How to fresh install windows 7 over vista

Windows 7 is just temporarily "loading files" into memory for the setup process. You'll be removing everything on your computer as part of the Windows 7 clean install in a future step. After the Windows 7 install files are loaded into memory, you'll see the Windows 7 splash screen, indicating that the setup process is about to begin.

You don't need to do anything at this point either. Choose the Language to install , Time and currency format , and Keyboard or input method that you'd like to use in your new Windows 7 installation. Select Next. Select Install now in the center of the screen, under the Windows 7 logo. This will officially begin the Windows 7 clean install process. Do not select the Repair your computer link at the bottom of the window even if you're completing this clean install of Windows 7 as part of some larger repair project for your computer.

The Repair your computer link is used to start a Windows 7 Startup Repair or perform another recovery or repair task from System Recovery Options. If you're performing a clean install of Windows 7 as a solution to a major problem but have not yet tried a Startup Repair, do that first. It could save you the trouble of completing this clean install process. The Windows 7 setup process is now beginning. No need to press any keys here—everything is automatic.

The next screen that appears is a textbox containing the Windows 7 Software License. Read through the agreement, check the I accept the license terms checkbox under the agreement text, and then select Next to confirm that you agree with the terms. You should always read "small print" especially when it comes to operating systems and other software.

Most programs, Windows 7 included, have legally binding limits on how many computers the application can be installed on, among other limitations. You are not breaking any laws or contracts by reinstalling Windows 7 via this clean install. As long as this particular copy of Windows 7 is only being operated on one computer, you're OK. In the Which type of installation do you want?

Select Custom advanced. Even if you are upgrading from a previous operating system to Windows 7, I highly recommend that you do not follow the Upgrade installation. You'll get better performance with less chance of issues if you follow these clean install steps. In this screen, you'll see each partition that Windows 7 recognizes. Since a clean install involves the removal of all operating system related partitions, if they exist, we'll do this now.

If, and only if, you're installing Windows 7 on a new hard drive, which of course does not have an operating system on it to remove, you can skip directly to Step 15! Windows 7 setup considers partition management as an advanced task, so you'll need to select the Drive options advanced link to make those options available.

In the next few steps, you'll delete the partitions containing the operating system you're replacing with Windows 7, be it Windows Vista, Windows XP, a previous installation of Windows 7, etc. Now that all available drive options are listed, you can delete any operating system related partitions from your existing hard drive s. Before continuing, please be aware that deleting a partition will permanently erase all data from that drive. By all data I mean the operating system that's installed, all programs, all data saved by those programs, all music, all video, all documents, etc.

Highlight the partition you want to delete and then select the Delete link. Your list of partitions may differ considerably from mine shown above.

On my computer, I am performing a clean install of Windows 7 on a computer with a small 30 GB hard drive that has previously had Windows 7 installed. Many people, for example, have second hard drives or partitions that act as backup drives. That's certainly not a drive you want to be deleting. After deleting the partition, Windows 7 setup will prompt you to confirm the deletion. The message says "The partition might contain recovery files, system files, or important software from your computer manufacturer.

If you delete this partition, any data stored on it will be lost. Choose OK. As I spelled out in the last step, please be aware that all the data stored on that drive will be lost. If you have not backed up everything you want to keep, select Cancel , end the Windows 7 clean install process, restart your computer to boot back into whatever operating system you have installed, and back up everything you want to keep.

To be clear: This is the point of no return! There's no reason to be scared, I just want it to be very clear that you can't undo the deletion of the drive you selected after you choose this OK button. If there are any other partitions that need to be deleted, you can do so at this time. For example, the Windows 7 installation I had on my PC previously created this special MB very small partition to store system data in.

This is most definitely related to the operating system that I'm trying to completely remove from my computer, so I'll delete this as well. Highlight the partition and select the Delete link. As you can see, the partition we deleted in the last step is gone. It may appear like it's still there but if you look closely, you'll see that that same So how do I get this to work? PurdueRy Lifer. Nov 12, 13, 4 0. Why not format the drive during the install?

Originally posted by: PurdueRy Why not format the drive during the install? I tried running the repair on the win7 disk. Originally posted by: astroidea I tried running the repair on the win7 disk. That program looks great! But how could I run it given that I can't get into windows? It doesn't appear to be bootable. Originally posted by: astroidea That program looks great! KeypoX Diamond Member. Aug 31, 3, 0 Are you srue bios is set to boot off right harddrive? Originally posted by: PurdueRy Originally posted by: astroidea That program looks great!

Originally posted by: KeypoX how many harddrives do you have? Could you install windows to any of the other hard drives? Either that or erase only the windows folders from the one you are installing to?

Backup all of your most important files, folders, and other data. Hopefully you have complete backups of your data already. Make sure you are connected to the Internet so updates can be downloaded and installed during the upgrade process.

If you already ran Upgrade Advisor, just ignore Check compatibility online because all it will do it point you to Upgrade Advisor anyway. At the type of installation screen, select Upgrade and not Custom. The desktop will be configured and you can start using Windows 7 with all of your files and most settings intact. Not everything will be exactly how it was in Vista, so allow yourself time to go through and make the appropriate tweaks. The amount of time it takes will vary between systems.

Yours will probably take a lot longer though depending on the size of the hard drive and amount of data. Overall an in-place upgrade is a relatively simple and effective process. How to download and install Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor? Read the info about how to install at the MS Windows 7 site here. Everything in your response makes total sense to me.

It was for this reason that Dell Techs thought the only way to completely resolve the registry problems was to start over completely with Windows 7. After I ordered Windows 7 I started to think about the Dell-installed programs for which I do not have the original disk since it came installed on my laptop. So, what do I do to get those programs back onto my laptop i. LoJack, McAfee Anti-virus, etc.

I just do not know enough about computers to know what things will be able to be restored through my OS "Backup and Restore" feature. I have the disks for all the other programsand hardware that I personally installed i. MS Office, printer, scanner, etc. I just do not want to lose those other things that I paid for when I had my laptop configured by Dell a little less than a year ago. I just don't want to cause more problems for myself by doing something incorrectly.

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