Windows 7 Upgrade Eligibility and Paths
With the release of Windows 7, there are many different options to upgrade. In typical Microsoft fashion, there is some complexity to upgrading to Windows 7. This blog will explain the difference between “upgrade eligibility” and “upgrade paths”, and let you know your options based on which version you are currently running.
Upgrade Eligibility:
You are eligible to purchase an upgrade to any version of Windows 7 if you own any previous version of Windows starting with XP or later. Windows 98, 2000, and ME don’t qualify you to purchase an upgrade. If the PC you want to install Windows 7 on has a version of Windows older than XP, you will need to purchase a full retail or OEM version of Windows 7.
Upgrade Paths:
An Upgrade Path is a scenario where you can install Windows 7 without needing to back up your files. For example, if you are currently running Windows Vista Home Premium, and you want to go to Windows 7 Ultimate, you would be able to insert the Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade disk while running Vista, it would then “convert” your Vista operating system to Windows 7 Ultimate; However, if you are currently running Vista Home Premium and you want to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, you would have to back up your files and perform what’s called a “clean install” by rebooting your system from the disk and re-installing the operating system from scratch. You can only perform an upgrade path from the following versions of Vista to the corresponding versions of Windows 7:
Supported Upgrade Paths
| From: Windows Vista (SP1, SP2) | To: Windows 7 |
|---|---|
| Business | Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate |
| Enterprise | Enterprise |
| Home Basic | Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate |
| Home Premium | Home Premium, Ultimate |
| Ultimate | Ultimate |
Note: If you are upgrading from any version of Windows XP you will have to perform a clean install. There are no supported Upgrade Paths from Windows XP.
Dave Ruttenberg said
am October 31 2009 @ 12:26 am
Small hard disk drives are inexpensive… for example $60 – $80 or so can purchase a 320 GB drive… wouldn’t this be an ‘upgrade path’ for Windows XP users? The scenario would be to install the drive, install a Windows 7 full version on the new hard drive. At this point, all data files should be totally safe and operable with compatible Windows 7 software. There’s no need to backup the datafiles since they reside on a different disk drive than where the new Windows 7 operating system would be installed.
I plan to go a step further and purchase Windows 7 Professional because it allows the use XP Mode, which allows the operation of old Windows comatible software. To accomplish this, one would download and install Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode software, both available free on the Microsoft.com… Microsoft informs that virtual mode must be set in BIOS, and that is very easy to do. After that, reinstalling old application software, MS Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc., will operate the datafiles. I assume at this point, one has created a dual boot machine with selection of WinXP or Win7 set by BIOS boot drive option… Anyone see any flaws or omissions in this plan?
Jeremy said
am November 2 2009 @ 9:25 am
If you purchase a new HD and install Windows 7 on it, then you would have to re-install all of the applications that you had installed on the Windows XP hard drive on the new Windows 7 drive. That is not what an “upgrade path” is. An upgrade path is considered a scenario where you convert the operating system on one hard drive to a newer operating system without having to format the drive or completely re-install the OS. You are correct about having access to all of your old Windows XP files, because they will reside a different disk, but the applications will not be usable on the Windows 7 drive until they are re-installed on that particular drive. You are still eligible to purchase an Upgrade to Windows 7 however, because you own a previous version of XP.