Chris Alexander

On Engineering

Windows Vista Upgrade

9th September, 2008

Thought I’d post this quick tip so that people wishing to upgrade Windows Vista don’t have to spend 30 mins on the phone to Microsoft support like me!

If you’re upgrading, e.g. from Windows Vista Business to Windows Vista Ultimate, the clean installation option is always available on the install screen, but this will wipe all your programs etc. The upgrade option will preserve your programs, however it is sometimes unavailable.

If you get a message that you need to upgrade to a newer version only, check first that the service pack of the Vista version you’re upgrading to is greater than the one you currently have installed. For example, I had Windows Vista Business with Service Pack 1; my Windows Vista Ultimate disk does not have any service packs on it. The solution is to remove Service Pack 1 from your current install before trying again.