So, I have just purchased a new computer with an OEM Home Premium 64-bit installation. I would like to do a clean install with my retail upgrade Win 7 Pro DVDs from a previous upgrade to a different machine.
Can I buy an Anytime Upgrade license key from Home Premium to Professional and have it work as the license key after using retail DVD's for a clean install? I just don't like the extra bloat the OEM install disks create. Thanks.
I'm aware that the Win7 installation contains all the versions unlocked by using the appropriate key.
The recovery disks that were created by using the OEM backup manager have all manner of patches and bloatware that for one reason or another I don't really want to have on my machine, much less spend 45 minutes removing.
I figured that it would be simpler if I could use my retail disks to clean install my OS and use an Anytime Upgrade key as the de facto 2nd license.
I suppose that it's a long shot that entering the OEM key for Home Premium on a retail Win 7 Professional install DVD will actually clean install Home Premium, allowing me to Anytime Upgrade to Professional.......
Thanks for the help. Always more hoops to jump through......
I purchased an Alienware M17x laptop with Windows Home Premium 64 on it, I purchased an unused DELL Windows 7 Professional 64 Vista to Windows 7 Upgrade disk and did an anytime upgrade using the MS Key on the disk and was upgraded to Pro in under 6 minutes.
The OEM install discs patch windows with manufacturer's logon screen (which apparently doesn't use the standard method of registry injection you can fix with info in these forums), an apparently memory hungry hotkey manager, and some unneeded power saving features, along with the assorted software trials we all get with new machines.
I realize it may sound obsessive-compulsive, but I'd just like to be able to build my OS from the ground up, without having to go through the extra step of uninstalling and cleaning out unnecessary programs and registry entries every time I make a clean install (which I do fairly regularly i.e. once every few months).
I would like to, if possible, be able to pay for the Anytime Upgrade to the OS to put 7 Pro on my machine cleanly (read: no manufacturer's influence) without paying an extra $100 or so for what is essentially an extra set of DVD's I don't need.
If you REEEEALLY wanted, you could scour the shadier parts of the Interwebz and obtain a copy of what would be a 7 Home Premium OEM disc and use the key on the side of your machine and install that way, thus having nothing but fresh and legal [because the key is still legit] Windows 7 w/o any poop from the manufacturer to scoop away.
That is... if you're into that sort of thing.
Quote