What happens to the OEM license?

Is there any problems with going from Home premium to the 7 PRO. The Microsoft website indicates my choice is 7 HP or & Ultimate.

total confusion said:

Is there any problems with going from Home premium to the 7 PRO. The Microsoft website indicates my choice is 7 HP or & Ultimate.

Bigmck has given the link and some advice for the upgrading issues.
The upgrade constraint looks a bit odd on the surface. Maybe give a link to MS location & someone else may know the answer.
Have you put the question to MS sales?

Yeah
MS told me if I have a OEM and have to replace my hard drive I have to buy the Full version. Obviously, it's $300

They said I could use what ever version I like because the oEM would no longer be an issue.
I was told that was crap, they just wanted my to fork over $300

Certainly doesn't sound right to me. The only constraint I thought existed was that, like the OEM OS, the upgraded system will still be locked to your PC but not invalidated by a HDD change alone. You cannot move the full upgraded OS to a new PC like you could with a retail. But you could move the upgrade element to a new PC with an OEM OS. This was the advice I received some time ago from MS (different country).
A US forum member should be able to confirm if you've been fed a rubbish line.

Microsoft gets rich off of idiots like me.
Would have been nice to have found the comparison earlier, think I still would have gone with Pro or Ultimate (if I had to). Let me explain why

I build custom kitchens for a living. Being able to back up my files with an image to my hard drive every night would be a great feature. I can't tell you how many layouts I've had to start over because of the loss of data. The program I work with is designed to be used with CNC machines so it requires the storage of math calculations as well as graphic design. Just the way the program is set up. Even though I don't build with a CNC machine, the program creates a full graphic image of the finished job. (Totally realistic, lighting and all) It can be printed out or set up to render in full detail.

I didn't even know about the presentation feature until I looked at the comparison chart bigmck gave me. Too bad Microsoft's chart doesn't look anything like that. That will come in handy too.

It wasn't that I was unsure if I qualified for the upgrade, I wasn't sure how to license an upgrade on a new hard drive. Screw up registering it and you could be starting all over with a new program. I understand building cabinetry, computers and OEM's confuse the hell out of me. I'm not going to tell you how long it took me to learn to use my first computer, but then I didn't have anyone to teach me. My kids were too little back then. I'm learning about what goes on inside the sucker now.

Anyway I'm going to order Pro off of Amazon tonight.
I want to thank all of you who assisted in my education, especially those that stuck in there when I couldn't get it through my fat head.
I'll post back when it's up and running and let you know how it went.

Using an Upgrade Version is often confused with doing an in-place Upgrade even though an Upgrade can be clean installed as well - even to a new or wiped HD, using the tutorial BigMck posted for you in #20.

Leave the Product Key box empty, do the Registry change after install, then Activate with Key at Computer>properties.

If you're not doing an in-place Upgrade, which you can't on a new HD, then which versions of Vista are upgradable to Win7 isn't relevant. You only need to have an XP or Vista on hand which isn't used again to qualify under the EULA.