# Can I upgrade Vista Professional. . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-upgrade-vista-professional/516868 "2009-11-09T02:00:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-upgrade-vista-professional/516868/1 "2009-11-09T02:00:36Z")
to Windows 7 Home? Or do I have to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro? Also, can I update XP to W7 if XP doesn’t have SP2 installed? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-upgrade-vista-professional/516868/2 "2009-11-09T02:08:59Z")
The Windows 7 official chart is confusing: [http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1246](http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1246) Here’s a simple and easy to understand chart: [![](http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/windows-upgrade-chart-eb-remake-final3.png) ](http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/windows-upgrade-chart-eb-remake-final3.png) Vista Home Basic and Home Premium can do an in-place upgrade to Windows 7 Home. Vista Business to Windows 7 Home would need a custom (fresh) install. There is no Vista Professional. XP to Win 7 requires a custom (fresh) install. It’s OK if you don’t have SP2 installed, because it’s going to blow out your existing install in any case. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-upgrade-vista-professional/516868/3 "2009-11-09T03:49:17Z")
> [@xash](#): > > The Windows 7 official chart is confusing: > > [http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1246](http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1246) > > Here’s a simple and easy to understand chart: > > [http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/windows-upgrade-chart-eb-remake-final3.png](http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/windows-upgrade-chart-eb-remake-final3.png) > > Vista Home Basic and Home Premium can do an in-place upgrade to Windows 7 Home. > > Vista Business to Windows 7 Home would need a custom (fresh) install. > > There is no Vista Professional. > > XP to Win 7 requires a custom (fresh) install. It’s OK if you don’t have SP2 installed, because it’s going to blow out your existing install in any case. Vista Business is what I meant to say (I get it confused with XP Pro). So if I’m reading your reply correctly, I would have to buy a new program instead of an upgrade program to do what I want? I don’t think it’s worth the extra cost. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-upgrade-vista-professional/516868/4 "2009-11-09T03:59:35Z")
No, you can use an upgrade CD but will NEED to do a custom install. That essentially formats the drive, so you will need to back up you personal data or lose it. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-upgrade-vista-professional/516868/5 "2009-11-09T04:11:28Z")
Following [these instructions](http://icrontic.com/articles/upgrade-the-windows-7-rc-to-retail) may allow you to do an in-place upgrade. No guarantees, but given that you’ll have to do a clean install anyway, it can’t hurt to try. Most definitely back up everything before you start this. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-upgrade-vista-professional/516868/6 "2009-11-09T04:34:48Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Vista Business is what I meant to say (I get it confused with XP Pro). So if I’m reading your reply correctly, I would have to buy a new program instead of an upgrade program to do what I want? I don’t think it’s worth the extra cost. If you want to go from Vista Business to Windows 7 Home Premium, you can purchase an “upgrade” license for Win 7 Home Premium, but you will need to do a fresh install on your machine. You will only need to pay for an “upgrade” license, not the full version. If you want to install Win 7 on top of your existing Vista Business installation, you will need to upgrade to Win 7 Pro or Ultimate after purchasing the appropriate “upgrade” license. Note that in many cases for Win 7 it appears that the “upgrade” license key is really a full-version license key. For example, if you are a student, you can buy a Win 7 Pro “upgrade” license for $30, and you could either upgrade your existing Vista Business to Win 7 Pro without losing any current settings, or you could install it on a formatted machine with no previous version of Windows installed. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-upgrade-vista-professional/516868/7 "2009-11-09T15:29:40Z")
This is what happens when you don’t pay attention. When I was ordering my laptop, I came to the Windows version scroll window and clicked on “Home”. Unfortunately, if you don’t then click somewhere else and then accidentally hit the scroll wheel on your mouse, you end up with the “Business” option. It’s not a big deal for running Vista, but it creates annoying issues with Word and Outlook.