.

Doing an install on a new HDD with the current one out of the system IS a clean install. RECOMMENDED - THIS has the added benefit that you still have EVERYTHING from the old system to fall back on.

If the old drive is left connected, it may not be a clean install and will likely be problematic.

Dual boot installations are definitely a no-no for me. And there is no point at all with Vista - you might be able to argue for XP, but I find no reason.

As suggested by others a clean install is the best bet BUT you don't get any of your old applications moved.

For $30 you can get Laplink's PC Mover, it works very well and will move just about all your applications to Windows 7. The only time it failed to work for me is when I had a system with the OS and Apps on different drives (none of them C), it got a little lost but still did most of what it was supposed to do.

(I do not work for Laplink and have no connection to them except as a customer)

I upgraded two laptops to Windows 7 Ultimate. I installed 4 GB memory and am able to use a 10 year old Canon Pixma printer that would not run with Vista. Since I communicate in both English and Portuguese Windows 7 Ultimate is a great choice!

In my computer business, I have had to upgrade a few Toshiba laptops to Windows 7. You DEFINITELY need to go to the Toshiba website and get ALL the info on upgrading your specific laptop to Windows 7. Toshiba laptops do NOT like to have their operating systems changed without a fight. Trust me!

I have been successful in 4 cases and I have one right next to my desk which used to run Vista, we tried to upgrade it to Windows 7, and now it will only run Windows XP.

The easiest way is to buy a new laptop with Windows 7 installed on it, and don't buy a Toshiba if you think you might want to upgrade it to Windows 8 coming out next year.

Lancashire

I had been thinking of installing Windows 7 on my daughter's Dell laptop that came with Vista. Generally speaking, if Vista will run a computer, then Windows 7 will as well. The decisive moment came when the hard disk failed on her laptop, and I needed to do something. So we went out and got a new hard disk, and I just went ahead and did a fresh install of Windows 7 on the laptop. It went really well, when the regular installation was done, all the laptop features worked. The touchpad worked fine, and the laptop went into sleep mode when the lid was closed, woke up when the lid was opened. The wireless and cabled networking both worked fine...in other words, everything just worked without having to get any special drivers from Dell for the system.

I'd switch to Linux (Ubuntu, Linux, or Xubuntu). I have a laptop that dual boots between Vista 64-bit and Ubuntu 64-bit. I now spend virtually all my time using Ubuntu. Faster, less resources, less problems. Boot to M$ about once a week just to update AV and check for patches. Ditto for my desktop machine.

First of all, I will tell you that Win7 is Vista SP2. So it's subject to following condition then you go on to Win7 :
1. Your Vista is 32bit;
2. Your Vista is Home Basic ( not Premium or above );
3.Your Vista restoration disc had been lost;
If you are excluded from above conditions, don't waste your money on Win7. All you need to do is clean install Vista from restoration disc and fully Windows Update and be sure to install Security Essentials, in case your system not running smooth.

I recently went from Vista to Windows 7 on a friends computer. I had purchased the upgrade and found that I could
not use it as I had a 32 bit OS (XP actually). My new computer has 8 gbs of RAM making a 64 bit OS a necessity.
So I bought a stand alone copy of Windows 7 Professional 64 bit and installed it on my new computer. The upgrade
discs sat on my shelf until my friend mentioned how much she hated Vista. I told her I had an unused upgrade and
would be happy to install it on her computer if she wanted it. She did. I did the following and everything went
very smoothly.

1. I ran Belarc and it gave me a "picture" of her computer's hardware components as well as a list of all the installed
programs. I printed a hard copy of the Belarc profile for later reference.

2. I made sure that she had recovery discs for the computers original setup. If you do not have recovery discs be
sure to make them. You probably won't need them but better safe than sorry.

3. I made backup copies of everything she did not want to lose. This is really important. Look at everything on your
computer and ask yourself if losing these files would be a problem. If the answer is yes back them up. A good
external hard drive is a smart investment. Keep copies of those things that are irreplaceable (photos,documents,
music files, etc.) on it and update regularly.

4. After doing the backup work I loaded the upgrade disc and Windows 7 pretty much did the rest. You have to
babysit the computer while the upgrade is installed because you have to occasionally accept terms, tell it to
continue, etc. Once Windows 7 was installed I looked at the Belarc profile and went onto the internet to look
for driver upgrades for the installed hardware (printer, etc.). Some of the installed programs also required
upgrades to work properly with the new operating system. All in all it was quite easy. Certainly easier than
formatting the hard drive and starting from scratch with a stand alone copy of Windows 7. Formatting and
installing from scratch requires the re-installation of all hardware drivers and programs (EVERYTHING).
Unless you are going from a 32 bit to a 64 bit OS the upgrade process should work just fine.

Hi;

It's not all that difficult to upgrade from Windows Vista to 7. First, go to:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=20
that is the link to the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - downlaod and run it! It tells you what version of Windows 7 you can run on your machine. Then, go out to the local computer store and buy an Upgrade Disc with the version of Windows 7 as advised by teh Upgrade Advisor. Then, stick right disc into your laptop's DVD drive, wait for an opening screen to appear, and "if available" click "upgarde now". Then the PC does a load of work (it is suggested that you go online and get automatic updates when it offers to do so). It takes a few hours, so you'll need a few cups of tea.

Back up your data, not the entire hard drive, scrub it, meaning format it, then put a fresh build of 7 on it. Make sure you have enough memory before you start. It's never a good idea to install one operating system over the top of another. Too many problems can come up if the other is not completely out of the system.

