Upgrading Windows 7 OS from HOME PREMIUM to ULTIMATE

My responses are highlighted in blue.

jagman55 said:

Lets say I do the OEM from a clean start, per your suggestion/links.

What version is that OEM called?
It is called Home Premium, the same as the version you are licensed for on the COA.

I own a Home Premium, but is the bloatware HP.
Isn't that OEM the base OS without any features? Far below the Home Premium?
No. No.
The download link in Greg's tutorial is for the "clean" MS version of Home Premium without any of the additional "junk" HP has added to the version they installed on the PC you bought.

I don't understand how a free OEM can be better than even HP Home Premium?
It is not really free - you paid for the license when you bought the PC.
It is "free" of the junk HP decided to give you on top of the "clean" Win 7 Home Premium.

Cant see Microsoft giving anything of use, free.
See answer above

Isn't even HP better than a BASE OEM? Or is the Factory OEM the equivalent of the Home Premium HP started with?
See answers above - I hope I explained things to clear up a misunderstanding of the difference between a clean install of Win 7 without any of the HP bloat (Tutorial link), and what you get from the factory.

If you download and install from the link in the tutorial you will get a clean install - NO HP bloatware!

CORRECT? or did I miss something?

Lets see.
Go to link you supplied, there i can find a OEM of Home Premium, Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. Install it CLEAN, FORMAT my C: drive, Load the OEM, use my lic and key, etc to register it as my copy of Home Premium.

Correct?

I can find for my desktop LIC/SN number under Control Panel/SYSTEM page?

Well you may get some questions as I am going to try this.
and use: TeamViewer

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU that responded

You need to use the license key on the COA sticker to activate Windows.
See step 6 in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Make sure you have a readable key on the COA!

Is the Product Key on the COA sticker on bottom of laptop is readable?

Here is the download you need: Win7 Home Premium x64 SP1 w/Media Refresh English Official ISO download

Pay close attention in the tutorial to how drivers are handled in Win7. Download your wireless driver now to your backup so you have it in case the installer doesn't provide it, so you can get online to run all rounds of Important and Optional Windows Updates which should provide most all drivers, after enabling Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3). Only import drivers missing after all updates are done, with reboots after which you Check for Updates again.

and the Laptop bottom, due to wear has been made unreadable.
Do these exist anywhere else?

In this case your option is to order Recovery disks from the PC maker's Tech Support. There's no way to Clean Reinstall your licensed version without a readable Product Key.

The Post #15 Title states "The Problem is, my Desktop does not have a sticker"

Did you buy a new HP Desktop with Windows pre-installed, and it did not come with a Windows COA sticker?

I did, it was directly from HP. Both, Laptop and Desktop.
The company I retired from supplied my PC's while working but had to turn them in so purchased the two Pavilion at the same time directly from HP.

But both still have the Recovery partition so worst case is to RESTORE or Recover the original, then get the ID then reload the OEM downloaded.

BUT big question is, there is a PRODUCTION ID: XXXXX-OEM-XXXXXXX-XXXXX

on the: Control Panel/System [page.] under section: Windows activation ---------------------

is this the ID I need when I reload the OEM from your links?