Windows 7 RC To Final Upgrade Possible

quickquestion said:

Well I ordered it. I hate Microsoft for overpricing everything and making everything so complicated when it should be like Mac OS X - No serial, no activation, one version, one low price.

I'll take the complicated activation of an OS if it means drastically cheaper hardware...

fakeasdf said:

I'll take the complicated activation of an OS if it means drastically cheaper hardware...

Don't forget the customization.

~Lordbob

If in fact having an activated version of windows on the drive is going to be required to install and activate W7 RTM using upgrade media & key, then I think that once you have installed and activated Win 7 RTM, you will subsequently be able to use your now activated install of W7 RTM as your activated version of Windows to reinstall or clean install using upgrade media at any time in the future. This idea that you have to use an older version of Windows or the RC doesn't seem right to me and I think it is simply wrong. So, if I'm right there will be no one install limitation, imo.

I think it has to be this way because MS basically has to allow you to do repair installs (which are really upgrade installs) of your activated W7 RTM, even if it was originally installed using an upgrade media and key. Jmo, but I bet this turns out to be the way it works.

garbanzo said:

i still have a question about this: is there a difference between an Upgrade Serial and a Full Serial?

meaning, if i buy an Upgrade edition, then install off of a Full edition DVD, can i activate it using the Upgrade serial i bought?

I'm afraid there is such a small difference that Full edition will recognize the license key of Upgrade edition, and prompt you to use it with an Upgrade disk, although there is the wide discussed trick to override it.

harpua said:

If in fact having an activated version of windows on the drive is going to be required to install and activate W7 RTM using upgrade media & key,......

Agreed....

Is an upgrade going to requires an activated version of Windows ON THE DRIVE or just an activated (legal) PRODUCT KEY?

Several posts have referred to having the original installation media but that makes no sense as it is the product key, not the media that is significant.

Will a user be able to buy the upgrade and do a clean install directly to a new disk drive by manually entering the previous Windows version product key?

It is the same scenario as some have suggested where a user does a successful upgrade/clean install of WIN7 and blows away the original Windows installation. Later that user has a hard disk failure and buys a new disk drive. Now what is MS's proposed re-install method for this completely legitimate and highly probable scenario?

Let's complicate things, does the ORIGINAL Windows have to be a retail key? What if it is an OEM key? What if the "ORIGINAL" key is itself an XP to Vista UPGRADE key?

Seems as though I have run into this Catch 22 before on a Win98 to WinXP upgrade. The Win98 key was itself and upgrade from '95 to '98 (or was it '98 to '98SE?). Anyway it was a while ago.... In the end I needed the ORIGINAL NON-UPGRADE Product Key. BUT, I did not have to re-install the original OS just to do the final upgrade.

Hmm.......

Upgrade product keys and full version product keys are different. Basically, you cannot use a product key for an upgrade installation, and then attempt to that same key when performing a full installation.