How To Perform A Clean Vista Install Using A Vista Upgrade Product Key

Good post Grinler! Your steps worked for me just fine.

Cheers,
Jesse

I'm no preacher, far from it... but I'm curious about the ethics of this discussion. Does M$ deserve this? Is this "ok"?

From what I understand, it is OK since Microsoft designed it this way and knew about it when they released Vista.

Unless someone else has seen anything specific from MS,

as far as I know they have not come out and specifically stated that it is improper.

M$'s history has always been upgrade is upgrade and full version is full version. If this was meant to be a full version, you wouldn't have to do all this work to make it work. So... is it right? Anybody can buy the upgrade off the street and install it on a clean system, true, but that wasn't the purpose for M$ selling it that way. Their rules say for an upgrade you need a license from a previous full install version.

So, is it any better than having a pirated copy?

Do you need to do this if you bought a computer that is Windows Vista Premium Ready and you get the free copy in the mail?

No you will use your copy to upgrade it if you do not care about having a 100% completely clean install. Otherwise, yes you have to deal with this.

Okay so here's my problem. I bought a crappy compaq a few months ago that came loaded with Vista basic. Recently I was at a CompUSA that was going out of business and I picked up an upgrade to Ultimate for cheap.

But when I tried to upgrade, it was telling me I did not have a legitimate copy of windows to upgrade from. Weird. After awhile of messing with my computer and becoming angry and not thinking, I ended up wiping my hard drive clean without ever having created system recovery discs. Then I found this thread and my life was saved! I followed the steps and it installed great. I activated my copy of windows with no problem.

Well, while making some system upgrades I somehow damaged the master boot record, so I just reinstalled Windows. Again, I followed the steps in this topic to the letter. Only now, when I try to activate I get an error that tells me my product key can only be used for an upgrade and not a clean install.

It worked flawlessly the first time, why won't it work anymore?

Did you remove your previous version of windows? You could also have fixed your MBR by booting into the recovery console and typing:

fixmbr

Does the same apply when downgrading from Vista to XP? I have a user who purchased a laptop with a ready installed Vista OS but she prefers Windows XP. Can i run the XP install from within Vista or do i have to boot using the XP disc?

you cant run the xp install from withing vista

I wanna do this but i dont have the CD anymore....idk wut happened 2 it. So could i still do it without the CD?

I wanna do this but i dont have the CD anymore....idk wut happened 2 it. So could i still do it without the CD?

Nope - you need the Vista upgrade CD to install it. Unless you have proof of purchase and can plead your case, my guess is you're SOL. Sorry!

And, does anyone know if this still works? I'm about to build a new PC with a friend that'll dual-boot Vista Home Basic and Kubuntu.

So, you're saying that I could go out, buy the upgrade DVD instead of the full one, install the trial, and upgrade it from itself? Nice! Save me $200.

Does the same apply when downgrading from Vista to XP? I have a user who purchased a laptop with a ready installed Vista OS but she prefers Windows XP. Can i run the XP install from within Vista or do i have to boot using the XP disc?

you cant run the xp install from withing vista

u cud dual-boot vista and xp tho...if u have enough disk space:

http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp


i have a dual-boot system too. Works great, although i installed XP first, then vista.

As many of you are now finding out, in order to upgrade your copy of XP to Vista, you need to have XP currently installed on the computer and the setup program must be run from withing XP. No longer can you boot off of the setup DVD and just insert the media of older versions that you are upgrading from. What this means is that there is no true way of doing a clean install from a formatted hard drive as when you enter the Vista product key it will tell you the setup must be run from within the previous operating system. Another issue that occurs is that you will invalidate the XP product key that you are upgrading from.

Paul Thurott has discovered from internal Microsoft documents another method that you can use to perform a full install. To do this follow the steps below:

• Boot your computer form the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD. When you get to the setup screen, start a new setup of Vista.
  
  
• When prompted to enter your product key, Do not enter it. Instead click on the Next button and continue with the setup. This will install Vista as a 30-day trial.
  
  
• When prompted select the edition of Vista which you had purchased. So if you purchase Home Premium, select Home Premium. This is important, so do not pick a version that you did not purchase as it will affect later steps.
  
  
• Once the setup has completed and you are back at your new Vista desktop, run the setup program from the Vista DVD again from within the new Vista 30-day trial.
  
  
• Go through the setup, but this time when it asks for your product key, enter in the product key that came with your upgrade.
  
  
• When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or a Custom (advanced) install, choose the Custom (advanced) option to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, you are performing a second installation of Vista.
  
  
• Once setup has completed for the second time you will be able to activate Windows Vista as normal. You are now left with a fresh clean install of Vista and your original Vista install has been renamed C:\Windows.old. You can now delete the Windows.old folder as it is not necessary to be on your computer.

Why does this work? It works because Microsoft let the Vista 30-day trial act as a valid upgrade path for Vista and because you can install the trial to a empty drive. This keeps the process as clean as possible for those who do not own a Full install version of Vista.

Is this still a viable option or has MS blocked it?

TIA

Hello:

Just reading the posts on here.
I would also like to know if anyone knows if this is still possible
or if Microsoft has blocked this ?

Does anyone know ?

Thanks, Ruth