Windows 7 Upgrade version?

[cgleason]

I have a Windows XP installation running just fine in Fusion 2.0.6. I bought an upgrade version of Windows 7, planning to upgrade my XP. Not having much luck. Like some in other threads stated, Fusion won't let me upgrade inside my XP VM. And if I create a new VM for Win 7, I can't activate it. I did see some workaround involving taking a XP drive out of a machine and putting it in an enclosure and connecting it via USB. Seems really complicated.

My questions are:

1. Is there any way (preferably not involving taking drives out of a machine) to use an upgrade version of Windows 7 in Fusion?

2. If not in 2.0.6, will I be able to do it in 3.0?

3. If not, does anyone want to buy a Windows 7 Updgrade Installation disk?

Thanks for your help!

--Chris Gleason

[Ginjaian]

1. If you actually have a DVD installer (ie not DVD made from downloading), I've heard that the installer should prompt you for your Windows XP/Vista installation CD/DVD, and a valid product key. Does this not happen for you? Your other option is to install it without activation (you get thirty days) and hope the mess is sorted out within that time. Unfortunately, until one of the vmware techies reply to these threads, I don't know any way of mounting a second hard drive in the VM other than using USB - I tried it every which way until I was pulling my hair out! Yes it's complicated, but it does work.

2. I can't see how v3 will be any different; it's about how Microsoft's activation works. Unless v3 allows you to mount a hard drive or other VMs drive, which would be very handy.

3. You should be able to get your money back from Microsoft, they have a 30-day money back guarantee.

---

My Windows 7 Pro x64 installation guide: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/238371?tstart=0

[cgleason]

Ginjaian, thanks for your response.

I was never asked for the XP installation DVD & valid product key. That's what I expected.

The first time I created a new VM for Windows 7, I entered the Win 7 Product key on the "easy install" dialog box. When 7 was installing, I got an error message that said "The unattend file contains an invalid product key..." So then I tried installing without putting the product key in. Everything went well and Windows 7 installed. Then when I tried to activate, I was hoping for a way to enter my XP product key, but no go. It just says that I can't activate because the product key can only be used for upgrading.

Not sure what to do next.

--Chris Gleason

[Ginjaian]

Just found this on the very useful www.sevenforums.com which I got most of my info from. You'll still need to make the iso, but I think you've got that far already.

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/10/23/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade...

[ColoradoMarmot]

Are you sure it's a fusion issue? Win 7 won't upgrade an XP installation - it requires a wipe and install (which frankly, is what I always do with MS OS's anyway).

[Ginjaian]

It's a Fusion issue because you can't access an XP VM to upgrade it! On a regular Windows PC, a Win 7 upgrade that isn't an 'in place' upgrade (ie one which you can only do by going from Vista 32 bit to Win7 32 bit, or Vista 64 bit to Win 7 64 bit), you boot from the Win 7 installer DVD and it will show up your previous Vista/XP installation, whether 32 or 64 bit. You have the option to overwrite it, but it's seen it and is happy to authorise the update. If you have more than one parition, fine, install on another partition and leave your previous version untouched.

With Fusion you HAVE to start with a new VM if you're changing from 32 to 64 bit, or upgrading from XP, as the VM will be set up to specifically support the OS previously installed. So you can't mount your old VM for the installer to see, and can't get the installer to see an acceptable OS to authorise an update, except in the way I suggest - by connecting an old HD with a Windows OS on it by USB.

However, this page shows a way of getting around the problem altogether, and allowing a clean install without having access to a previous installation. I have tested this, and it works using my upgrade product key. Excellent!

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/10/23/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade...

I've also linked to this on my guide page.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/238371?tstart=0

[DrHockey]

Worked for me as well. Now I have two separate VM's running Windows: one XP and one running 7. I just wanted to use the upgrade download to install over XP but the installer refused. It's nice having XP to fall back on just in case but some software needs to be reinstalled.

[kappaknight]

I couldn't upgrade from XP either. But luckily, I was able to upgrade from the Win 7 RC 1 that I downloaded from awhile back.

