Windows 7: Upgrade Paths

Update: 8-6-2009

Walter Mossberg (from Mossblog) was able to get a chart from Microsoft explaining the upgrade paths.

It is reproduced below, unaltered. You can click on it to make it larger.

Microsoft have released a whitepaper documenting on the supported and unsupported upgrade paths for Windows 7 SKUs.

The whitepaper gives details on the paths you can take to perform an in-place upgrade or upgrade installation.

The upgrade paths are only for those who want to do upgrade installations.

Supported Upgrade Scenarios 

It should also be noted that you cannot upgrade from any of the following upgrade scenarios:

• Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows XP, Windows Vista® RTM, Windows Vista Starter, Windows 7 M3, Windows 7 Beta, Windows 7 RC, or Windows 7 IDS
• Windows NT® Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server® 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2
• Cross-architecture in-place upgrades (for example, x86 to x64) are not supported.
• Cross-language in-place upgrades (for example, en-us to de-de) are not supported.
• Cross-SKU upgrades (for example, Windows 7 N to Windows 7 K) are not supported.
• Upgrades from Windows Vista to Windows N, Windows K, Windows KN, or Windows E are not supported.
• Cross-build type in-place upgrades (for example, fre to chk) are not supported.
• Pre-release in-place upgrades across milestones (for example, Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 RTM) are not supported.

Download the article here.