Dear Computer Gurus

Can we upgrate Windows 7 Prof To Windows Server 2008 R2? I don't want to totally wipe out the hard drive to install Windows 2008 Server R2. I want to have the softwares intact that came with Window 7 Prof in my laptop. Any idea how we can replace windows 7 prof with Windows Server 2008 R2?

Thanks,

My penny knoledge on tech, any new operating system you download as upgrade, will keep all old program and it upgrades the os only. But now clue with server?????

Server OS in a laptop?! However, If you need it for learning purposes why don't you install Windows Server 2008 R2 in a seperate partition, by that you will have both systems. If you decide to replace Win 7 with Win Server, be warned that many softwares mostly antiviruses and drivers won't install in Server OS.

dexter ji,

Thank you for your feedback. Yes you idea is good to have dual operating system. Can you give me some idea how I can install Windows Server 2008 in separate partition?

You can not upgrade Win 7 to Win Server 2008 R2.
However if you want to have dual boot first is to make sure you have 2 partation on your Disk in your laptop.
If you have 2 partitation just install the Win 2008 on top of Win 7 and choose seperate partation than win 7 . If your win 7 is in C Drive choose D drive to install Win server 2008

That is only think you have to make sure

1. Go to My computer and right click C: and rename it to Win7 or something like that. It'll avoid creating confusions later.
2. Create an additional partition (more than 50GB) if you don't have it already.  Follow the instructions in the link below to do the partition http://techpp.com/2010/01/19/how-to-partition-a-hdd-hard-disk-in-windows-7/
3. Put the bootable OS DVD in the drive and restart your laptop ignoring any auto run you might get. Once your laptop restarts, make sure it boots to the DVD drive. Follow the onscreen instructions and make sure you install the new OS in the new partition that you created in step 2.

Thanks Guys, I followed as you said. I was able to create a new partition. Now I am going to install Windows 2008 Server in the newly partitioned drive which is E in my case.