[objectcentral]

I did get an upgrade install over a boot camp XP. Unfortunately for me, I have a 2006 Mac Pro, and Win 7 won't run from boot camp for those time I want max performance and all 4 processors.

And I'm having trouble getting it to work as an upgrade because it seems to not like the SCSI driver.

[lugesm]

I have checked-out the "clean" install link, and it looks promising.

Question: Will Fusion 3 solve this problem of installing the UPGRADE Windows 7 over WinXP ? ? ?

Thanks.

[kappaknight]

This seems like an MS restriction problem not necessarily the VM Fusion environment problem. Maybe VM Ware can make it easier to see another instance running but I doubt v3 will be able to fix it.

[objectcentral]

Here's an answer that really works, and leaves you in the same boat as any other XP to Win7 upgrader on any system.

OK, the old Vista double installation solution works. Leaves you with the standard XP to Win7 issue - you have to use the copy settings utility, manually install your apps again, but then every XP to Win7 upgrader has that problem. Here's what worked for me:

1. Make an iso of a Win7 upgrade disk. (or you can use the real DVD drive - but an ISO make it go fast, probably worth the time if you have the utility to make one.)

2. Create a new Vista VM - (don't have Win 7 as a choice yet).

3. Mount the Win7 upgrade ISO, do an install. Pick custom install, don't try to enter the serial number - it won't work - just leave it blank. This leaves you with a working Windows to upgrade - but don't try to activate it or anything. By using the ISO, this process is just 10 or 15 minutes long.

4. Install VMWare Tools on this unactivated version. Reboot to get things stable.

5. The upgrade ISO is probably still mounted. Start the install again. Again pick Custom install - upgrade doesn't seem to work.This time, you can enter the serial number, but uncheck the automatically activate - the internet connection won't work yet, so don't confuse it.

6. At the end of this, you have a version that will activate. But first, you have to install the VMWare Tools yet again. Reboot to make stable.

7. Now you can activate.

8. Delete the windows.old folder - nothing in there you need. Run Windows update and get things all up to date. Now I remove the old Windows restore points.

This is a baseline Windows 7 VM now. You can compress the disk (don't remember how you do that, exactly, but it makes the VM smaller on your Mac disk). Make a copy of the VM just so you don't have to do that again. (When you run the copied file, tell Fusion you moved the file, otherwise it changes the MAC and you have to reactivate again. As long as you don't run both at the same time, a duplicate MAC doesn't seem to hurt anything.)

Then use the file transfer utility to recover your XP stuff (on the version of the VM you intend to use - not the baseline one you saved.). Then you have to reinstall all the apps again. Sucks, but that is Microsoft's issue. And it is a good opportunity to get rid of all the dust.

[Ginjaian]

I'm not sure what you mean by "Here's an answer that really works", as all THREE methods I've tested and written about in this thread REALLY work (4th post):

Yes, the "double install" method works as well, it's the same workaround that's been around a while to clean install Vista of if you only have an update disk. The problem to my mind is that it duplicates a whole load of disk activity, as well as archiving a bunch of stuff. In my opinion, it's always better to do a clean install, and that's what I was trying to achieve - one clean install.

For anyone trying to install Windows 7 on Boot Camp: only some Macs can install the Windows 7 64 bit version at the moment, see list here (says Vista, but it's the same list for Windows 7 64 bit compatibility):

Boot Camp: Mac computers that work with 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows Vista

Apple say they will add proper support for Windows 7 with an update to Boot Camp for Snow Leopard 'later in the year':

About Boot Camp and Windows 7

AFAIK, all other Intel Macs should be able to run the 32 bit version. There's a good write up of installing Win 7 here:

How to Survive Boot Camp (and Run Win 7 on a Mac) - Boot Camp - Gizmodo

Again, if you have an upgrade version of Windows 7, you should be able to use the Win7 installer DVD to upgrade your Boot Camp partition, whether an 'in-place' upgrade, or upgrade with clean install.

