Just to confirm that the upgrade disc for Windows 7 that was supplied by some manufacturers does indeed allow you to do a clean install.
For those of you who don’t know how to do a clean install I’ll try and walk you through the steps in this walkthrough.
* BEFORE PROCEEDING PLEASE READ THIS *
The process will cause loss of data.
Without the correct software / driver your hardware may be rendered useless until installed correctly or Windows has a generic driver for your hardware.
If you want to proceed, please do so at your own risk and will not hold myself or the forum responsible for any damage, or injuries.
Please ensure you have all your relevant disc(s) and make sure you have the latest Drivers and that they’re supported by Windows 7 or at least Vista.
Please note that not all computers are the same and certain menu’s may be called something else or require you to change more options than listed here.
So far, what(s) needed:
1. Windows Install DVD and Serial number.
2. Driver(s) for your hardware.
3. Any software you want installing (Photoshop, Elements, and etc)
Good luck,… lets begin:
1. Configure your BIOS to Boot from your DVD Drive.
* Assuming your computer is off, when you power up usually in small writing it tells you to press a button to enter Setup. Mine is the function key ‘F2’ (Others have been CTRL+F12 or F11)
2. Somewhere in the BIOS there should be an option for ‘Boot Options’ (May be called something else depending on manufacturer) set your DVD drive as your first boot option and hard drive as second, Then save the settings and exit.
3. Your computer will now boot from your DVD Drive so ensure that the drive is loaded with your Windows Install disc, and option will shortly appear in the top left hand corner stating “Press any key to boot from DVD drive.”
4. Assuming you have clicked the “ANY” key you’ll have the standard loading windows setup files screen, The first few screens are pretty much straight forward, such as selecting the language and Accepting the terms and conditions.
5. Once you have got to a Window with a shiny button labelled “Install Now” selecting that button would be a good start!
6. Accept the license terms and you’ll get to the next window.
7. You should by now have a window with 2 options to choose from, Option 1 is the Upgrade option, and Option 2 is the Option that will allow you to perform a Clean install. For this step select “Custom (Advanced)”.
8. Okay so you’ve made it this far – Congratulations! – The point of no return… New computers usually have a recovery partition and you’ll have one partition with your existing Windows OS already installed. Be careful with which partition you choose! As you are about to wipe it clean.
9. Assuming you have selected the correct partition ( usually the one with the biggest size ) on the right hand side select “Drive options (Advance)” then more buttons will appear, select the button labelled “Format”.
10. Windows should proceed with its process and continue on it own until it completes with the installation. (The process took 15 minutes to install Windows 7 Home premium on my laptop but again will differentiate with other installations and systems).
11. Once the process completes it will ask you for a Username and Password, so create yourself an account.
12. After the account creation process you will be asked to enter a serial number.
13. A dialog window will appear for Automatic Windows Update, I opted for “Use recommended settings” again you may want to opt for another option.
14. Set your time zone, time and date settings, and you will have various dialogs for network configuration.
15. After completing the installation process and you’ve restarted your computer and logged into your account, I would suggest installing your Drivers, an Anti-Virus (various free anti-virus software online Avast, avg, etc) and do the Windows Update.
16. Enjoy your new and clean Windows 7 Install with the Upgrade disc.
I hope this helps.
For those of you who don’t know how to do a clean install I’ll try and walk you through the steps in this walkthrough.
* BEFORE PROCEEDING PLEASE READ THIS *
The process will cause loss of data.
Without the correct software / driver your hardware may be rendered useless until installed correctly or Windows has a generic driver for your hardware.
If you want to proceed, please do so at your own risk and will not hold myself or the forum responsible for any damage, or injuries.
Please ensure you have all your relevant disc(s) and make sure you have the latest Drivers and that they’re supported by Windows 7 or at least Vista.
Please note that not all computers are the same and certain menu’s may be called something else or require you to change more options than listed here.
So far, what(s) needed:
1. Windows Install DVD and Serial number.
2. Driver(s) for your hardware.
3. Any software you want installing (Photoshop, Elements, and etc)
Good luck,… lets begin:
1. Configure your BIOS to Boot from your DVD Drive.
* Assuming your computer is off, when you power up usually in small writing it tells you to press a button to enter Setup. Mine is the function key ‘F2’ (Others have been CTRL+F12 or F11)
2. Somewhere in the BIOS there should be an option for ‘Boot Options’ (May be called something else depending on manufacturer) set your DVD drive as your first boot option and hard drive as second, Then save the settings and exit.
3. Your computer will now boot from your DVD Drive so ensure that the drive is loaded with your Windows Install disc, and option will shortly appear in the top left hand corner stating “Press any key to boot from DVD drive.”
4. Assuming you have clicked the “ANY” key you’ll have the standard loading windows setup files screen, The first few screens are pretty much straight forward, such as selecting the language and Accepting the terms and conditions.
5. Once you have got to a Window with a shiny button labelled “Install Now” selecting that button would be a good start!
6. Accept the license terms and you’ll get to the next window.
7. You should by now have a window with 2 options to choose from, Option 1 is the Upgrade option, and Option 2 is the Option that will allow you to perform a Clean install. For this step select “Custom (Advanced)”.
8. Okay so you’ve made it this far – Congratulations! – The point of no return… New computers usually have a recovery partition and you’ll have one partition with your existing Windows OS already installed. Be careful with which partition you choose! As you are about to wipe it clean.
9. Assuming you have selected the correct partition ( usually the one with the biggest size ) on the right hand side select “Drive options (Advance)” then more buttons will appear, select the button labelled “Format”.
10. Windows should proceed with its process and continue on it own until it completes with the installation. (The process took 15 minutes to install Windows 7 Home premium on my laptop but again will differentiate with other installations and systems).
11. Once the process completes it will ask you for a Username and Password, so create yourself an account.
12. After the account creation process you will be asked to enter a serial number.
13. A dialog window will appear for Automatic Windows Update, I opted for “Use recommended settings” again you may want to opt for another option.
14. Set your time zone, time and date settings, and you will have various dialogs for network configuration.
15. After completing the installation process and you’ve restarted your computer and logged into your account, I would suggest installing your Drivers, an Anti-Virus (various free anti-virus software online Avast, avg, etc) and do the Windows Update.
16. Enjoy your new and clean Windows 7 Install with the Upgrade disc.
I hope this helps.
