Windows 7: Brand New computer with Win 7 Home Premium but need Win7 Pro

I just bought a new Dell Inspiron that came with Windows 7 Home Premium installed. Do I need to wipe the drive in order to upgrade it to Windows 7 Pro? I have a full Win 7 Pro install disk.

I was told that I could just drop in the disk.



My other work computer died on me today (fan died and Pc was more than 3 years old) and I didn't have the luxury of time to do alot of shopping. I needed another 17" laptop that did Not have Windows 8. This was best price/option available.

The normal low-effort method would be to do a Windows Anytime Upgrade:

Windows Anytime Upgrade - Microsoft Windows

It preserves all of your installed applications, files, and settings. It doesn't even need a DVD.

It's possible that your existing Windows 7 Pro license could be used rather than buying a new key, but I'm not sure.

Yes, a retail Full or Upgrade higher version key will unlock the few extra features in Pro from Home Premium. Just follow the steps in Windows Anytime Upgrade - How to - Windows 7 Forums.

I'd save a Windows 7 backup image of the current version so you can revert at any time you want to use Pro on another PC and get the full value of the license which came with the PC.

However this method retains all of the Dell bloatware and duplicate utilities which throttle Windows 7 native performance, so I'd strongly consider a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

However if you Clean Reinstall you might as well delete the Recovery partition as it won't run afterwards, so make your Recovery media first: Dell Windows 7 PC Restore . The Dell OEM Diagnostics partition should continue to run from the F12 key at boot so you can keep it in either case. Dell Diagnostics Utility - How to Run the

If you want to create a Dell Recovery Disc before you go ahead and install the Win7PRO .
Click
then click All Programs,
Click Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 (FOLDER)
Click Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0.
Click Create My Recovery Disc(s) Now then click Next . Insert a blank DVD in the DVD burner, click Next
and follow the prompts provided as the Recovery Disc creation takes place.
After the disc(s) have been created, click Finish
.