Can I use a Ultimate W7 key with Home Professional disc

ThumperSD said:

I have an HP desktop which came with Vista. I qualified for the WIndows 7 Home professional upgrade which I installed on it.

I am now building another rig and want to purchase a W7 Ultimate (or anything other than home) serial key which does NOT come with the disc.

Can I use the HP W7 upgrade disc to install on my new PC with an Ultimate key that I purchased from ebay?

be very careful about buying a key off ebay, you may find one day you switch your pc on and the key is blacklisted , many of these keys are stolen

ThumperSD said:

an Ultimate key that I purchased from ebay

hi.....it would be good to go through this thread Check a product key for use

also d/l this and check your key Windows 7 Product Key Checker 1.0.1

ThumperSD said:

Can I use the HP W7 upgrade disc to install on my new PC with an Ultimate key that I purchased from ebay?

An Ultimate key will activate the Ultimate edition, a Home Premium Key will activate the Home Premium edition, and so on.

An Ultimate key will only activate an Ultimate installation; however, if you have a Home Premium disc, and can still install the Ultimate edition.

Fist, copy all the files from the HP disc to a folder. Then go to the Sources folder, and delete the ei.cfg file.

Then use one of these methods to install Windows:
USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create

Or, you can create a disc:

Bootable ISO - Create from Installation Files

followed by

Burn Disc Image - ISO or IMG file

Good luck!

Now, you could use Johnathan's method, but, for instance, I am using the Ultimate RTM which requires no product key. Besides the RTMness of it, it is the final release of Windows 7 -- runs fine.
You just click continue on the prodkey area, it'll work.

Anyway, as a general rule, no, a product key for HP will only work with the HP version.

palz said:

Now, you could use Johnathan's method, but, for instance, which requires no product key. Besides the RTMness of it, it is the final release of Windows 7 -- runs fine.
You just click continue on the prodkey area, it'll work.

HUH......an RTM release of Windows 7 (any version) still requires a product key. If you don't enter one at install, you will get 30 days on versions other than enterprise (3 days for that version). You will then have to provide a valid product key.

If you have a copy of Windows that is not requiring this, then it is a hacked copy that has circumvented the licensing process. And could be packed as well with various spyware, malware and privacy problems. My suggestion to you would be to discontinue use of this and get a legit copy.

The only exception to the above would be an OEM copy that came with your machine. It could most likely be reinstalled without having to enter a key...but it's intended for that machine only. And without some info from the BIOS or mobo..that disc should not reinstall on other types of machines.

palz said:

but, for instance, I am using the Ultimate RTM which requires no product key.

Who told you that? The only versions of Windows OS's that don't require keys are cracked copies.

Well, there used to be a version of XP that didn't require a product key, XP Corporate Edition or something, but hey, that may have been hacked as well.

notsograymatter said:

Well, there used to be a version of XP that didn't require a product key, XP Corporate Edition or something, but hey, that may have been hacked as well.

Corporate editions required a key as well, it was a volume license edition. It's possible that somebody may have slipstreamed in some volume license key into the installer to make it install without asking for a key. it's still not a legal key though for anybody outside of that key owner who might be using it.