Microsoft outlines Windows 7 Upgrade Paths
Microsoft have officially released a whitepaper documenting on the supported and unsupported upgrade paths for Windows 7 SKUs. The whitepaper details on the paths you can take to do an in-place upgrade or upgrade installation. Many people often mistaken these paths as the only way to upgrade no matter what. This isn’t the case. If you cannot follow one of the upgrade paths, you can simply do a clean installation. The upgrade paths are only for those who want to do upgrade installations.
Below are the upgrade paths from Windows Vista SP1/SP2 to Windows 7:
| Windows Vista SP1/SP2 | Windows 7 |
|---|---|
| Home Basic | Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate |
| Home Premium | Home Premium, Ultimate |
| Business | Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate |
| Enterprise | Enterprise |
| Ultimate | Ultimate |
It should also be noted that you cannot upgrade from any of the following upgrade scenarios:
- Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows XP, Windows Vista® RTM, Windows Vista Starter, Windows 7 M3, Windows 7 Beta, Windows 7 RC, or Windows 7 IDS
- Windows NT® Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server® 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2
- Cross-architecture in-place upgrades (for example, x86 to x64) are not supported.
- Cross-language in-place upgrades (for example, en-us to de-de) are not supported.
- Cross-SKU upgrades (for example, Windows 7 N to Windows 7 K) are not supported.
- Upgrades from Windows Vista to Windows N, Windows K, Windows KN, or Windows E are not supported.
- Cross-build type in-place upgrades (for example, fre to chk) are not supported.
- Pre-release in-place upgrades across milestones (for example, Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 RTM) are not supported.
If you’re looking to download the complete whitepaper, you can download it from Microsoft here.
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Tags: windows 7, windows 7 in-place upgrade, windows 7 upgrade, windows 7 upgrade paths
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9 Responses to “Microsoft outlines Windows 7 Upgrade Paths”
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WALL MART is going to start a “super” sale of some HP laptops and they come with Vista Home Basic, and because they are so cheap MS doesn’t want to update them to Windows 7 for free. I found this kind of weak!
So where’s the whitepaper that tells us what scenarios an Upgrade Disc can be used? Yes I know upgrade discs can do custom clean installs if you have a previous version of windows but at least make it clear.
The possible scenarios were posted above in that chart
The download link was also given at the very bottom of the post. You can download it here – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E170EBA1-5BAB-401F-BBF5-00F0EE7FE0FB&displaylang=en
There is a slight difference between upgrade installing using an upgrade disc and clean custom installing using an upgrade disc. The chart above only pertains to upgrade installs. I’m talking about scenarios like going from 32-bit to 64-bit with a custom install using an upgrade disc or from RC to the final. You CAN use the upgrade disc but you can’t do an upgrade install. I want to see a chart of scenarios where the upgrade disc can be used, just not for upgrade installs.
Microsoft still hasn’t clarified details on how the upgrade disk actually works. AFAIK, you can use the upgrade disk however you want as long as you have an existing genuine version of Windows that is newer than 2000.
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so is it possible to upgrade windows 7 rtm to retail?
RTM is retail lol.
please, No Words, but DEEDS!