Windows 7 Upgrade with a Clean Installation

Directing your attention to the current promotion Microsoft has in place for people to purchase an upgrade to windows 7, I had a few questions and began to search around. After much reading I along many others, from my findings on the internet, still have one question left answered. It on the surface a simple question but people can’t find a clear answer because of ambiguous meanings of terms that have come up previously when upgrading to Vista. The question at hand is…

Can the upgrade version that is currently half off, for either version for x32 or x64 bit, be able to install Windows 7 without having to complete a full installation of our previously purchased OS?

I have seen several answers including:

  • The previous OS must be installed, and then that is upgraded to Windows 7 with all applications and settings being left in tact
  • The previous OS must be installed, and then when Windows 7 is installed the drive is formatted and a clean install then takes place.
  • You can boot from the Windows 7 disk and during the installation it will prompt to put the previous OS disk in and key entered for verification.
  • Depending on what a person’s intentions are, or preference, one or several of these are good solutions. My personal preference would be the third listed for when you want to install on a new hard drive, so there isn’t anything lingering or “brought over” from a previous OS. With only a week left in the promotion I sure hope this is clarified by an official source before it is up. If a person were to use the ‘Full’ installation and not an ‘Upgrade’ then there would be no question that this would be possible. But for either a $50 or $100 upgrade to the OS is a great deal and even better if it will install how you prefer.

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