Pre-Installed Software and Windows 7

MrJustice · ‎07-28-2009

My year old DV9700 laptop runs Windows Vista Home. I plan to purchase a full edition of Windows 7 Home so I perform a clean installation. My concern is, however, how may install other pre-installed software that originally came with my HP? Can it be done from the DVD that was included with the computer? Any advice is appreciated.

CherylG · ‎07-28-2009

You probably could browse the DVD and find the installers.Or,look for a folder containing the drivers/software installers on your C: drive.It will be C:\SwSetup.Copy that to DVD before installing Windows 7.

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SWY · ‎07-29-2009

Three things:

1) Do not buy the full edition of WIndows 7 simply to do a clean install. The upgrade and full editions are both full bits - the upgrade version just includes an additional function to check for a qualified version of an earlier OS. You can do a clean install from the upgrade disk, so save your money with respect to getting the full version.

2) If your machine uses Recovery Manager, that still works after a clean install, provided you do not do a reformat during the clean install, delete the swsetup folder or alter HPs partitions. You will just need to copy the app back from the Windows.old.

3) I seriously doubt that a Recovery DVD for the original Vista set up will work with WIndows 7. Most Vista stuff works just fine, but this is something setup to restore stuff for the eralier OS. Dedicated installers for earlier OSs rank as one of the few areas where I have found operation under Windows 7 to be 50:50 or less....

Stephen

MrJustice · ‎07-30-2009

SWY,

I appreciate the advice. It seems, however, I am mistaken regarding what a clean install is. To me a clean install is where you wipe the harddrive clean and then install the operating system and your other software. On the other hand, a upgrade is simply involves the overriding the old version without wiping the harddrive. If I am understanding you correctly, I am wrong about what constitutes a clean install. Could you please clarify for me? Thanks!

rablackman · ‎08-07-2009

You are right about what a clean install is. The upgrade disk will ask you if you want to format the drive and do a clean install or if you want to upgrade your current software with out formatting. Pick whichever option works best for you.