upgrade vista x64 from OEM home to ultimate from MSDN Subscription

  • Thread starter Thread starter gswitz
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gswitz

When I attempt to upgrade I get a message saying that I have to do a clean
install (because it doesn't recognize the x64 Home Edition?). After the clean
install, I have a Windows folder that contains the drivers folder but the
drivers aren't correctly tied to the devices and the PC doesn't work
properly. I snapped some screenshots and restored the PC to ship condition,
looked in the device manager and I have no idea how to identify the drivers
and the devices that weren't auto matched.

I'd love to upgrade, but I'm having some troubs. Anyone know a way to get
the Vista x64 DVD to let me do an in place upgrade on my OEM Home Edition
from HP (the laptop is a d7vt or something like that).
 
gswitz said:
When I attempt to upgrade I get a message saying that I have to do a clean
install (because it doesn't recognize the x64 Home Edition?). After the
clean
install, I have a Windows folder that contains the drivers folder but the
drivers aren't correctly tied to the devices and the PC doesn't work
properly. I snapped some screenshots and restored the PC to ship
condition,
looked in the device manager and I have no idea how to identify the
drivers
and the devices that weren't auto matched.

I'd love to upgrade, but I'm having some troubs. Anyone know a way to get
the Vista x64 DVD to let me do an in place upgrade on my OEM Home Edition
from HP (the laptop is a d7vt or something like that).
Click to expand...

I don't think that it can be done. I think that the MSDN version is the
same as the
retail version. OEM and retail are not compatible.
 
You can not do an upgrade from a 32bit to a 64bit version of Vista; it has to
be a clean install is correct.

To do that, right at Powering on your computer, you will see F1, F2 or
Delete(to get into Bios/Setup), or F12 to enter Boot menu(Key numbers at
bottom of startup screen).

Set your DVD Drive to be 1st in the Boot Oder, insert your x64 disk, reboot,
follow instructions to load files, delete existing x32 version Vista, format,
install.

Cheers.
 
When I attempt to upgrade I get a message saying that I have to do a clean
install (because it doesn't recognize the x64 Home Edition?). After the clean
install, I have a Windows folder that contains the drivers folder but the
drivers aren't correctly tied to the devices and the PC doesn't work
properly. I snapped some screenshots and restored the PC to ship condition,
looked in the device manager and I have no idea how to identify the drivers
and the devices that weren't auto matched.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that the drivers aren't "matched" after doing a
recovery to out-of-the-box condition, or that when you did your
install, the drivers weren't "matched"?

If the latter... that's not unexpected. Some of your drivers might
have to be updated to 64-bit drivers. Check the website for your
computer to see for sure.
I'd love to upgrade, but I'm having some troubs. Anyone know a way to get
the Vista x64 DVD to let me do an in place upgrade on my OEM Home Edition
from HP (the laptop is a d7vt or something like that).
Click to expand...

Won't cure your driver issues, but you can try since you've got a
recovery disc.

It's actually quite simple. Read the following article.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp
 
You can not do an upgrade from a 32bit to a 64bit version of Vista; it has to
be a clean install is correct.
Click to expand...

Mick is correct (I hate it when he does that!). The Thurrot article
wasn't for changing from 32-bit to 64-bit
 
Thanks to Paul, Mick and John for responses.

My OEM Home edition is x64 (64 bit). I am upgrading to Ultimate x64 so 32
bit doesn't play here at all.

So, I tried the clean install, as I said, and some of the hardware did not
have drivers after the install. Now, I feel sure that the drivers were inside
the drivers folder in the backed up windows file that gets created when you
do a clean install of Vista over an old version. The problem is I don't know
how to match up the devices. The devices in the device manager when running
the OEM version have nice names and pretty pictures. After clean installing
Universal, 6 items or so are like orange or something and have ambiguous
names so I'm not actually sure what device they map to.

I took screen shots of every bit of the device manager of the clean install
and saved to a thumb drive to compare with the device manager in the OEM
version that I have now restored. I'm not sure how to make sense of it,
except process of elimination and that will only get me as close as 6
ambiguous items to 6 ambiguous drivers and it'll take a bit to get them
matched properly.

Mostly, I was wondering if there's a registry hack I can do that will enable
the 64 bit upgrade to universal to proceed. That would be best. Then I could
keep the software that shipped with the laptop as well as get access to
universal (not to mention not having to go through the painful excercise of
trying to match up the drivers to the unidentified hardware).

Thanks!

Geoff
 
The upgrade function described in this link doesn't work for me. It tells me
I have to do a clean install.
Click to expand...

It should ONLY do that if you enter your key. DO NOT enter the key.
You will do that later after install is complete.
 
The upgrade function described in this link doesn't work for me. It tells me
I have to do a clean install. It is not recognizing my OEM Home 64 as 64 for
some reason. There is no question that my OEM Home 64 bit edition is the 64
bit edition.
Click to expand...

BTW... you do the upgrade from WITHIN Windows.
 
Did you go to HP's site, and download the Drivers that are available for your
specific Hardware, or did it come with a CD of Drivers?
 
Thanks, Mick.

It did not come with a CD of drivers. It came with a solid state backup
drive. It had the ability to create 3 recovery DVDs (which I luckily did
before attempting b/c otherwise I would not have been able to restore).

Again, after restoring, I have access to all the drivers, its just that I
will not know which drivers go with which devices.

In the device manager, there are three items named "Base System Device"
1 named network controller
1 named SM Bus Controller

All of these have the yellow question marks after the clean build of Windows
Vista. I know the drivers files are in the backed up windows\drivers folder,
but neither Windows nor I can find the correct drivers for the devices,
either in the folder or on the internet. Hmmm.
 
This doesn't work, Paul, but thanks for asking explicitly. I did it again
just to be sure.

I suppose the only variable I haven't tried changing so far is not checking
the box to let Microsoft benefit from my experience with the installer. I'll
do that now...

Nope... No variation of values in the install wizard get me to the
possibility of the upgrade.

I should mention that I'm using the MSDN DVD that has like all the Vista
versions on it. Perhaps that is my problem. Perhaps, if I download and burn a
copy of just Universal x64 then the upgrade will work. I'll let you know.

Thanks again,

Geoff
 
Ok, it turns out the MSDN Downloads all include all the version of Vista for
the x64 for example, so no luck there.

So, now, I'm posting the computer info.

Windows Vista Home Premium
SP1

HP Pavilion dv7 notebook pc
Intel core 2 Duo cpu t9600 @ 2.8GHz
4 GB Ram
64- bit Operating System

oo wait... there is a choice to change the product key from the OEM key to
some other key... I'll try keying in my MSDN Home Ultimate key here and see
if I can then upgrade.

Who knows!

Ok, I've changed the key and am trying again.
 
I successfully changed the product key of the Home Premium install to my MSDN
subscription key for Home Ultimate, but I still can't upgrade.
 
I successfully changed the product key of the Home Premium install to my MSDN
subscription key for Home Ultimate, but I still can't upgrade.
Click to expand...

Looks like clean install is your only option.
 
Thanks for trying, Paul.

Given the trouble I'll have to go to assign the drivers to the devices, I
think that I might just bag it and stay with Home Premium (still not bad).
 
Thanks for trying, Paul.

Given the trouble I'll have to go to assign the drivers to the devices, I
think that I might just bag it and stay with Home Premium (still not bad).
Click to expand...

Good thinking.

Google around and you'll find that about the only advantage the normal
home user gets by installing 64-bit is that it will support a
truckload of RAM. But along with that advantage comes driver
problems, etc.

4 Gigs of RAM should do it for most users.
 
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