Win7 student upgrade

rajveer · 25 Oct 2009

Hi guys, I have the option of going for the Windows 7 student deal and have a few questions that I want to clarify before I go for it:

- Is it the retail upgrade version, not the OEM upgrade? So I'll be able to use this key on a brand new box later on down the road?

- Is a clean install of the upgrade version exactly the same as a clean install of the retail, bar the MediaBootInstall registry key being 1 instead of 0 (if the installer doesn't find any previous version of Windows)? I.e. Is it just the installer that differs, with no difference between an actual clean install of the upgrade and retail versions?

- I installed and have been using the RTM for a few weeks, can I just use the upgrade key to activate this version?

Irish · 25 Oct 2009

From what I have read and discerned, The Student edition is a download and an upgrade. And also from what I have read there are a few issues with it and Microsoft has acknowledged this.

Microsoft Acknowledges Problems With Windows 7 Student Edition Upgrades - windows 7 - Gizmodo

This link tells you a little more info.

GL

rajveer · 25 Oct 2009

Yeah read about that, some people have been burning it as an ISO and it works fine. As far as I know though you can install the RTM and use the upgrade key to activate. Not 100% sure though, hence the 3rd question :)

glacierfanclub · 25 Oct 2009

This is the version that I got, and it installed just fine. It took a while, but i've had no problems like that.

MarcG · 25 Oct 2009

I got the student download and followed the instructions elsewhere on this forum to burn a DVD. Booted from that, used the installer to wipe the Vista partition and do a clean install. Installed fine, activated without trouble.

Agree: they should have given the option to download the .iso along with a burning utility to make it dead simple.

Marc