HI:

I teach low level computer classes and I can't tell you how many times students are crying about the fact that their upgrade and would I please help them with their problems or ask the full time staff to help them "fix" their screw ups.

PLEASE! First line of defense is to get a "techie" to be present before you start doing this upgrade. Have him or her to tell you what to do and YOU DO IT, not the techie. That way YOU will learn a bit more about computing.

Second line of defense. Go to the START menu. Do the following steps in order.
Click on ALL PROGRAMS.
Click on the ACCESSORIES Folder.
Click on the SYSTEM TOOLS Folder.
Click on SYSTEM INFORMATION.
You will get a Dialog Box with System Information on it.
Manage the window by shrinking it down to eliminate some of the excess space.
Now, do a screen shot of that window. (DO NOT PRINT! Or you will print from 30 to 60 pages of useless information). Use the ALT + PrntScrn key combo to capture that window.
Now, go to your word process or and PASTE the screen shot. PRINT several copies of that document (from the word processor).
Put all copies but one in a 1 inch - 3 ring binder.
Now, compare the one sheet against whatever information is on the package of your "Upgrade" or "Full Version" of software that you are thinking about upgrading to.
And, yes, use the MS tool to have it verify your system for the upgrade also.

Again, have the "techie" WALK YOU THROUGH THE PROCESS!!! GET THE EXPERIENCE OF DOING IT YOURSELF! Thank the techie by fixing him/her a great dinner!

Keep ALL DOCUMENTATION for your computer in that 1 inch - 3 ring binder - including all receipts for hardware, software, etc.

Keep notes on everything you add to your computer and list the CODES for any NEW software installed including UPGRADES or NEW operating systems. It doesn't take long to print that information out on a sheet of paper and store it in the binder. OR take a full sheet of paper and staple receipts to the paper and store it in the binder. Receipts I even copy to a sheet and then staple the receipt to that paper as well.

Hope this helps a newbie!!

I upgraded by laptop from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate and it was a breeze. First I upgraded the memory to 4 gigs. Then I ran the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and followed all the recommendations. It took several hours but it worked like a charm.

Upgrading to Windows 7 should be a worthwile process, definetely W7 is a good operating system.
Like nearly all the other contributors in this forum my advice is to make a backup copy of the whole Vista installation with a suitable program (like Acronis) but as I did this upgrade for few friends as well - Make sure that you have any special proprietary Toshiba driver for W7. I don't know your laptop but there might be special keys -like volume control - touchpad - etc. that are not included in the standard W7 installation disk.
Again, I don't know if this is the case with your laptop but it might be the case to:
- check with Toshiba support
- check on the Toshiba support web site if the (optional) drivers are available for W7
Hope somedody on the forum has your same laptop and is running W7 and is giving advices and/or confirmation to this issue. Hope this was of help.

Performing a Clean Install with an Upgrade Version of Windows 7 While most Windows 7 product editions are available in both Full and Upgrade versions, the differences between each aren't widely understood. The more expensive and seemingly more capable Full versions are designed to be installed only in a so-called "clean" install, as documented earlier in this chapter. That is, when you purchase a Full version of Windows 7 Starter, Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate, you're expected to install the software on a PC from scratch, and not upgrade an existing version of Windows to Windows 7. The Upgrade versions of Windows 7, despite their apparently lower status, are in fact more powerful than the Full versions, because they can be used in different ways. Yes, you can use an Upgrade version of Windows 7 to upgrade an existing version of Windows to Windows 7, but you can also use an Upgrade version of Windows 7 to perform a clean install of the operating system. The process for doing so, alas, is fairly convoluted. This wasn't always the case: in previous versions of Windows, you could boot a PC with the Upgrade Windows Setup disk and, at some point during setup, be prompted to insert the Setup disk from your then-older Windows version to prove that you qualified for Upgrade pricing. With that bit of legal maneuvering out of the way, you could then proceed with setup and complete a clean install using the Upgrade media. Unfortunately, Microsoft disabled this upgrade compliance capability back in Windows Vista, leading some to believe that it was now impossible to use Windows Upgrade media to perform a clean install. Microsoft's own support documentation says as much. In Knowledge Base article 930985, the company notes that "you cannot use an upgrade key to perform a clean installation of Windows." Fortunately, there are workarounds, including the method documented here, which should work for just about anyone, though the process is admittedly a bit time-consuming. According to Microsoft, the only way to perform a clean install of Windows 7 using Upgrade media is to do so on a computer on which a previous version of Windows XP, Vista, or 7 is already installed. For this to work, you need to insert the Windows 7 Upgrade disk while running the previous operating system, run Setup, and then choose Custom (Advanced) at the appropriate place during setup (as documented previously in this chapter). This method is perfectly acceptable for users who wish to install Windows 7 in a dual-boot setup, where two different operating systems reside on the hard drive simultaneously. But if you want a cleaner system that's free of previous OS detritus, there's a better way—a secret way. Undocumented Method for a Clean Install of Windows 7 with Upgrade Media To perform a clean install of Windows 7 with Upgrade media, you need to install Windows 7 once using the Upgrade Setup disk, but without entering your product key during Setup. Then, once you've loaded the Windows 7 desktop for the first time, you can run Setup again from within Windows 7 and choose Upgrade (even though you'll be "upgrading" to the exact same version of Windows 7). Allow Setup to complete a second time, and then you're good to go: you can enter your product key after the second Setup routine is completed and activate Windows 7 successfully.