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Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby augie » Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:17 pm

phileysmiley wrote:Well I really don't need it for storage and backup. I have several external HDD's that I regularly use to backup the laptop.

I don't have a clean install option with this disc. It only allows you to upgrade from Vista.

There's also no way to dump that little guy. I already tried. The laptop is made so that you can't do that. It's for restore.


OK, meaning that you don't have a 'Custom Install' option? If so then you are stuck to the upgrade. If you don't mind doing some legwork, restore the Vista and then upgrade to W7. At least this way you'll have the minimum amount of carry-over crap from other currently installed apps on Vista. Otherwise keep on with the new W7 install on D:, not sure how you managed that.
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Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby phileysmiley » Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:29 pm

augie wrote:OK, meaning that you don't have a 'Custom Install' option? If so then you are stuck to the upgrade. If you don't mind doing some legwork, restore the Vista and then upgrade to W7. At least this way you'll have the minimum amount of carry-over crap from other currently installed apps on Vista. Otherwise keep on with the new W7 install on D:, not sure how you managed that.

No, all you can do is upgrade from Vista. I really don't want to restore the Vista because I'll have more crap on it then than I do now. I spent a lot of time getting rid of the crap it came with and customizing it myself. Then I'd have to remove all their crap all over again and then reinstall all my programs all over again.

The D install was another version of W7 that I got prior to this upgrade from Toshiba.
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Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby augie » Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:44 am

I really don't want to restore the Vista because I'll have more crap on it then than I do now.


Hehehe, I wonder if the upgrade disk has a routine that re-installs all that crap if it ain't already there! :P :lol: Sorry Larry, I really hope it ain't so, though a 'funny' thought nevertheless.;)
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Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby phileysmiley » Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:01 am

augie wrote:
I really don't want to restore the Vista because I'll have more crap on it then than I do now.


Hehehe, I wonder if the upgrade disk has a routine that re-installs all that crap if it ain't already there! :P :lol: Sorry Larry, I really hope it ain't so, though a 'funny' thought nevertheless.;)

Oh Good Lord I hope not. :blink No, I think it's just a standard W7 but it's coded to only upgrade on a Toshiba laptop with pre-installed Vista.
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Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby Grav!ty » Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:25 am

There have been a lot of reports about being able to simply select "Custom" during install and then format and perform a clean install, from the upgrade disks. One can also apparently, install to a blank drive with no OS on it using the upgrade disk, provided one doesn't insert a product key during setup and also provided one unchecks "Automatically activate Windows" during setup. After setup is complete one can then "change the product key" and activate online.
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Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby augie » Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:35 am

Grav!ty wrote:There have been a lot of reports about being able to simply select "Custom" during install and then format and perform a clean install, from the upgrade disks. One can also apparently, install to a blank drive with no OS on it using the upgrade disk, provided one doesn't insert a product key during setup and also provided one unchecks "Automatically activate Windows" during setup. After setup is complete one can then "change the product key" and activate online.


Yup, exactly right Graham but I doubt Larry can do this. (or some variant of such).

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Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby phileysmiley » Wed Dec 02, 2009 7:47 pm

Sorry I haven't gotten back on this. I popped the disc in after your posts to start walking through the installation and at some point a html page pops up with a long series of steps they force you to take before you can proceed. You have to go to MS and run a test, see if your Vista programs are compatible, register your upgrade at Toshiba, bla bla bla. It was too much to deal with at that point so I had to set it aside for when I have more time and patience.
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Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby phileysmiley » Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:40 pm

Finally doing my Toshiba upgrade. When you pop in the disc, it brings up a whole procedure, which is actually pretty good. Create Recovery Discs (which I had already done), backup data (ditto), run Windows Update, and check AV compatibility (as far as i know the NOD32 I'm using for Vista is compatible but I guess I'll find out).

Then download, install, and run the W7 Upgrade Advisor. Actually a cool tool, it had me attach all my USB devices and it checked compatibility of all my software and drivers. Anything I needed to uninstall before upgrading it told me to uninstall, and anything that needed to be upgraded now it had links to do so. It also told me what I would no longer be able to use with W7.

The last step was to download and install the Toshiba Upgrade Assistant, which basically overrides the entire W7 installation process and does a custom installation. It's totally hands-off.

I really didn't want to try playing around with it since they seem to have made it quite proprietary and any hack could void my warranty.

============================

Just found this:

Some Toshiba drivers and utilities that will normally be included in a Windows Vista installation on Toshiba laptops need to be uninstalled in order to complete a Windows 7 in-place Upgrade from Windows Vista.

The Toshiba Upgrade Assistant for Windows 7 is software that prepares a Windows Vista installation on supported Toshiba laptops to be upgraded to Windows Vista (by removing certain Toshiba-provided drivers and utilities), kicks off the Windows 7 Upgrade process, and then updates the new Windows 7 installation with drivers and utilities from Toshiba.

The Toshiba Upgrade Assistant for Windows 7 automatically:

1. Determines which model of Toshiba laptop you have
2. Uninstalls software that needs to be removed from Windows Vista prior to upgrading to Windows 7
3. Automatically launches the Windows 7 Setup program to begin the Upgrade process
4. Automatically downloads and installs Toshiba-supplied software needed to maximize your Toshiba laptop's functionality immediately after the Windows 7 Upgrade process is completed
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Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby augie » Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:04 pm

Sounds real nice Larry, I hope they didn't install any 3rd-party stuff again!
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Re: Windows 7 Free Upgrade

Postby phileysmiley » Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:07 pm

Not at all. They showed me the whole list of all the components it found that it needs to install and let me check/uncheck each one. They are all Toshiba drivers and software, like the DVD player and disc creator, camera software, audio drivers, video drivers, ethernet drivers, Intel chipset drivers, and registry patches. No 3rd party software.

=====================

EDIT: Next step it listed all the components it needs to UNinstall before proceeding. They are essentially most of the components they just downloaded, mostly drivers. It's uninstalling them now.

I can't imagine if I did a clean install having to track down and uninstall and then download and reinstall 16 drivers and components. Definitely more room for error if I'd done it manually.

This is all automated.

======================

Well they made one huge mistake. After the Upgrade Assistant completed uninstalling the components and W7 installation was ready, I got a dialog asking me to insert the disc (which was already in -- I'd never been told to remove it). The disc started spinning but the dialog would not go away. The disc was not recognized in Computer. I tried removing and reinserting the disc -- same thing. I could not get past the "insert disc" dialog and I could not get the installation to run. I tried restarting, same thing. I was stuck in an endless loop.

I decided to go to Toshiba Support to look for an answer but the forum did not recognize my ID & password. So I clicked "forgot password" and it didn't recognize my email. So I started all over again with a new registration. I got the validation email, validated it, and went to log in. Password not recognized. So I clicked forgot password and went to enter my email again to get a new password and it said user ID not recognized. So I went back and started all over again, went to the registration page, and entered my email. Of course, it said "user already registered." So I clicked forgot password again. I got the email with my password and went to log in and, you guessed it, password not recognized. The very same one they had just emailed me.

I gave up on the forum and called them. First I gave him a good piece of my mind. After finally getting to where he understood what I was saying, it turned out that all I needed to do was remove the disc, restart, and then insert the disc. Then it was recognized and the W7 installation began.

I had tried reinserting the disc with the computer on, and I had tried restarting the computer with the disc in. The only thing I hadn't tried was restarting the computer without the disc. Now, why did they not say in the dialog, " remove disc, restart, insert disc." Simple.

At any rate, W7 is installing now and will hopefully transfer all my settings, files, and programs.

=====================================

Boy, when they said it could take up to 6 hours they were right.
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