Upgrading from VIsta Home to Windows 7 Ultra

Insert the Windows 7 DVD and run Setup. While inside the setup select "Upgrade".
That's all.

I would make an image of your computer just in  case things go wrong

I've successfully upgraded from Vista to 7, from 7RC to 7RTM on so many computers without any error.
Even the Vista drivers for hardware that is not fully W7 compatible are working fine. There should nothing to worry about.

In case you want to be sure run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor on Vista befor installing.
Link: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=160680

See this link from Microsoft for detailed instructions for upgrading to Windows 7
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-vista-to-windows-7

One thing to keep in mind as well with the upgrade process, is that it creates a Windows.old folder on your local drive, which takes up space. I would suggest rather to do a full re-installation.

As I said, imho, do a backup of your data and do a format and fresh install of Win7, Vista nasties get left behind and it wastes a lot of space. You can feel the difference when you do a full install vs upgrade. Welcome to Win7, you will never look back.

I would backup all data from the laptop, insert the upgrade disk into the drive and then carry out a format of the hard disk (pretty sure that this falls under the advanced option when running the disk.) Format the space and carry out a fresh install of Windows 7, the reason for this is simple, Windows 7 upgrade renames the old installation to Windows.old and can reference this folder at times. I've never had a problem with the clean install from the upgrade disk and therefore this would always be my recommended procedure.

Hi M1chael_Ham1lt0n,

How did you do with the re-install?
What method did you follow? Hope it was a success.

Let me  know.

I have had some problems hence no reply. I have stilll to tackle the upgrade. I recently bought Norton 15 Ghost.  What is the best way to back up ? I am assuming I take a back up of the whole drive but I am not sure what the procedure is for using the backed up image of C and restoring it back to the computer. If do a fresh build will software like Office 2007 install and be activated OK ?

Installation went OK. I went for the complete re-install and am still adding apps. The one semi concern is i used Plustek Scanner and hope the drivers are easily locatable