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Saltgrass said:

I missed how the validation process works, could you explain?

Its very clever. When you insert the Win 7 disc, either to boot from or at the desktop of your OS, the installer 'sniffs out ' any and all evidence of the underlying OS. The results.....yes there is evidence, or no there is not...is stored in Ram and this happens at the beginning of the install process, not the end like Vista. It allows you to partition and format the drive and still pass activation. All this works without any 'hack' etc.
Can it be fooled.....yes. If you have a virgin system that has never ever seen Vista or XP and if you partitiion /format before booting the install, activation will fail. And so it should as we are dealing with 'Upgrade Media' and we can't blame MS for wanting to make sure the install is licensed correctly.

This is how you install Upgrade media to a formatted or new HDD, as given out by MS tech support: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp

It doesn't relieve you of having a previous qualifying OS in case the issue is ever elevated to MS phone person during reinstall reactivation.

However, reinstalls are never again necessary for either OS if you make an Image backup using Win7's Backup Imaging, stored externally to reimage the HDD or a replacement in 15 minutes. Just boot into the installer's REpair console.

Nosmo said:

Its very clever. When you insert the Win 7 disc, either to boot from or at the desktop of your OS, the installer 'sniffs out ' any and all evidence of the underlying OS. The results.....yes there is evidence, or no there is not...is stored in Ram and this happens at the beginning of the install process, not the end like Vista. It allows you to partition and format the drive and still pass activation.

If that is the way it works, good, but I still have a question that bothers me. If you install to a dual boot system and one of those OSes will be deactivated, how does the install know which one and how does it deactivate that OS?

There are still some folks saying you cannot do a Custom install by booting from the upgrade DVD, which I know is false.

Saltgrass said:

Nosmo said:

Its very clever. When you insert the Win 7 disc, either to boot from or at the desktop of your OS, the installer 'sniffs out ' any and all evidence of the underlying OS. The results.....yes there is evidence, or no there is not...is stored in Ram and this happens at the beginning of the install process, not the end like Vista. It allows you to partition and format the drive and still pass activation.

If that is the way it works, good, but I still have a question that bothers me. If you install to a dual boot system and one of those OSes will be deactivated, how does the install know which one and how does it deactivate that OS?

There are still some folks saying you cannot do a Custom install by booting from the upgrade DVD, which I know is false.

The qualifying OS does not become deactivated, it is only in the EULA that it says you cannot continue using it.

But like most, you will probably want out of a dual boot almost as soon as you try Win7, so consider starting fresh with the best possible, clean install booting from the Installer. Just back up all your files first and be prepared to reinstall programs.