Windows 7 Activation Problem WinXP to Win 7 x64 on new SSD

I think I just made a big mistake by not making sure I knew the type of upgrade I was buying. Yesterday I upgrade me system to include a Samsung SSD 830. I also bought an upgrade to migrate form windows XP pro to Windows 7 Pro x64. This upgrade was purchased as a academic upgrade as I am a teacher.

All I have read about adding an SSD boot Drive recommended a clean install of the operating system. I did so. And once I verified that all was working well, I migrated all my data files and installed all the programs to my old hard drive that previously was the boot drive. Before relocating my files I formatted the drive.

Unsuspectingly, I had successfully installed Windows 7 to my SSD and moved all my data and most of my program files to the old hard dives. The performance gains and speed to say the least were impressive.

My problems started when I tried activating Windows 7. I got an error message telling me that the upgrade version I bought could not be used for a clean install on my new drive. I have spent hours in this migration process form winXP to Win 7. Does this mean I have to wipe out my fresh win 7 install, go back and install my old winXP software and then install 7 x64 over XP x32? I though you could not do that?

Are there workarounds that will allow me to activate my new operating system without investing another 6 to 8 hour in the process and possible lose some of my data? Your help will be very much appreciated.

Welcome to the forum,

Yes there are work arounds, see if option three of this tutorial,

Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Does the job for you.

Thank you. If worked. You saved me a lot of time and effort.

You're welcome, glad you got it fixed. :)

You can mark this solved by clicking the green button.