Perform a clean install with Windows 7 Upgrade

Paul Thurott and friend have worked out how to do a clean Windows 7 installation whilst only using the Windows 7 upgrade disc.

The instructions are as follows:

• Perform a clean installation using the Upgrade disc.
• Install all pending Windows Updates.
• Open regedit.exe from the Start Menu.
• Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/
• Change MediaBootInstall from ’1′ to ’0′.
• Open the Start Menu again and type ‘cmd’ — use ctrl+shift+enter to run it as an elevated-permissions user.
• Finally, type slmgr /rearm — and press enter.

You can now reboot and activate Windows 7 by running the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and it should now work.

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