Dmitry,

If you have the original OS install disks, the risk of wiping the drive and starting over is pretty minimal, you can always reinstall Vista, then try the Win7 upgrade.

I'm curious how it turns out I'll be upgrading my daughter's notebook when she comes home for Christmas assuming she doesn't get arrested for participating in the protests over the excessive fee increases at UCLA...

>>Isn't it a bit risky? WIndows 7 upgrade may refuse to install on clean drive. May be to install it needs to find some system files from previous OS version?
>
>It is risky, I agree. But right now I am stuck in a no-go situation. I am reading a bunch of articles on the web with hope to find what is missing.