Any work around to upgrade to 7?

[justgeorge]

I've got an OEM (Acer installed) attached to my Vista license. I don't still have my "recovery CD", so I have no way to access the hidden partition. I've tried alt F10 but it doesn't work. In fact I tried every F button on here.
The ERecovery Management folder is also missing. Is there any kind of recovery software I can use to get that folder back????
Without it I'm screwed. I just bought a new hard drive and upgrade for 7, but can't use it. My Windows Vista files are corrupt beyond repair. Microsoft tells me that if I go ahead and upgrade, the windows 7 files will be corrupt as well.

I've got $900 into this computer, and that's not including the new hard drive or upgrade package. That's a couple hundred more. Too damn much money for a fancy coffee table

Does anybody know a way out of this mess???

George

 

[JDFan]

See HERE --- IT has a downloadable iso of the VISTA recovery files provided by microsoft for this type of situation !!

Otherwise if you are uncomfortable using a torrent download you could also use The methods explained HERE to perform a clean install using the upgrade media.

 

[justgeorge]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a clean install wipe the hard drive? If it does then I lose connection to the OEM license and I will have NO license with which to register it. Or am I wrong?

 

[JDFan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a clean install wipe the hard drive? If it does then I lose connection to the OEM license and I will have NO license with which to register it. Or am I wrong?

The win7 upgrade comes with a new license key and when you install it you will then be using that new key and no longer using the OEM key. As the linked article describing the clean install procedure explains :

* If you have a previous version of Windows (XP or Vista), try launching Windows 7 Setup from that OS first, even if you want to wipe out the previous Windows verison. If you run Windows 7 Setup from your previous OS, Windows 7 will always activate.
* If you boot your PC with the Windows 7 Setup DVD, as described below, and there is an existing install of Windows on the first partition, Windows 7 will always activate. If the existing install of Windows is on some other partition, Windows 7 should still activate. There are instances in which this won't work--especially when people really muck around with directory structures and so on, but it should activate.
* Windows 7 Setup does its compliance checking before the phase of Setup where you format the disc. (Unlike with Windows Vista.) This means that you can format your existing hard drive, and blow away a previous Windows version, and not worry about activation. If it was there, Windows 7 will still activate.
* Recovery partitions don't count. While Windows 7 Setup will look for previous installations of Windows, it will not look for recovery partitions or use them for compliance checking.
* While I provide two workarounds for Windows 7 installs that will not activate, Microsoft's preference is that you simply call Microsoft Support instead. The call is free, and they will get you up and running (i.e. activated) very quickly.

So even if the old install is messed up as long as the files are present on the system when you boot from the upgrade disk it will work properly -- during the install just select to do a clean install and reformat the HDD during the process and it will not be corrupted (if you have a corrupt install and try to migrate the new install then it might be corrupted as well but by reformatting the HDD as part of the new install everything will be replaced (be sure to backup any needed personal files beforehand) but it will still install properly and it will activate properly using your new key that you got with the upgrade. And even if you should run into problems as it is installed - all you have to do is call microsoft support and tell them you are doing an installation of an upgrade version and are having problems and they will help you get it working ( they may ask for your old and new key codes but your system should have a sticker with the old key on it and you have the new key with your upgrade kit - so even if you do run into problems all you do is call and give them the info and they will get it working)

 

[justgeorge]

I hope you will pardon my ignorance, I am far from a computer wiz. I'm better with a hammer, not on the computer, I build custom kitchens for a living.
This whole thing sounds like a plan to me. So let me be sure I understand this correctly. This upgrade that I'm getting is going to come with it's own license?? What the hell, why they making everybody pay $300 for the retail version then?? Ain't Bill Gates got enough money yet??
What happens to this "hidden partition"? Acer is telling me it must be corrupt too. Does this erase that sucker too?

All I wanted to do was throw a new hard drive in, pop in a CD and go. I've had all my personal files backed up for weeks now. I'm just waiting for the program.

 

[JDFan]

So is the old HDD still working and just the Vista install is bad - or are you planning on swapping out the old HDD with the new one and installing Win7 on it ? - and this is a laptop or a desktop ?

If it is a laptop and you are planning on replacing the HDD then what I would do is first setup the laptop to boot from the DVD drive - put the WIN7 upgrade disk into the DVD drive and shut down the system -- remove the old HDD and install the new one - turn on the laptop and let it boot from the DVD and it should start to install win7 (The DVD has all of the files for installing just like a full version) -- Once it is all installed try validating the install - If it validates your good to go - if it doesn't then try the other methods listed in the second article I posted above (many times that process will work just fine - even though MS sells it as an upgrade it is technically the same as a full version just using a different set of product keys) It should work fine but in case it doesn't then just call MS support and explain to them what you are doing and they will help you get it activated (since you do qualify to use the upgrade version since you have VISTA on the laptop and are upgrading it to win7)

 

[justgeorge]

Not a laptop. This is an Acer Aspire E700. The Vista files are corrupt. I have don't 3 in-place upgrade repairs trying to fix it. I have worked with Microsoft endlessly. Enough so they would probably hang up on me if I tell them who I am. :lol:

Yes the old hard drive is running right now, but not only are the system files corrupt, the hard drive itself is failing. Microsoft told me that is the reason my files keep disappearing. I bought the new hard drive not knowing this was going to be such a PITA!. I thought I could upgrade it and that would fix the old corrupt files, Microsoft says no, it will corrupt the new 7 files. I figure if I have to pay to put something on the new hard drive then it might as will be 7.

The OEM has been the bone of contention. I keep getting conflicting information about how that works as far as putting in a new hard drive. Acer says I have to buy the Retail version of whatever if I change the hard drive. Otherwise it will look for the original OEM file.

 

[JDFan]

IF it is a desktop it should be an easy thing to do then (I was thinking it was a laptop so it would be hard to add a second HDD for installation) -- first install and partition the new HDD into the system and then just boot into vista (doesn't matter if the install is corrupt as long as you can get into it. ) from there place the win7 upgrade disk in and run setup.exe - As it runs it will have options to select the partition you want to install it to so then select the new hdd as the location to install it to. Once it finishes and is up and running you can then reformat the old Hdd from within the new install -- I don;t see how it could corrupt the new install since all it does is verify that the old OS exists and then does a new full install from the upgrade disk so not sure why they would have told you that ! ( you can even reformat the original HDD and install the new system to it as an option so there is no way it keeps any of the old VISTA files if you do a clean install !) -- and as far as what ACER told you that is correct but you are installing to the new drive while the old drive is still there so it will find the old installation (it would only be a problem if you were removing the old HDD before installing the new one - and even then doing it the way that was posted in the link earlier would work)

 

[justgeorge]

Best answer selected by justgeorge.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media.aspx

just a note!

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey