Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to retail

178101213

Comments

  • edited February 2010
    Wanted to let everyone know. It worked for me. Awesome. Thanks.
  • edited February 2010
    Robert this is simply amazing! I am planning on doing the downgrade to Home Premium OEM tomorrow. I have a question either for you or for other readers who have successfully done this: I know it's completely subjective, but what have your upgrade times been like? I'm wondering if I need to commit an hour or two, or just let it run overnight?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Charlie: It depends on how much data you have stored on your C: drive. I have a very small amount, as I store all my files and programs on another partition, so my upgrade process was only about an hour. Other people have reported as much as 4-5 hours.
  • Tim
    edited February 2010
    I am upgrading from Windows rc 7 to Windows 7 Ultimate from an iso image. I copied the image to a flash drive and edited the cversion.ini file. I have tried editing it to 7000 and 7077 and neither has worked. It goes through almost the whole upgrade, and at the very end it fails, restores my previous installation and then tells me that it isnt compatible with my current version of Windows,etc. can anyone advise what could be the problem?
    Best Regards!
  • edited February 2010
    Hey, I'm trying to downgrade from the RC to Home Premiums RTM. to my knowledge I followed all instructions to the letter, however after pressing upgrade I get a message saying that I can't upgrade from Ultimate to Home Premium. I double check the Reg and everything looks fine. I just copied and pasted the text from the article into the boxs. I am from Canada though. should that make a difference?
  • Dan
    edited February 2010
    I followed the instructions exactly and got only an unidentified error message. The installation program first asks whether I want to go online for updates to Windows 7. Maybe those updates disable this tweak.
  • edited February 2010
    Every time I try to do the upgrade I get this message.

    Windows 7 Ultimate cannot be upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate. You can choose to install a new copy of Windows 7 Ultimate instead, but this is different from an upgrade, and does not keep your files, settings, and programs. You’ll need to reinstall any programs using the original installation discs or files. To save your files before installing Windows, back them up to an external location such as a CD, DVD, or external hard drive. To install a new copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, click the Back button in the upper left-hand corner, and select “Custom (advanced)”.

    Thoughts?
  • edited February 2010
    Sorry don't respond to that last post. I made a moronic mistake.
  • edited February 2010
    Do the contents of the retail version of Windows have to be copied to a folder on a separate drive or can it be copied to a folder on the same drive (=C) you are upgrading to?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    They can be copied to the same drive, just make sure that there's at least 20GB free on that drive for Windows to move files around during installation.
  • Dan
    edited February 2010
    The $19.95 version of Laplink Pc Mover (in place upgrade edition) works to enable a fairly painless transition from RC to Home Premium RTM. You install PC Mover on the RC drive and run it. Then use Home Premium Upgrade to do a Custom installation over the top of the RC drive. Then install and run PC Mover on the Home Premium installation. Nearly all settings and programs transfer correctly, with the exception of Norton 360 so far.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    This article performs the same action, is 100% free, works virtually every time, and saves <i>everything</i> during the upgrade. Laplink is clearly inferior.
  • edited February 2010
    Brilliant! Thanks. RC Ultimate to RTM Home Premium with no probs at all.... took all afternoon but worked like a dream.
  • edited February 2010
    I tried the upgrade today and here is what the upgrade found on the compatibility check.


    Upgrading Windows will affect the following devices and/or programs:

    These devices might not work properly after the upgrade. Before upgrading, we recommend updating the drivers for these devices. Cancel the upgrade, open Control Panel and search for "update device drivers", or go to the device manufacturer's website to search for updated drivers.
    Storage controllers: AB58MNH0 IDE Controller
    Storage controllers: ABFVH437 IDE Controller
    These programs might not work properly after the upgrade. We recommend uninstalling these programs before upgrading. Cancel the upgrade, open Control Panel, and search for "uninstall a program". (Note: Programs marked as * can be safely reinstalled after the upgrade.)
    Daemon Tools
    iTunes (Please deauthorize computer prior to upgrade)
    ATI CATALYST Install Manager *
    ATI Catalyst Control Center *
    SCSI Pass Through Direct
    MagicISO Virtual CD/DVD Manager *

    I'm not sure what to do about the IDE controllers. Windows said they were up to date when I checked them in device manager. I also went through that list of programs windows recommended unistalling and unistalled everything except the SCSI Pass Through Direct. I couldn't find that in uninstall manager. Is there a away to bypass these warnings and go ahead with the upgrade? Windows didn't give me a choice it just made me cancel out of the installation.

