Need Help For Upgrade : Windows Vista to Windows 7

I have a situation here. Can anybody help me?

The story is..

I had a compaq presario laptop with windows vista home basic when I cam to USA from India. At USA I bought another laptop of Toshiba again with windows vista home basic but with an option to upgrade to windows 7 when available.

After windows 7 was launched I asked for windows 7 upgrade media from Toshiba. They sent me Windows 7 Home Premium (!!) upgrade disk by mail. But during my last visit to India I left the Toshiba laptop and Windows 7 upgrade disk (by mistake) at home in India. Now I have only windows 7 home premium upgrade key (that I got from India using a phone call) and my Compaq Presario laptop with windows vista home basic.

The questions are:

1. Why Toshiba sent me windows 7 Home Premium disk to upgrade my Windows Vista Home Basic? Isn't it impossible to upgrade to different edition?

2. Can I use this unused/unactivated windows 7 home premium key from Toshiba to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium on my Compaq Presario laptop?

3. If 2 point is possible then what I am suppose to do? Do I need to download Windows 7 Home Premium? From where I can get Windows 7 Home Premium?

Waiting your replies.

This is my first post so pardon me for any mistakes.

Thanks
Alex

Alex8525 said:

After windows 7 was launched I asked for windows 7 upgrade media from Toshiba. They sent me Windows 7 Home Premium (!!) upgrade disk by mail. But during my last visit to India I left the Toshiba laptop and Windows 7 upgrade disk (by mistake) at home in India. Now I have only windows 7 home premium upgrade key (that I got from India using a phone call) and my Compaq Presario laptop with windows vista home basic.

Hello Alex8525

It sounds like you were sent the wrong disk by mistake. You are correct about the upgrade, To perform an upgrade both operating systems must be identical for example:

Windows Vista Home Basic 64bit <= upgrade to => Windows 7 Home Basic 64bit

If both systems are not identical in this way its an invalid upgrade path and you would have to perform a custom install:

"If your current edition of Windows Vista can't be upgraded to the edition of Windows 7 that you want to use, you can still install Windows 7 by using the Custom installation option instead. However, the Custom option doesn't preserve your files, programs, or settings."

So the best recourse is to get the right version of the OS. You can try and give Toshiba a quick call explaining what happened. They'll just ask you to send back the wrong disc in exchange for the right one.

Hope this helps :)

It seems fine to me. You can use that key to install on your Compaq laptop - instead of on the Toshiba.

You have Vista on the Compaq - so that satisfies the requirement for a qualifying version.

You will need the installation media- an .iso you can burn to dvd, or the installation files, or a dvd.

microsoft-fixes-windows-7-upgrade-problems-Gizmodo

You are lucky to get the Home Premium key .

It might not activate if Toshiba locked the Upgrade license to the S/N of the machine it was intended to Upgrade. Acer told me that MS required this of the Upgrade kit Win7 license.

But even if it won't activate, you'll be able to use it for the 30 day activation period and can even extend that another 90 days until you get back to India to put it on it's intended machine.

However if it activates on the not-intended machine, as an OEM it might lock to the hardware permanently upon activation so it can't be moved.

It depends if Toshiba already pre-locked it to the intended machine's S/N.

As far as why they sent you Premium, if it won't activate on either machine as a result then they owe you replacement with the correct version. But it also might have been a perk.

Thanks everyone for replies.

So I have decided that I will try to perform a clean install on Compaq laptop. Let us see the key works or not.

By the way, I have downloaded windows vista ultimate 32 Bit from a site and then unlocked all the edition of that ISO using method mentioned in one of the post and also converted that ISO to a bootable one.

Now will this ISO work for this installation? What is the procedure I need to follow? I want to use USB drive for installation.

Thanks,
Alex

Not sure why you downloaded Vista if you already have Vista on your Compaq.

Just boot the Win7 installer (when you obtain it) and it will see the underlying Vista OS and allow you to clean install Win7, either overwriting Vista or to a separate partition you have created in Disk Management for a Dual boot if you want: Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista

The link provided earlier can help you replace the Win7 installer you left in India: microsoft-fixes-windows-7-upgrade-problems-Gizmodo

gregrocker said:

Not sure why you downloaded Vista if you already have Vista on your Compaq.

Just boot the Win7 installer (when you obtain it) and it will see the underlying Vista OS and allow you to clean install Win7, either overwriting Vista or to a separate partition you have created in Disk Management for a Dual boot if you want: Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista

The link provided earlier can help you replace the Win7 installer you left in India: microsoft-fixes-windows-7-upgrade-problems-Gizmodo

Ohh.. I have written Vista by mistake instead of 7.

Then you're right on course.

You might consider saving externally a backup image of Vista so you have a path back if Win7 won't install.

This is an excellent free imaging program: Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Free Edition - Free Download

Win7 has built in HD imaging which you can use to reimage your HD flawlessly in 15 minutes. This is one method to reset your 30 day activation countdown until you get back to India.