Upgrade or Full version. Factory reset
We have 3 PC's in my house , both vista and XP. should I upgrade them to W7 or should I buy the full versionof Win 7. I'm concerned that the periferal drivers that came with the original disks will be lost if I load full version. What happens if I need to do a full factory reset?
September 5th, 2009 12:45pm

ginstrell - The XP box - either way you go about it - the drivers will be lost. Windows XP drivers are not compatible with Windows Vista and 7's driver model. In fact, you won't be able to do a direct upgrade from XP to Windows 7. The only 'upgrade' from XP to Windows 7 would be a clean install - which usually means a format of the hard drive.Upgrading from Windows Vista to 7 is a little less challenging. You can upgrade directly from Vista to 7 without wiping everything out - with one caveat. You must be upgrading to the same edition or to Ultimate. You can't, however downgrade. In other words, you can't gofrom Vista ultimate to Win 7 Home Premium directly. That would require a clean install upgrade like the one from XP to Win 7.Either way, Windows 7 will be using Windows 7 drivers whenever possible. While Windows 7 does have the same User mode driver model as Vista, there is enough of a difference that the old drivers aren't likely going to be around after the upgrade anyhow.In any case... It is always advisable to do a complete system image of your existing OS - in case something ugly happens and you need to restore to a previous point. An OS upgrade is a fairly drastic change. Now then... Odds are unless your hard drive drops dead on you, you won't need a 'factory reset'. Many issues with Windows 7 can be fixed without having to go through such drastic measures. There are some that can be fixed easily by doing an "in-place upgrade" - meaning you install Windows 7 on top of itself without wiping out the drive.
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September 5th, 2009 2:04pm

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