Install windows 7 upgrade on new hard drive

[tp400cx]

I bought a Thinkpad T400 with vista bussiness 32 bits, and also requested the windows 7 upgrade kit.
Here is what I am planning to do after I receive the upgrade kit:
1. Remove original hard drive from my T400
2. Put back a new hard dirve without anything on it. (preferrably an SSD)
3. Install windows 7 onto the new hard drive.

Will this work? Does the win7 upgrade kit check if there is already a windows vista system on the hard drive?

Thanks!

[GomJabbar]

My understanding is that the upgrade disc will only work on a system that has an activated version of Windows (2000, XP, or Vista) on it.

[amujee]

There are reports of people successfully performing clean installs with their 7 upgrade versions on clean hard drives.
I haven't tested this out myself.

[tp400cx]

If what GomJabbar said is true, that will be very incovienient in the case of the original hard drive completely fail and you have to use a new drive.

What if the user did not burn the recovery disk (or the recovery disk get damaged)? If the hard drive fail, the win7 disk will be useless for him.

Does this activated version of windows requirement also apply to the OEM version like the one on our thinkpad?

[GomJabbar]

Does this activated version of windows requirement also apply to the OEM version like the one on our thinkpad?

The OEM version is pre-activated, so to speak, so there should be no problem upgrading.

Yes, that is the problem with upgrade media. You need the original Windows (disk or installation) available to be able to upgrade to a new hard drive.
Some ways to satisfy this:
1. Have an image of your original installation that you can restore (copy) to a new hard drive. Then upgrade.
2. Have the Product Recovery Disk set that you can install to the new hard drive. Then upgrade.
3. Have a Windows OEM disk that you can install to the new hard drive using the product key (of the same version of Windows) on the bottom of the ThinkPad. Activate, then upgrade.

[epr02]

My understanding is that the upgrade disc will only work on a system that has an activated version of Windows (2000, XP, or Vista) on it.

Looking at this thread on Lenovo I would assume that a clean install is available for those that get the "free upgrade".

I mean why would you just want an "Upgrade" as opposed to a "Fresh Install", because wouldn't that defeat the purpose of making a faster machine having all the legacy stuff?

http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/Windows-7-La ... d-p/166964

Perfguy
Lenovo Employee

Christian, most of the Enhanced Experience components will be downloadable off lenovo.com very soon. The "EE" BIOS for X301 is already up (any version after 3.04(6EET44WW) ).

Upgrades are generally slower than a good clean install. When you get your Win7 DVD, I encourage you to perform a fresh install then update drivers and TVTs from lenovo.com according to your preferences. You won't get all the tweaks and optimizations that are in the Win7 X301 preload, but you should still enjoy a well-performing system.

Any questions? Post away!
-John

[GomJabbar]

Yes, you can do a clean install with the upgrade disk. In fact, if you are upgrading from 2000 or XP (as I recall), or downgrading say from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Home Premium, then a clean install is the only option. When you do the upgrade, you should be given the option to save your personal files to a folder on the new install, but you will have to reinstall all your software applications.