Info on Upgrading from Vista to Win7

More of an overview than a detailed how-to, Walter Mossberg does cover the several nuances of upgrading your Vista system to Windows7. The most notable item is that you cannot upgrade from a 32-bit to a 64-bit version of the operating system during an upgrade. In my experience on my laptop, the Windows7 "upgrade" took several hours to transfer and keep the data–versus a clean installation on my desktop which took less than 30 minutes. And of course, don’t forget to apply the Concurrent Sessions tip if you were using that on Vista, as it will be locked down again upon upgrading.

Walter Mossberg

In general, you can only upgrade your current version of Vista to the comparable version of Windows 7. For instance, Vista Home Premium can only be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium and Vista Business can only be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional. This rule has two exceptions. Any flavor of Vista except Starter can be upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate, if you care to spend the extra money. And Vista Home Basic can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium.