Employee used company's disk to install at home

Hi there,

I'm an IT Administrator for a large chain of companies, and I had recently purchased four Windows 7 Home Premium FULL disks and installed them onto four new machines. I left the install boxes on the desks for a couple of hours (something I'll never do again, even if I do trust those around), and upon returning noticed one was gone. As it turns out, one of the employees took it home when they got off and installed it onto their home computer. Now she's getting the notifications that her copy is not genuine, as I've already registered that activation code on the original machine.

My question is, can she simply purchase a new Windows 7 Home Premium UPGRADE version (and use that key to activate) from the local retail store, or does she have to purchase the FULL version since she used a full version disk to install?

I won't even entertain following any other methods that include less than EULA friendly methods, especially since the employee never should have took the disks in the first place.

Thanks.

Unless she has XP or Vista OS on hand to qualify for Upgrade version (which doesn't need to be installed but shouldn't be used again under the EULA) she would need to buy a full version license then change the key at Computer>Properties link, or run a Repair Install to fully reset activation, then insert key.

Repair Install

I normally would be telling the owners about this, but she's been with the company for almost 20 years and it's not worth her possibly losing her job over.

As far as the key goes, she simply needs to enter the key into the "change product key" area when the OS pops up the "not geniune" bla bla screen. No re-installation is needed, I would think. So with this, will a simple upgrade key work to re-activate with? She had Vista previously installed, and did an upgrade install using the full disk.