Switching from Ultimate to Professional without reinstalling ?

[tesseract4d]

I am using a Windows 7 Ultimate and I want to switch to Professional.
Is it possible to do this without having to reinstall windows again - ie format my C drive and then install Professional to it.
The obvious concern is that I would have to reinstall all software and that would be too much of a bother.

What is the best way to do this ?

And just fyi, I've also dual booted my machine with Fedora as well.

 

[richc46]

To the best of my knowledge the only way to downgrade from Ultimate to Profesional is to reinstall.

A clean install would be the best way.

 

[Darician]

There's no way to do that. You can only upgrade to higher editions. If you're at Ultimate, then if you want to go to a lower SKU, you will need to do a reinstall.

 

[gregrocker]

You can change between retail versions with the popular workaround many beta testers used to change from the RC to a retail version.

Change the two registry keys shown below to Professional exactly as they are typed, which tricks the installer into thinking it is doing a Repair Install which is always allowed:

(click on image to enlarge)

Next run the Professional Installer from desktop, select "Keep Connected To Internet" to get latest drivers and updates into Installer, then "Upgrade". You will have to reactivate afterwards with the Professional Key, but activation is reset anyway in a Repair Install.

I tested this about two weeks ago successfully from Ult>Pro after reports it wasn't working. Another Guru also found it to work then.

The performance reported by many who tried it after Win7 release are the best reports ever on in-place Upgrade, completely contradicting MS claims that beta code couldn't be upgraded. Two friends of mine who I did the RC Upgrade to retail for via Remote Desktop don't even want the promised clean install now when I come to visit.

 

[alphanumeric]

I've gone from Home Premium to Ultimate and then back to Home Premium "without re-installing" using the work around Gregrocker posted above.

 

[richc46]

You can change between retail versions using the popular workaround by which many beta testers changed from the RC to a retail version.

Change the two registry keys shown below to Professional exactly as they are typed, which tricks the installer into thinking it is doing a Repair Install which is always allowed:

View attachment 96355 (click on image to enlarge)

Next run the Professional Installer from desktop, select "Keep Connected To Internet" to get latest drivers and updates into Installer, then "Upgrade". You will have to reactivate afterwards with the Professional Key, but activation is reset anyway in a Repair Install.

I tested this about two weeks ago successfully from Ult>Pro after reports it wasn't working. Another Guru also found it to work then.

The performance reported by many who tried it after Win7 release are the best reports ever on in-place Upgrade, completely contradicting MS claims that beta code couldn't be upgraded. Two friends of mine who I did the RC Upgrade to retail for via Remote Desktop don't even want the promised clean install now when I come to visit.

Excellent, I would give rep for this, if I did not already. Great going Greg. You taught me too.

 

[ishikawa01]

Can I also switch from Home Premium to Professional that way, or can I do it like an "upgrade"?

 

[pparks1]

Out of curiosity, what is the reason for wanting to downgrade?

 

[alphanumeric]

Out of curiosity, what is the reason for wanting to downgrade?

In my case after doing an anytime upgrade to Ultimate (with an E-Bay key ). I had to go back to my legal Home Premium and didn't want to re-install. Anytime upgrade just unlocked the extra features so I used the workaround to disable them again. All my installed programs remained intact and I didn't have to reload all my music, pictures and documents. It saved me from having to redo everything from scratch.

 

[alphanumeric]

Can I also switch from Home Premium to Professional that way, or can I do it like an "upgrade"?

There is really no need to do it if you are going up a version. Windows 7 is coded to let you go up in version with anytime upgrade. Just launch anytime upgrade and type in the product code for your Professional version. If its a valid code you will be upgraded to Pro and unlock the extra features of Pro. You may have to activate again but if its a legal code/version that shouldn't be a problem. Windows 7 just won't let you go back. It won't let you downgrade in versions unless you do the reg edit posted above and trick it into thinking you have a lower version.

 

[nanotech]

What if I want to switch from prof to home premium? I did a clean-install off of the microsoft "usb" download installation files online but for some reason it installed prof even though I have home prem.

I am guessing I could do the same thing as mentioned above but what are the exact two entries for Home Premium? Is it "Home Premium" or "Home Prem" or just "Premium"?

Thanks in advance and I hope this works for me as well...would hate to do a clean install and waste 3-4hrs re-doing my whole pc.

 

[gregrocker]

use HOMEPREMIUM for the EditionID, and Windows 7 HOMEPREMIUM for the ProductName.

Source: http://tech.icrontic.com/articles/upgrade-the-windows-7-rc-to-retail

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello nanotech, welcome to Seven Forums!









Why when you have a better version installed and working without issue would you want to revert to a lesser version, that makes no sense to me; have a look at the tutorial at the link below.


Compare Windows 7 Editions

 

[nanotech]

Yeah I guess I wouldn't really switch except now when I finally tried to activate it...it wouldn't let me because my key is for home premium. Remember I just wanted to do a clean-install but somehow the usb installation version installed the prof version. I was fine with that until now it forced me to activate and when i tried it wouldn't do it since I have a home prem key. Now I haev "this copy is not genuine" on the bottom right hand corner of my computer....plus it nags me every now and then.

Thank you very much for the quick support guys!

 

[nanotech]

Well it looks like I can't "repair" with my usb key, I have to have the actual DVD. I double-clicked on setup inside Win 7 (on my usb key), it did the normal steps and then when I got to "upgrade" or "clean install" (or whatever that 2nd option is), I chose upgrade, and when I did, it said can't upgrade from win 7 professional to win 7 professional...somehow my usb key that has the installation on it is ONLY for professional I guess. Maybe I just need to get a home premium installation pack on my USB?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello again nanotech.









You can use the info in this tutorial at the link below to create a universal installer disk that can be used to install Home Premium though it will have to be a clean install
Be sure to post back with any questions and to keep us informed.


Windows 7 Universal Installation Disc - Create

 

[alphanumeric]

If you go into the sources folder on your USB install drive and delete the ie.cfg file you will unlock all the versions for installation. You will get a list of the different versions and you can then pick Home Premium. You still need a matching product code so this isn't a cheat to get a higher version. Where did you get your install media from, and how did you end up with the wrong version?

 

[nanotech]

I can't find the ie.cfg file. I realize I can probably do a clean install once I download Home Premium but I'm trying to avoid that, thanks for the suggestion though.

I got my laptop about a month ago and wanted to do a clean install but my laptop didn't come with any CD's nor even a built-in optical drive. So I went to the HP Envy forum on the notebookreview.com website and they had very nice step-by-step directions on how to do a clean install and otherwise optimize the computer. I did it and it worked, except somehow it installed prof instead of home premium (i don't even remember it giving me a choice). And now that I want to activate it of course I can't since my key is for home premium.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello again nanotech.



You can use the info in this tutorial at the link below to create a universal installer disk that can be used to install Home Premium though it will have to be a clean install
Be sure to post back with any questions and to keep us informed.


Windows 7 Universal Installation Disc - Create

This tutorial explains the whole process, did you have a look at it?

 

[alphanumeric]

Ops, sorry, typo it should have been ei.cfg
Where ever you got your copy of windows 7 from you got the wrong version. All versions are on the DVD but microsoft locks it into a particular version with the ei.cfg file. Normally you don't get prompted to chose a version, it just installs the one the ei.cfg file tells it too. Delete that file and you get a choice. You can't download windows 7 from Microsoft unless you have a technet or MSDN subscription so my advice to you is to be carefull. Depending on where you got it from you could end up with some bonus extras you wern't counting on. :shock: