Windows 7: win7 home premium 64bit sp1 OEM to home prem. retail fam pack ugrade

Hello, can I upgrade my Windows 7 64bit sp1 OEM to the Windows 7 64bit home premium retail family pack? Thanks

What would be the point ? Why do you want to ?

Is there something wrong with windows ?

You could do it by entering the retail key and reactivating, but it would waste a perfectly good oem license.

I want to use upgraded Windows 7 image on 2 computers. I didn't know if the service pack on my Windows 7 OEM would be compatible with this upgrade. How would it waste a license?

OEM Windows 7 Home Premium and retail Windows 7 Home Premium are exactly the same. Only the terms of the software license is different. With an OEM license, that license is tied to that one computer and cannot be moved to another, and yes, Microsoft can see when you try to activate Windows if the hardware is the same as it was previously. With a retail license, the license is not tied to one computer, and can be moved to another should something happen to the current computer. Switching to a retail license won't "upgrade" anything. It will be the same, accept the OEM license will no longer be in use and the retail license can't be used on another PC, should you decide to build/upgrade/downgrade another one.

I'll ask the same as Addram. Are you actually experiencing an issue with your current Windows 7 install?

Thank You Pete

Okay, here is my deal. I have a DAW That has a feature that will allow me to network 2 computers, running plugins on one, recording, editing on the other. The drawback is, both computers have to have exact same plugins. The OEM version will not allow me to transfer syspreped cloned hard drive because of it Beeing tied to motherboard & license. So here is what I wanted to do. Upgrade my version Windows 7 64 OEM to retail fam. pack with multiple licenses, clone hard drive using acronis,remove "upgrade" key in registry, sysprep, transfer cloned & prepped hard drive to other computer, use one of the new activation keys to activate.thanks

So, you cloned the hard drive of one computer, and want to put a copy of said hard drive on a different computer? Unless you have the exact same hardware setup (or I misunderstand what you are doing) on both computers, I doubt Windows will even get to the login screen before crashing because the necessary drivers will be completely different. However, I think you can use Windows Easy Transfer to make this work. I'll look up the necessary information and get back to you ASAP.

Thanks, petey. Yes two different computers running same legit image simultaneously. I did it, it does work after sysprep, wich strips all the drivers. The problem is, it won't take key, & starts the 30 day countdown. If there is an easier way to do this, please fill me in.

Sorry I overlooked where you said you were using sysprep. Just do it basically how you were planning, but wait to change any product keys until you are done, then go to system in control panel on the new/second computer, scroll down, and press Change Product Key.

EDIT: For anyone reading this page and wanting to know more about sysprep, refer to our tutorial Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer

Back to my original question. I have Windows 7 64bit home premium OEM with service pack 1. Can I upgrade to any home premium retail? Or, does the upgrade have to include this service pack. If so, is this service pack include with Windows 7 home premium family pack?