Windows 7 Upgrade Scenarios
Scenario 1: Upgrade from a Higher-End Vista/XP Version to a Lower-End Windows 7 Version

Upgrade type: Custom

Here's the deal. You're running some version of Windows Vista. But you want to upgrade to a lower-end version of Windows 7. For example, perhaps you have Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, and you want to "upgrade" to Windows 7 Home Premium.

Should be easy, right?

Should be, but isn't. Here's how it works. Anyone using a valid, activated version of Windows Vista (or XP) qualifies for any Windows 7 Upgrade version. But in order to perform a "true" (or "in-place") upgrade, you must be upgrading to an equivalent, or higher-end, Windows 7 version. That process is very straightforward, and you can read about it my previous article, Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7.

But what about that "equivalent or higher-end" bit? What if you are, in fact, upgrading to a lower-end version of Windows 7? The chart below will help you figure out which versions of Windows Vista are equivalent to which versions of Windows 7:

Looking at this chart, you can see that an in-place upgrade from, say, Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium is perfectly acceptable. As is an in-place upgrade from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate.

But what if you want to upgrade from Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 Home Premium? In that and other similar cases, an in-place upgrade is impossible. So you will have to perform a migration, a process I describe in Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 (don't be thrown by the title, it works the same for Vista-to-7 as well).

Here are some screenshots that illustrate important parts of the process.

1. You start with some version of Windows Vista, in this case Windows Vista Business.

2. Attempting an in-place upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium, by choosing "Upgrade" during Setup, will fail, because Windows Vista Business is a higher-end version than Windows 7 Home Premium.

3. Instead, you must choose a "Custom" install type during Setup. (Be sure to backup your files and data first.) When you do so, you're provided with a simplified disk partitioning screen in which you cannot change the partition of the disk on which Windows now lives.

4. When you choose this disk, Setup informs you that your old Windows install will be backed up to a Windows.old folder structure.

After clicking through that last screen, Windows 7 Setup will perform a clean install, replacing your older Windows Vista install. You can activate this version of Windows without issue. Success!

Continue to Upgrade Scenario 2: 32-bit to 64-bit...

--Paul Thurrott
October 26-28, 2009

Windows 7 Upgrade Scenarios

Series Introduction
Vista to a Lower-End Win7 Version
32-Bit Vista to 64-Bit Windows 7
Upgrade a Netbook to Windows 7
Upgrade Windows 7 RC to RTM
More soon...

Windows 7 Upgrading on the SuperSite Blog
Windows 7 Question of the Year
Clean Install with Upgrade Media
Family Pack is Identical to Upgrade
No One Is Endorsing Piracy
No Multiple Installs with Hack
A Bit of Microsoft Backpedaling
Microsoft Talks Upgrade Media

Ed Bott on Windows 7 installation and upgrade
Dear Microsoft: What's the Deal?
Finally, Some Upgrade Answers
All About Microsoft Licensing
Clean Install with Upgrade Media
Ed Bott on ZDNet
Ed Bott's Windows Expertise

More SuperSite install guides
Windows 7 Clean Install Screens
Upgrading to Windows 7: Intro
Upgrade from XP to Windows 7
Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7
Clean Install with Upgrade Media

But wait, there's more!
Visit my Windows 7 Activity Center to view every Windows 7 article I've ever published, dating back to 2007. And check out my Windows 7 posts on the SuperSite Blog!