Ended up burning the Digital River supplied Win 7 Pro 64bit download to an ISO disk.
Selected "custom install" - decided to format the Vista partition (c:\ )
Win 7 Pro 64 then installed on that clean partition using the Win 7 Pro 64bit key.
So - a purchased Win 7 Pro 64bit upgrade will work over a Vista Home Premium install. Chickened out using the 64bit disk in the upgrade box.
Understand. Semantics are important, however, for the vast majority, all they care about is whether they can "upgrade" from Vista X to Win 7 version X, Y, or Z using a Win 7 X, Y, Z upgrade program.
After that is known, then one can delve into whether a simple inplace upgrade is appropriate or if a clean install (formating the partition/drive while following the custom install procedures) is needed. Time for an adult beverage.
A scotch for me if you dont mind..
In my early years at school an old jesuit hammered into our thick skulls..."Words mean things." .. I blame it all on him...
I have used windows 7 Retail Upgraded DVD with the student keys (x86 and x64) without issue. Just install using the retail upgrade DVD then when it asks you just plop in your student key and activate. Now the Upgrade DVD comes with both x86 and x64 versions, I don't know if you can use the x86 student key on a x64 install. There is only one way to find out.
And just so you know I boot from the upgrade DVD formatted the hard drive and installed a fresh copy NO PROBLEM.
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