Anytime Pro upgrade - buy where?

[dianedebuda]

Can not find Anytime Home to Pro upgrade. Well, do see it from Tveak ($80), but reviews make me think it's not legit. Anyone know of a legal place to buy license at a reasonable cost (not Amazon $275 )? The bay has a few, but they're not sealed & I suspect they've been used. Don't know if Anytime is like OEM where once used it's locked to the mb.

Have user updating XP machines to Win7 Pro (for needed XP Mode) and now would like her Win7 Home laptop updated to match. She does not want to buy and install a new Pro for the laptop (too much time) nor buy an XP license so she can use VM for the single problem Access97 app. I actually have an Anytime CD from when I did mine eons ago on a prebuilt, but the Pro license is stll in use. Any way to buy a new W7 Pro license and run the Anytime using the key from the full Pro license? Expensive, but acceptible because her current W7 Home is highly customized and a reinstall would be a real PIA.

 

[Britton30]

there's this: Amazon.com: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade: Software but it would be like a fresh install I think. MS is backed against the wall with lackluster Win 8 sales and the Win 7 disks are drying up or being scalped at stupid prices. Win 8 sells for under $100. :sarc:

 

[ThrashZone]

TigerDirect has win-7 pro for 135.00 u.s.
Windows 7, Windows 7 Home, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate at TigerDirect.com

 

[theog]

but the Pro license is stll in use. Any way to even buy a new Windows 7 Pro license and run the Anytime using the full Pro license?

No install files needed.
Only the Upgrade key is need.
Anytime upgrade only adds-on the Programs & Features from version to version.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/95744-windows-anytime-upgrade-how.html

 

[dianedebuda]

Britton30 & ThrashZone: Thanks, but do NOT want to do a fresh install. Would only consider buying full license if KEY can be used with Anytime, which I doubt. The Egg pretty regularly has Pro OEM for $120.

theog: I've done Anytime upgrades, so I know it's only a key thing. Just where to buy? Saw in another post from a couple days ago that $60 Anytime Pros are on the web, but I'm not finding any for Home to Pro; see ones for Starter to Home.

 

[theog]

Britton30 & ThrashZone: Thanks, but do NOT want to do a fresh install. Would only consider buying full license if KEY can be used with Anytime, which I doubt. The Egg pretty regularly has Pro OEM for $120.

theog: I've done Anytime upgrades, so I know it's only a key thing. Just where to buy? Saw in another post from a couple days ago that $60 Anytime Pros are on the web, but I'm not finding any for Home to Pro; see ones for Starter to Home.

If you have done Anytime Upgrades, what is the "but do NOT want to do a fresh install" all about.

 

[dianedebuda]

Not directed at you with your Anytime reply, dear og. Meant (kindly) to others posting about Upgrades and full install packages. They're trying to help, but wanted to make it a bit clearer that a complete reinstall is not an option.

Edit: found this suggesting that she CAN buy a full Pro license and use that key in Anytime. http://windowsforum.com/threads/win-7-home-premium-to-professional.181373/

Of course, would like to find a cheaper "real" Anytime.

 

[theog]

Not directed at you with your Anytime reply, dear og. Meant (kindly) to others posting about Upgrades and full install packages. They're trying to help, but wanted to make it a bit clearer that a complete reinstall is not an option.

Edit: found this suggesting that she CAN buy a full Pro license and use that key in Anytime. Win 7 Home Premium to Professional - Windows Forums

Of course, would like to find a cheaper "real" Anytime.

Which links to my tutorial.

 

[dianedebuda]

Of course. Why mess with perfection? I just didn't think of checking the tutorials for alternative key sources. I got my Anytimes in boxes with keys.

 

[gregrocker]

You can insert a retail Product Key into Anytime Upgrade if the path qualifies and it will unlock the extra features same as an Anytime Key.

I would save a Win7 backup image both before and after the Upgrade to use for Recovery to avoid having to reinstall Home Premium to Upgrade again. Of course if you use retail full or Upgrade version you can Clean Install Windows 7.

This looks good: Microsoft Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade (Home Premium To Professional) [Online Code]

 

[dianedebuda]

save a Windows 7 backup image both before and after the Upgrade

You bet. Always do Acronis WD for these.

TechGeekShop - saw them when Goggled, but never heard of them. Anyone dealt with them?

Funny, looked at my Anytime boxes. No cd. Human memory is a strange thing...

Now, just for curiousity's sake, if I restored a W7 Home to before the Anytime upgrade, would that license be useable again? Or is it OEM-style, that is, tied to the mb it was originally installed on? Or does it adapt to the license type of the native W7 Home? No plan to do this, just wondering how valid those ebay listings would be. For my friend's situation, I need to play it complete safe, so I'd probably avoid anything that wasn't sealed or came from a reputable reseller.

 

[gregrocker]

The underlying Home Premium can be restored or reinstalled if you decide to no longer use the Anytime Upgrade - which is a retail license so can migrate to other PCs which qualify.

If the underlying OS is OEM then it's restricted to the same mobo; if retail it can migrate also.

 

[Britton30]

Unfortunately the TechGeekShop express checkout goes to: Amazon.com: Microsoft Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade (Home Premium to Professional) [Online Code]: Software

 

[dianedebuda]

gregrocker: So to be sure I understand the Anytime license - Imagine I have W7 Home OEM on box 1 and on box 2; I apply the Anytime license to box 1; decide I want it on box 2 instead, so restore Home on box 1 and then I can reapply the anytime license to box 2. Is that right?

Britton30: how kind of you to make such an effort to check that out. Thank you.

 

[gregrocker]

Yes. Anytime Upgrade is retail and can migrate freely as long as it is on only one installation at a time.

I have no idea why they are trying to hide copies of their only successful operating system. Business is moving off of XP almost entirely into Win7 so the idea they can cut its life short at all is just absurd.

 

[dianedebuda]

So, in theory at least, those bay Anytimes could be legit.

I know what you mean about XPers going to Win7. I showed my friend 2 of my machines, a Win7 box and a Win8 box that are configured to look almost identical (desktop mode) and are not very much different from the look & feel of XP in Classic Mode. She opted for Win7 because she has a Win7 laptop that i configured with an XP look and didn't want to deal with TIFKAM (love that term: The Interface Formerly Known As Metro). Mostly she chose Win7 Pro because it includes an XP license that she needs for an Access97 mail merge app that I wrote years ago and just cannot get to work natively under Win7/8. Her business is a couple of years away from retirement so it's just not worth converting. She wouldn't be converting to Win7 now if XP support was continuing - it fits her needs. Came very close to just running XP boxes on a nonWeb lan and having separate Web boxes. Even Linux would have been seriously in the running there if I was more familiar with it. Not at all interested in MS push towards cloud os & apps. Kind of Mainframe with terminals - everything old is new again.

Oh, well. Thanks for your enlightenment, gregrocker.

 

[Britton30]

I would be wary of eBay software, write the seller and ask questions before buying at least. A stupid low price should be a red flag. IF it ships from some place like Fond Dong China, it a skip I think.