Windows 7 upgrade issues

nickylewis

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Well, this seems more complicated than I anticipated.

I am currently using Vista 32bit and bought an upgrade to Win7 64bit, expecting to get an ISO that I could burn, and do a clean install with that.

However, after downloading the 3gb files, they come as a .exe and 2 .box files. After running the .exe, an expandedsetup folder is created, but that cannot be run as its designed for a 64bit OS.

Any ideas on how I can install win7?

Thanks.
 
Well, this seems more complicated than I anticipated.

I am currently using Vista 32bit and bought an upgrade to Win7 64bit, expecting to get an ISO that I could burn, and do a clean install with that.

However, after downloading the 3gb files, they come as a .exe and 2 .box files. After running the .exe, an expandedsetup folder is created, but that cannot be run as its designed for a 64bit OS.

Any ideas on how I can install win7?

Thanks.

I have EXACTLY the same problem! There is no .ISO file to be found so I cannot create a Boot DVD either :( Please let me know if you find a fix to this! Cheers :)
 
There is an autorun file in the expandedsetup folder - Im burning that folder to DVD currently, and will see if that works - not expecting much though.
 
There is an autorun file in the expandedsetup folder - Im burning that folder to DVD currently, and will see if that works - not expecting much though.

I saw that too, but it was only a few MB so I very much doubt it will work. You know when you first clicked on the .exe did you get the "Unpacking Boxes" screen? If so what happened after that?
 
The whole expandedsetup folder is ~3gb, so I thought it could work - waste of a DVD it seems!! At the end of the 'unloading the box' screen, I got an error message, I think it must have automatically tried to run that other exe or something.
 
The whole expandedsetup folder is ~3gb, so I thought it could work - waste of a DVD it seems!! At the end of the 'unloading the box' screen, I got an error message, I think it must have automatically tried to run that other exe or something.

Have you got msn messenger so we can talk on that? PM me your address if you do :)
 
Im going to go to bed now - Im working at 7 - but I'll PM you my address and we can discuss it tomorrow. Ive also posted the question here:

Vista 32bit to Win7 64bit Student Upgrade

Nicky

OK then cheers :) I also got that error after unpacking (something about not being able to copy files to folder and to check security settings). But I have spoken to someone else who did not get that error. And once the unpacking had finished, the install wizard automatically came up, asking him if he wanted to do an in place upgrade or clean/custom install. So I think we need to find out why we are getting this error after unpacking.
 
Weird!! I'll redownload the whole thing, and see if that makes a difference.

Hope you figure out a way to sort it mate!
 
Weird!! I'll redownload the whole thing, and see if that makes a difference.

Hope you figure out a way to sort it mate!

Yeah I'm doing that now, will let you know how I get on, but it's only at 25% :(

Out of interest, was your download manager box just blank with the % in the bar at the top?
 
I'm also getting an error message at the end of unpacking. I downloaded it twice now and it's still doing the same thing. I am too going to bed now, I hope I can sort it out tomorrow!
 
I'm also getting an error message at the end of unpacking. I downloaded it twice now and it's still doing the same thing. I am too going to bed now, I hope I can sort it out tomorrow!

Is the error something about not being able to save the files into the folder and to check permissions/security settings?
 
OK then cheers :) I also got that error after unpacking (something about not being able to copy files to folder and to check security settings). But I have spoken to someone else who did not get that error. And once the unpacking had finished, the install wizard automatically came up, asking him if he wanted to do an in place upgrade or clean/custom install. So I think we need to find out why we are getting this error after unpacking.

Are they definitely 32bit --> 64bit?
 
Are they definitely 32bit --> 64bit?

Good question. This is what he posted:

"I'm sticking with 32 bit. I'm not doing a clean install, just the upgrade where I keep my files.

Yes you can do the clean install to get Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. You should be able to just download the 64 bit version, then when the installation wizard comes up, you just select custom install and it will install the version you want."
 
This is the message I have sent to technical support regarding our problem:

"I am experiencing big problems trying to install Windows 7 onto my laptop. I will try and be as clear as possible in explaining.

