New
#11
Any retail key should unlock Anytime Upgrade. Save a Win7 backup image and try it.
Well if you tried it then that's a different thing.
Almost any OEM and MS support will tell you you can't even use a retail key to Anytime Upgrade, but we do it here all the time.
I just wanted you to benefit from that.
I'm largely and passionately against any kind of multi-boot setups, but most definitely when it is the same OS. There are very few, subtle, small differences between the two OSes. However, given your intentions, I have two other suggestions. Either install it as the only OS on the system, or virtualize it (so if you mess with group policy and screw something up, all you have to do is restore the VM file).
I like the first option better as long as he makes up a factory recovery disk ahead of time in the event he later needs to revert back to the HP edition. If the laptop is too new I wouldn't advise removing the factory partitions while those can still be dumped in order to recover the additional drive space as long as you had a HP dvd to be able to put the Home Premium back on by itself.
Here on an older Vista laptop first the entire drive was nuked and then replaced twice still using the OEM key. If you have an extra drive in an external enclosure creating a full image backup of the drive would be a smart move in case of any mishap.
As for differences between the Pro and Home Premium editions I would simply replace the HP with Pro which supports things like the XP Mode and Dynamic disks while dual booting is still possible between the two editions. Compare Windows 7 Editions
The best option however would be simply replacing one for the better provided you make up the recovery disk set while everything is still intact. Or you can borrow a Home Premium disk if later need to transfer the Pro to a new machine since you have a retail disk and still have the laptop with an OS.
Im starting to think maybe its just better to replace with pro completly, as far as being new this thing is only a few days out of the box, brand new, i know doing a clean install is usually recommended to get all the factory crap off of here, i can always get the drivers and any programs back that i might use such as simplepass for the fingerprint reader it has, but like you said for new i should leave the hp tools and recovery partitiion i dont mind leaving them the small space they take up doesnt bother me with this big of a drive! What is the best way to make the recovery disks AND KNOW that they work? i mean just incase i want to make sure that before i wipe out whats on here that i can put it back if need be, and i can just worry about playing with 8 later on maybe shrinking the drive later on like talked about before, whats the best way to go about all of this i guess just making sure that things go without a major problem!
Thanks guys!!
Newer model HP's will still run Recovery after reinstall to C, so if you also make Recovery disks you'll have two methods for a path back. I would run Diagnostics from boot to make sure it runs first.
Then follow these steps to get a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.
Okay so i see that im only allowed one shot at making the disks haha thats always nice to know, ill be doing that later today, and by leaving the recovery parition lets say worst case my disks failed and so did pro or something happened and i want the factory set, how would i get it from the recovery partition? And also as far as actually doing this the best way im assuming is to boot from my pro disk which is a ISO i burned, format C and then install pro there? should i do anything else?
Thanks!
Everything you need is in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 including the Best Practices to get a perfect install based on helping with countless thousands of successful reinstalls here.
Your best Recovery will always be that of your customized setup once it's running best, using Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup. You can make one both before and after your reinstall. Many tech enthusiasts won't bother with the bloated factory recovery which is worst on HP's.
HP Recov DIsks - make another set