upgrade to win8 from vista?

I have 2 hard drives, one with vista and one with windows 7. mostly I use the 7 but sometimes boot up to the vista HD (which is used as a data backup for the most part). Can I do the $40 upgrade to the vista HD or is this upgrade just for 7? Then I could try using 8 on the vista HD. and if I can, does it overwrite the vista or can I put 8 in a separate partition? Thanks!

Can I do the $40 upgrade to the vista HD

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Yes

does it overwrite the vista or can I put 8 in a separate partition

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You can do either. You are supposed to sacrifice a license to use the upgrade version, though.

I would recommend you do clean install by creating dvd/usb boot media. In place upgrades can sometimes be messy.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13375-clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.html

SIW2 said:

Can I do the $40 upgrade to the vista HD

Click to expand...

Yes

does it overwrite the vista or can I put 8 in a separate partition

Click to expand...

You can do either. You are supposed to sacrifice a license to use the upgrade version, though.

I would recommend you do clean install by creating dvd/usb boot media. In place upgrades can sometimes be messy.

Click to expand...

I hope that someone will correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe that you aren't permitted to do an upgrade-in-place from Vista to 8. (It's only allowed for Win7.) You can use an upgrade license with XP, Vista, or 7, but you must do a clean install from XP or Vista.

bobkn said:

I hope that someone will correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe that you aren't permitted to do an upgrade-in-place from Vista to 8. (It's only allowed for Win7.) You can use an upgrade license with XP, Vista, or 7, but you must do a clean install from XP or Vista.

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I think you're mistaken.

You can definitely upgrade-in-place from XP and Vista.

In fact when I was upgrading XP I found I couldn't easily do anything else because the "Install by creating media" doesn't appear.

You will need to reinstall software in both cases though - the "What can I keep when I upgrade" section on this Microsoft page shows what is kept on an in-place upgrade for different versions (obviously a clean install keeps nothing):

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2234-upgrade-install-windows-7-vista-windows-8-a.html

and

Upgrade to Windows 8 - Microsoft Windows

DavidY said:

bobkn said:

I hope that someone will correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe that you aren't permitted to do an upgrade-in-place from Vista to 8. (It's only allowed for Win7.) You can use an upgrade license with XP, Vista, or 7, but you must do a clean install from XP or Vista.

Click to expand...

I think you're mistaken.

You can definitely upgrade-in-place from XP and Vista.

In fact when I was upgrading XP I found I couldn't easily do anything else because the "Install by creating media" doesn't appear.

You will need to reinstall software in both cases though - the "What can I keep when I upgrade" section on this Microsoft page shows what is kept on an in-place upgrade for different versions (obviously a clean install keeps nothing):

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2234-upgrade-install-windows-7-vista-windows-8-a.html

and

Upgrade to Windows 8 - Microsoft Windows

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Unless they've changed the definition, an upgrade-in-place preserves files, settings, and installed programs. Not an option for XP or Vista in going to 8.

msongs said:

I have 2 hard drives, one with vista and one with windows 7. mostly I use the 7 but sometimes boot up to the vista HD (which is used as a data backup for the most part). Can I do the $40 upgrade to the vista HD or is this upgrade just for 7? Then I could try using 8 on the vista HD. and if I can, does it overwrite the vista or can I put 8 in a separate partition? Thanks!

Click to expand...

When doing your in-place upgrade, be sure and save the ISO as the tutorial linked by SIW2 suggests (i.e., read the tutorial as you do the upgrade or, at least, read it all the through prior to the upgrade). Personally, I wouldn't do the triple boot option. Having Vista on board wouldn't do anything for me except take up space. I'd backup my data off my computer, and clean install Win8 as suggested by SIW2. In any case, Vista will not be overwritten unless you allow it.