O.K. I have Vista home premium 64 bit and purchased win 7 professional upgrade when I go to install it says this is not compatible and I need to do a new/custom install and to back up all my files. My question is what is the best option to back up files. Especially large files like games. My daughter has all her sims and WOW stuff. I have a bunch of valve games that I don't have disks anymore urgh. Some I d/l directly from valve so I should be ok there. I have all my internet setting wow this is going to be alot of d/l. I do have an external HD but it has a bunch of XP files from my last comp on it? Can I just add my vista stuff to it? Thanks for the help...
Win 7 & upgrade
- Thread starter Compequip
- Start date
Bodaggit23
Active Member
You won't be able to keep any installed programs when you format and reinstall.
Just back up your pictures, documents, music, etc to your external.
You'll then need to boot from the disc, not just run it from within your current version of Windows.
Pressing a key while the computer is booting up will get you to your boot menu. Each pc is different, so look for the "Press __ Key to enter Boot Menu" when the computer is first booting.
When the install begins, select "Custom (advanced)", select the partition you want to install to, Format, Next, ect.
To be honest, Windows 7 will back up all your data automatically to a folder called "WINDOWS.OLD" located on the C: drive, so backing up your data is unnecessary, but still a good idea.
Just back up your pictures, documents, music, etc to your external.
You'll then need to boot from the disc, not just run it from within your current version of Windows.
Pressing a key while the computer is booting up will get you to your boot menu. Each pc is different, so look for the "Press __ Key to enter Boot Menu" when the computer is first booting.
When the install begins, select "Custom (advanced)", select the partition you want to install to, Format, Next, ect.
To be honest, Windows 7 will back up all your data automatically to a folder called "WINDOWS.OLD" located on the C: drive, so backing up your data is unnecessary, but still a good idea.
Thank you, this is what win 7 said I need to do is click on custom. It also says unable to save files. I d/l win 7 from the student offer 741 so I can just start the install from my desktop there is an icon for it. I was just wondering about all my big files like games, it sux to d/l and reinstall. Oh well thanks for the help. I thought going from Vista home premium 64 to Win 7 professional I could just load on top of. Guess not......
Bodaggit23
Active Member
You cannot start the install from the desktop, as stated.
You have a 64bit operating system running, so you cannot throw a 32bit disc in and expect to just click on the installer.
It will not work.
You need to boot from the install disc.
If you downloaded an .ISO file, then you'll need to burn that image to a disc,
then boot from it to install.
Both vista and win 7 I have is 64 bit. There is an icon on my desktop that says set up 1 and set up 2. I d/l a very large file it took 30 min from the student offer deal. They also emailed me my key code and are sending a disk for a back up. They said I don't need the ISO file unless I'm going from 32 to 64 bit.