    Thank you for your help.
  • edited February 2010
    Hello Thrax!
    Unfortunately I read your article just after I made the upgrade from RC ultimate to RTM Professional and was getting an error. I followed another article on the internet to upgrade windows and it havent said I needed to change my version in the registry before the instalation.. So I was able to upgrade but now the windows is not recognizing my valid Professional serial number, because he thinks he is Ultimate.
    My question is: Will I Have to do a Clean Instalation then or there is a way to make the windows see now he is "Professional" and then accept my key?

    thanks and sorry if any english mistakes.
  • edited February 2010
    Just wanted to stop by and say thanks again. I ended up 'upgrading' from the RC to Home Premium OEM this afternoon. Took about 2 hours and everything is just as it was before I upgraded. Such a relief and wayyyyy less of a hassle than a clean install.
  • edited February 2010
    Thrax,

    Thank you, thank you, thank you !!!
    I got the dreaded 1 day expiration notice that the eval copy was expiring. After searching everywhere for the Vista disk to reinstall and not finding it I stumbled across your "solution". I followed it exactly and voila! I am up and running (albeit 4 hours later). Yes I had the upgrade and yes I had the key so piracy was never an issue. But what a saving solution you provided. I can attest it works perfectly, the edits are nothing challenging to anyone who has ever run regedit and the result is perfect. Thanks again for the help.
  • edited February 2010
    The problem I am running into is going from a 32bit OS to the final version of 64bit. It will not let me convert. Any ideas?
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    You cannot do an in place upgrade of 32-bit to 64-bit. You must wipe and reinstall to change architecture.
  • edited February 2010
    I need a little help. Is the suggestion to copy the installation files to a folder on the drive containing the win 7 rc os, drive c in my case? Can the upgrade be run from there or do the installation files need to be copied to a separate partition or to a usb drive?
  • edited March 2010
    Hi guys
    Can someone please help me
    I have a t400 that had RC 7100 on it. I followed the steps exactly to install a retail copy of windows 7 ultimate so i skipped step 3

    The install went fine it appears however for some reason it did its reboot in the middle to try and restart and it is just hanging now. It keeps giving me the "starting windows screen" sits there for a few moments and then does it all over again. Any ideas. Im basically screwed if this install just got hosed.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2010
    Telecaster: you're not required to run the compatibility check. Windows would have let you install even if you hadn't run it at all, never mind uninstalled things it recommended. Further, upgrading from Win7 to Win7 should have resulted in zero compatibility warnings anyway, since it's going to be the exact same system. You could have ignored it entirely and just went on.

    Bernardo: I'm not sure, but can you try doing the relevant registry edits post-upgrade and see if it'll accept it after the fact? Otherwise, you may be out of luck...

    Frank Coughlan: You can copy the folders to any drive you want, including your own C (boot) drive. It's no problem.

    Bobby, can you boot with the install media in the drive? Can you boot into safe mode? Can you get into the "Repair" function on the install disk and perform a startup repair?
  • edited March 2010
    Thanks for the tips. Worked well here beautifully. Had to uninstall itunes and remove all references from the registry for Epson Perfection1240, although not attached.

    Once upgraded (from RC Ultimate to Home Pemium)had no Internet access. Fortunately found a tip (using my phones access) that ESET antivirus had to be uninstalled and reinstalled. Was blocking Windows 7 from everything. Could be useful for someone.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2010
    Interesting. Thanks for that, equus.
  • edited March 2010
    Snarkasm: thanks for the awnser. I tried searching and changing in registry everything that was Windows "Ultimate" to "Professional", but when I try to activate it still tells me that my license is for another windows SKU. Must have files or hidden registry keys that tells Windows his version.. if only I knew them..
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2010
    Bernardo, how is your system set up currently? Do you have programs installed to a different partition than the OS is on?

    If so, your best bet is to use Windows Easy Transfer to pull your My Documents and such out of Windows, reinstall properly, then transfer the information back in; that should retain most of your programs and stuff. Thrax has done this before - he might chime in with more info.
  • Dan
    edited March 2010
    Thrax, the method outlined in this posting does not work every time. It did not work for me and did not work for others who have posted here.
  • edited March 2010
    Yes, my programs are installed in another partition!
    With Windows Easy Transfer I wont need to install everythig again?
    By "reinstall" you man clean install right?
  • Dan
    edited March 2010
    Also, when I used the method outlined in the posting, to the letter, the upgrade failed "due to unknown error." Further, it altered my boot partition on the RC machine so that the partition is not recognized in any other machine. It also disabled many of my programs on the RC machine.

    Fortunately, I had made an Acronis Trueimage backup before using the technique. The technique also disabled Acronis Trueimage on the RC machine. So I had to use a different machine to restore the image to another drive, and I inserted that into the RC machine, thus restoring my RC configuration. Then I used Laplink Pc Mover on the RC machine, followed by installing Win7 HomePreium over the top of the RC installation, followed by running PC Mover again with acceptable results. The printer drivers did not transfer and Norton 360 did not transfer.
  • edited March 2010
    Having a tough time here... I'm getting this error, although I've followed the document exactly. I've tried this with Win7 Ultimate and also a Win7 Professional and both give this error. Any ideas?

    "Windows 7 Ultimate cannot be upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate. You can choose to install a new copy of Windows 7 Ultimate instead, but this is different from an upgrade, and does not keep your files, settings, and programs. "
This discussion has been closed.