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Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 via Reformatting harddrive

I want to "upgrade" by simply reformatting my hard drive and installing windows 7. Here's the problem: Vista is on a laptop that got a new hard drive. When the new hard drive was installed, vista gave a message saying it was not a legal copy and wanted a key. That key was long ago lost. So, I just stopped using the laptop. Now I have a Windows 7 disk, and a key. I want to do a fresh install. I have nothing I need to save on the existing drive. So I need to somehow reformat the hard drive (I guess) then do the install. What do I do?

Thanks,

Cipriano

LeeTutor

Try this page for seeing what you have to do:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/10/27/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media-and-product-key-on-formatted-or-empty-blank-hard-drive/

cipriano555

ASKER

I didn't understand this. From what I've researched so far....it is impossible to reformat the c drive since the operating system is on it. So if you want a "clean install" of windows 7 from vista, formatting the c drive to clean things off is NOT the first step. Evidently, if you chose to do a custom install, it may give you a clean install, so I'm going to let that rip and see what happens.

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LeeTutor

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LeeTutor

Cipriano555, how about some feedback?