[objectcentral]

This thread started with an XP issue, and I didn't think any of the other answers addressed the XP part clearly.

I like the double install method because it doesn't take any thinking or tweaking - you do end up with a clean install, just delete the windows.old. Nothing else to do. It is probably faster than tweaking registry entries or anything else described in some of the other guides. I was trying to provide a very simple answer to the XP issue. Upgrading to 7 from XP in a non-bootcamp VM with current version of Fusion.

There is a product from laplink called windows 7 upgrade assistant for about $20 that will move all your data and apps, but since there seem to be issues with doing an in place custom install on an XP VM, it might not work that well - or at least require a USB drive. It does work quite well on physical windows machines, and is good for XP to 7, or Vista to 7 version downgrades (ultimate to home, for example; or 32 to 64).

[Ginjaian]

No problem, we are all new to this - Windows 7 is officially only two days old! The more options of how to install the better. People can pick what they're most comfortable with.

If you just want to copy data between VMs, you can mount your old VM as a second hard drive; the other thread explains how to do this, in point 4b. If you do this before you install, it also acts as an upgrade authoriser (doesn't matter what version of Windows, just XP or later), so you only need to install once, and it'll be a clean install. There's no need to overwrite your old VM, either, so you can keep it as is. This is my preferred way of installing in vmware.

[rcandre2]

Hello everyone. I've been trying to upgrade my XP system to 7 through an upgrade download I purchased from Microsoft. However after the download I keep getting an error when I try to open the file. I've been trying to do this all weekend without any success. Can anyone please tell me what this error is stemming from? I've attached a photo of the error to assist. Thank you all!!

[Ginjaian]

Hi rcandre2, welcome to the forums. Congratulations, you've successfully downloaded Windows 7! The error message you are getting is because you are extracting the 64-bit version of Windows 7 on 32-bit Windows XP, and is perfectly normal in this setup. Unfortunately, you can't just run this update in Windows XP; it HAS to be run from a DVD, or .iso of the DVD in vmware. Microsoft/Digital River don't tell you this before you purchase - very naughty, and it's causing a huge amount of frustration. Follow this guide to make the downloaded files into an .iso/DVD:

I assume you want to run Windows 7 in vmware fusion. Once you've made your .iso, re-read this whole thread, and this one, especially the 4th post:

If you're installing in boot camp, this thread has some information, but I expect the apple support forums will have more:

[rcandre2]

Hello. If I wait until I upgrade to Fusion 3 and use the Windows 7

upgrade DVD that should be in the mail will everything run smooth do

you think? I don't have the tech savvy to do all the things in that

thread you gave me. Thanks a lot for the assistance! I appreciate the

help.

Rcandre2

Sent from my iPhone 3GS

On Oct 25, 2009, at 5:48 AM, Ginjaian <communities-emailer@vmware.com

[Ginjaian]

I don't think the install method will be any different under Fusion 3, though I'm guessing. However, you will find it much easier with a proper installation DVD. The problem is, still, that you need to have some sort of Windows installation available for your UPGRADE version to actually upgrade. If you don't need to move any data from any old VMs, I suggest using objectcentral's workaround from post #12, which is to intall it once WITHOUT putting your product key in, then install again, and it should then accept your upgrade product key.

Fusion 3 mostly seems to add graphical support, and some under-the-hood improvements. If you haven't got around to upgrading to 3 when your DVD arrives, I wouldn't bother waiting, just install on Fusion 2. There really shouldn't be any problem migrating your VMs to Fusion 3 when you get it - at least, that's what I'm planning/hoping to do. It worked fine going from Fusion 1 to Fusion 2 - I haven't heard and think it very unlikely that Fusion 2 VMs won't be supported in Fusion 3, it'll just update the virtual machine's specs when it opens it in v3.

[rcandre2]

Sorry to bug you again but I have just one more question.. If I

upgrade to Vista and then 7 will it be even easier?thanks soo much!

Sent from my iPhone 3GS

On Oct 25, 2009, at 2:36 PM, Ginjaian <communities-emailer@vmware.com