swapping Windows 7 licenses(Professional/Ultimate)

martypants · 10 Jun 2010

Hi folks,

Just wondering whether anyone can answer the following question. I've looked at forums online for the same answer and there's loads of conflicting answers.

I had a dell XPS which I just bought windows 7 ultimate for about 6 months ago. About 2 months ago I encountered the video card issue whereby the display does not work anymore. I went and bought a IBM lenovo with windows professional. I now want to upgrade that professional edition to the windows ultimate version(which I'd bought for the XPS) and use the professional license on an older computer I have which has vista on it.

Is this possible? and do I have to download windows professional to install it on my other computer or can I use the windows ultimate cd and the windows professional Key?

Thanks in advance for your help guys.
Martin

Tews · 10 Jun 2010

You cant use a professional key to activate an Ultimate install.. you would need to install a copy of Professional in order to use your Professional key ..

alphanumeric · 10 Jun 2010

Instead of downloading Professional you could modify an image of your Ultimate DVD to install Pro. The easiest way is to use the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool to create a bootable USB flash drive for installing windows 7. Once you do that you delete the ei.cfg file from the sources folder on the thumb drive. Instead of automatically installing Ultamate the installer will ask you to chose which version. Starter, Home, Pro, or Ultimate. The product code has to match the version you select. If you try to install Pro and enter an Ultimate key it will just reject it. One thing to keep in mind though is you can't move an OEM version from one PC to another. It's allowed with a Retail version but not an OEM version. I've heard of people doing it anyway and getting away with it but your millage may vary.

Bill2 · 10 Jun 2010

Your post is very confused. Did win7 ultimate come pre-installed on the dell and win7 pro preinstalled on the lenovo? If yes, you cant move them around. If not, are these retail or OEM disks that you bought off a store?

gregrocker · 10 Jun 2010

If you bought the new computer with Professional installed it cannot be moved to another machine, but it can be upgraded to your Ultimate retail copy.

MS wants us to use Anytime Upgrade to move between versions of Windows 7, where you buy a key and unlock all versions. There are some reports that users have been able to insert their retail key into the Anytime Upgrade to get it to work for unlocking to the greater version.

If not, you will have to do a clean install of Ultimate over Professional. When you boot the Ultimate DVD to do a clean formatted install, it will scan the HD to see any prior OS which will pass a flag to allow Upgrade version key, even if you go ahead and use Custom install Drive Options to delete, re-partition and format. If you have full retail Ultimate you needn't worry about that.

There is a workaround to do an in-place Upgrade from one Win7 version to another by changing two registry keys to trick the installer into thinking it is doing a same-version Repair Install, which is always allowed. The workaround showing the reg keys to change is here: Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to any retail version « Icrontic Tech Be sure to set a restore point first.