I did mine from Vista Home Premium 64 bit to Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit.  It was the easiest upgrade I can remember.  You can do back ups but I didn't and didn't lose anything.  The upgrade walks you through step by step, I'm some of a clutz and didn't have any problems. 

Just read the information on the screen before you press a key.  I myself find that very hard to do. 

I have Vista Home Premium 32 bit going to Windows 7 Home Premium.

The only thing that I did that might be considered unnecessary, was to go back to default setup on anything that was changed using Stardock software like WBs, Icons, CursorFX etc. and then turned off things like Object Dock and DX Themes and Widgets.

i have vista 64 bit, and i wanted to install it on a pre seperated partion that starkers created for me on my new harddrive,

it was easy as anything,  just popped the disk into the cd rom drive and just installed it, but of course i selected where i wanted it to be installed on. so i selected 'advanced' set up. i did that through vista.  but the disk also gives you an option if you want to simply upgrade or install it. so you can either upgrade over your vista or install it on a different partion.

xx good luck po. you will be fine. i promise.

oh and ps. i got the same disk as you the free upgrade one.

I think if you have 32 bit, you're going to have to do a clean install, so it won't be as easy as mine was (or Philly0381's); you're going to have to reinstall your other software, and you'll lose data if you haven't backed it up somewhere; still, I think Microsoft did their best to make this upgrade easier than they have in the past.

I got two discs.

HP Upgrade Assistant

Windows 7  (For use as an Upgrade to Qualifying HP WIndows 7 Upgrade Option PC)

Not sure based on that that I can install it on a seperate partition.

I ran the Windows 7 upgrade advisor and it says I only need to uninstall 2 programs.

I have my Vista recovery discs made.

That is correct k10w3, I just took it that Po was staying with 32 bit.

speaking of Windows 7, are there any free .rar unzipping programs, or do I have to buy one.  I know windows xp had some free ones, but are there any for windows 7?

pop it the disc and follow directions. it'll take a bit of time but it'll install eventually. i'm sure they didn't send a 64 bit disc since your rig came with 32 bit. i know with the gateway/acer/emachines upgrade path, they want you to back everything up but it isn't absolutely needed. you can back stuff up if ya want, tho. i've yet to see an upgrade installation destroy personal data. upgrading takes quite a while, tho.

have fun and play with it,dummy!

I use IZarc, which is free, and I'm using Windows 7.  You can download it here:  http://www.izarc.org/

Po`, you should be able to do the same as Kitty did on her Dell.... put in your Win 7 upgrade disc as normal and when you get to the installation part select 'Advanced Setup' to choose the partition you wish to use.  That way you do not risk losing any personal data and you keep Vista intact, which is handy for skinning WB's, etc..

BTW, Win 7 installs quickly and efficiently, plus it installs all your drivers, so it's a breeze and you should have no issues.

Have fun.

So...I get the feeling I'm stressing too much about this? lol

Thanks folks. Guess I just gotta jump right in.

Po....The best thing to do is back everything up first and just do a fresh install. It's better to have backed up than to not have backed up at all. Better safe than sorry and getting that sinking feeling when you see empty folders or not see your old files where they were.

allow me to clarify my earlier statement. if you're going to do a fresh (clean format) install, definitely back up your data.if you'reg going to do an upgrade, i see no need to back up data since i've yet to see a loss of data during an upgrade. given a choice between a fresh install and an upgrade, i most definitely would choose a fresh install.