For everyone concerned about buying the upgrade disk

What is the phone #? Where did you get it from on Microsoft.com? Is it a Microsoft Store sales phone #?

grouchpunk08 said:

I called Microsoft a few minutes ago, and they said ...

EDIT- I called back, ...

Doesn't the double-install method mean anybody can do an upgrade without a previous qualifying version? Or did I miss anything?

Yes, that is exactly what it means.

Not really the spirit of the thing though, is it?

In theory, the only difference between upgrade and Retail is you either need to show the installer another windows dvd- or do the double install.

If you have Retail version of Vista already - presumably after doing the upgrade , the Retail status remains.

You should be able to move it to another machine if needed.

Since the upgrade does not appear to check the current product key - the same will apply to current oem installs.

Again , this might not be the spirit of the thing - but MS are fully aware of it and have decided to do it that way.

I guess they decided people buying a stand alone o/s are enthusisats and will buy Win 8 in 3yrs anyway - they are not concerned if a mobo needs to be replaced, or a major machine upgrade is done.

I'm in the reverse sitch - I have 2 XP Pro x64 installs and want to turn them to Win 7 Home Premium. I guess I can do that with the double install. Hell, after how many leaked build installs, what's a couple more for the real thang ...

DJG said:

I'm in the reverse sitch - I have 2 XP Pro x64 installs and want to turn them to Win 7 Home Premium. I guess I can do that with the double install. Hell, after how many leaked build installs, what's a couple more for the real thang ...

You got that right!

Liberty said:

What is the phone #? Where did you get it from on Microsoft.com? Is it a Microsoft Store sales phone #?

Yeah go to microsoft.com and then click the link that says contact us. Its in there

Arkhan said:

Do an in-place upgrade from within the existing OS (i.e. upgrade over the top), or the preferred option of booting the upgrade media, using the upgrade key, it sees the existing vista partition and lets you carry on, you format the partition and clean install into it.

If you subsequently want to reinstall clean again, now your existing windows 7 partition will count when you do a disc boot with the upgrade key, format, clean install.

If you replace the laptop drive with a new blank one, you can install 7 twice to do a clean install with upgrade media.

Exactly right

harpua said:

I'm in the same situation, except I downloaded (readily available if you know where to look) Vista installation media as I felt the need to have an installation disk handy in order to be able to do repair installs and startup repairs.

Anyway, at the very least, the dual install W7 method (clean install W7 w/o key, then do an upgrade install from w/i the newly installed but unactivated w7 w/ a valid W7 key) should work for people who don't have Vista installation media, as was already explained in several recent threads. If that turns out to be true then I don't see this upgrade process as being a problem or sucking, in any respect.

I, for one, would gladly suffer the inconvenience of having to install W7 twice in a row (an extra hour or so of time) to save the amount of money one can save by purchasing a discounted upgrade version instead of the full version and appreciate MS making this money saving method of obtaining a legal copy of W7 available.

Even without the original vista DVD, as long as you still have your vista partition installed, you can do an in place upgrade from within vista using the upgrade 7 dvd and choose clean install. It will see you have vista installed, and never ask you for the Vista DVD, as it will have already confirmed you are eligible for upgrade key activation