Clarification on Win7 versions and keys.

[thomashouseman]

I just bought a pc on Ebay. I picked it up tonight.

It has Win 7 Ultimate 32bit on it. He also gave me the disc/product key.

It's a Windows 7 Ultimate Promotional Disc - 32 bit.

It's a dual core pc. I'd like to install 64 bit ultimate on it instead. Is this allowed if I wipe the 32 bit version?
Can I use the same key?
I have a 64bit windows home premium DVD but not an ultimate one. Is it possible to use that DVD or do I need to get a copy of the 64 bit ultimate DVD?

Any assistance would be great.

Thanks.

T.

 

[alphanumeric]

Your windows 7 product code will let you install the 32 bit or 64 bit version. The product keys are locked to a certain version, for example a Home Premium key will only let you install Home Premium, it will not let you install Professional or Ultimate. Also your Home Premium DVD is locked to Home Premium. There is a way around that though. If you create an ISO image of your Home Premium DVD you can edit it so it will let you install any version you want. All you do is delete the ei.cfg file from the sources folder and then burn a new disk. This DVD should then give you a menu with Starter, Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate to choose from. The product code has to match the version you select, so you can't cheat and install a higher version than what you paid for. If you have PC's with different versions it's handy to have one DVD to do installs from instead of 2 or 3. I put mine on a USB thumb drive.

 

[pparks1]

The key will work with either 32-bit or 64-bit...however the versions have to be the same. So, you won't be able to use your Home Premium disc with an Ultimate disc I'm afraid.

 

[logicearth]

All you have to do is remove "ei.cfg" from the DVD.

 

[DeaconFrost]

All you have to do is remove "ei.cfg" from the DVD.

Yep, use this software to make a bootable Windows 7 installation flash drive, and then when it is complete, delete the ei.cfg file from the flash drive...then install.

 

[Ageeb]

not to thread-jack, but you'd have to delete the ei.cfg for both the 32 and 64 bit discs if you wanted a multi version disc of each type correct? I've yet to do this, but it sounds handy...

 

[thomashouseman]

All you have to do is remove "ei.cfg" from the DVD.

Tried this, now I'm getting install.wim is missing errors. /sigh

 

[Ageeb]

See if this tutorial helps you...
Windows 7 Universal Installation Disc - Create

 

[alphanumeric]

In my opinion the simplest way to do it is the way DeaconFrost described. Create a bootable thumb drive and then delete the ei.cfg file from the sources folder. I use the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool > Microsoft Store: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool Help . It doesn't get much simpler to use and it comes right from the horses mouth. Once you have your OS on the thumdrive you can delete the ei.cfg file to unlock all the versions.

EDIT: You just deleted the ei.cfg file FROM the sources folder and not the folder itself, right?

 

[thomashouseman]

Got it working thanks!

 

[alphanumeric]

 

[drego5]

Going on an ever-so-slight tangent....

Your windows 7 product code will let you install the 32 bit or 64 bit version. The product keys are locked to a certain version, for example a Home Premium key will only let you install Home Premium, it will not let you install Professional or Ultimate. Also your Home Premium DVD is locked to Home Premium. There is a way around that though. If you create an ISO image of your Home Premium DVD you can edit it so it will let you install any version you want. All you do is delete the ei.cfg file from the sources folder and then burn a new disk. This DVD should then give you a menu with Starter, Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate to choose from. The product code has to match the version you select, so you can't cheat and install a higher version than what you paid for. If you have PC's with different versions it's handy to have one DVD to do installs from instead of 2 or 3. I put mine on a USB thumb drive.

So you can't install Ultimate from Home Premium, which makes sense because of the key, and (one would think) because it's a more costly version.. But could you install Home Premium from an Ultimate disk? Or would you have to do the same thing, with deleting the ei.cfg file?

 

[logicearth]

...So you can't install Ultimate from Home Premium, which makes sense because of the key, and (one would think) because it's a more costly version.. But could you install Home Premium from an Ultimate disk? Or would you have to do the same thing, with deleting the ei.cfg file?

Ever Windows 7 DVD is exactly the same, there is no different between any of the DVDs except for the label. But each and every version of one architecture (x86, x64) is on a single disk. The ei.cfg file controls which version is to be used by the installer. Without the ei.cfg files you pick the version.

 

[drego5]

logicearth: Excellent, well-explained answer. Thank you.

 

[alphanumeric]

You could edit the ei.cfg to install a different version too. You could have the setup install Ultimate instead of Professional if you wanted to. It's just easier to delete the ei.cfg file. As mentioned you would still need an Ultimate product code to use it for more than 30 days so you are not getting anything for free. All the features for every version are on the DVD it just that some of them are disabled depending on what version you install. This gives you the ability to use the any time upgrade option to unlock a higher version just by entering a new product code and not having to buy a new DVD.

 

[atun]

You could edit the ei.cfg to install a different version... It's just easier to delete the ei.cfg file.

I have tried both methods, with genuine Retail DVD image, OEM DVD image, even a downloaded RC DVD ISO. Used multiple brands of media, edited/burnt with MagicISO & ImgBurn running on both Win7x64 and XPx32 systems. Every single time I get the same error loading from the burnt DVD:
Windows could not collect information for [OSImage] since the specified image file [install.wim] does not exist.

Can anyone explain how I'm doing it wrong, please?

 

[zigzag3143]

You could edit the ei.cfg to install a different version... It's just easier to delete the ei.cfg file.

I have tried both methods, with genuine Retail DVD image, OEM DVD image, even a downloaded RC DVD ISO. Used multiple brands of media, edited/burnt with MagicISO & ImgBurn running on both Win7x64 and XPx32 systems. Every single time I get the same error loading from the burnt DVD:
Windows could not collect information for [OSImage] since the specified image file [install.wim] does not exist.

Can anyone explain how I'm doing it wrong, please?

Have you googled this question? There are at least 10 different threads. This one has a work around. Install.Wim missing

 

[atun]

Thanx for the link, Z. I had googled, alot. Finding the answer(s) amongst the mountain of results is another story. Will try the suggestions in that thread.