My laptop is currently running Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit. I have purchased the Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit Upgrade from the Microsoft Student Offer.

I was led to believe that upon downloading, I would get an .ISO file, which I would then burn to a DVD. Then I would boot from this DVD and do a clean/custom install.

This has not been possible. Upon downloading from the Microsoft Student Website, I get 3 files. These are:

Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x64.exe

setup1.box

setup2.box

I double click on "Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x64.exe" and I get the message "Unloading the Box". Once the status bar reaches the end, I get the following error:

"We are unable to create or save new files in the folder in which this application was downloaded. Please check the folder properties to make sure that you have security
permission on the folder to write files and that the folder is not read-only".

I click on OK. Regardless of the fact that I received the above error message, I now have a new folder called "expandedSetup".

Within this folder are lots and lots of complicated looking files, stored within many other sub folders.

However, in the root of "expandedSetup" is a file called "setup.exe". I double click on this file, and I get the following error message:

"The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check you computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit)
or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher".

This is as far as I have managed to get. I cannot find an .ISO file anywhere within the download, so I am unable to make a bootable DVD.

Please can you advise me on how to successfully install Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit onto my laptop using the download that I have purchsed.

Thank you very much."

If anyone could shed any light on what might be going wrong, then I would be very grateful :)
 
Last edited:
Hey guys, I've got the exact same issue. 32bit Vista Ultimate wanting to upgrade to 64bit Win7 Pro using the student offer.

I've ordered a physical copy of the upgrade media as well, but want it to work now from the download so I haven't wasted the data! My understanding is that I'll need a clean install to get it working, which is fair enough, but I should at least be able to start the upgrade application from the downloaded files and have it wipe my disk during the process.

The permission related error is just strange, if it was trying to launch the application, I would have thought it would error the same way the application does when we try to run it direct?

I'm going to try and contact support as well and get some answers...
 
Hey guys, I've got the exact same issue. 32bit Vista Ultimate wanting to upgrade to 64bit Win7 Pro using the student offer.

I've ordered a physical copy of the upgrade media as well, but want it to work now from the download so I haven't wasted the data! My understanding is that I'll need a clean install to get it working, which is fair enough, but I should at least be able to start the upgrade application from the downloaded files and have it wipe my disk during the process.

The permission related error is just strange, if it was trying to launch the application, I would have thought it would error the same way the application does when we try to run it direct?

I'm going to try and contact support as well and get some answers...

Please let us know how you get on :) I don't want to have to wait for my DVD to arrive either. My confirmation email stated 2 - 3 weeks! :eek:
 
On the phone to Microsoft Support now... very painful so far. Getting transferred to someone who is hopefully less painful. :)
 
Well... just wasted about an hour to finally get told the upgrade path isn't supported, I can't go Vista Ultimate to 7 Professional. I told him I knew this and that I was ok to do a clean installation, and the issue was getting the download to work and start the application. No matter which way I explained it, he was still clueless and ending up saying the product key would never work or something as the upgrade path isn't supported.

Their 'technical' support seems a little lacking. I don't buy anything he said and I'll try again later. Hopefully someone else has more luck.
 
Little bit more research:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-considerations.aspx

Table on that page says you can go Vista Ultimate -> 7 Pro with a custom (clean) install. That's ok, we know that already!

"If you switch from a 64-bit version to a 32-bit version of Windows, or vice versa, you'll need to do a custom (clean) installation. This may also impact other parts of your system." Got this bit covered, we also know this.

"Do I buy an Upgrade or Full license of Windows 7?
All editions of Windows XP and Windows Vista qualify you to upgrade. So, if you're running either on your PC today, buy a package labeled "Upgrade". "

SO! Straight from the horses' mouth... there is NO reason why I cannot, with a Vista Ultimate installation, use a Windows 7 Professional Upgrade version (provided I do a custom installation).

Not that I can even get to this step, which comes back to our original problem. I'm just saying the above because I see people saying on other forums that we aren't following the upgrade path...
 
It doesn't unpack on Vista Home Premium or XP Professional either... same error message.
 

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