Seriously?

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  1. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Student's Addition
       #1

    Seriously?


    Ok so I bought the OEM Windows 7 64 bit Student's Addition cd. Well I was told by the college bookstore cashier that I didn't need to already have a previous version of Windows on my computer to install Windows 7, I just need the product key handy for the old version. Well I was reading around as to why I keep getting the Windows 7 activation error: invalid product key; and Windows 7 activation error: invalid product key , is saying that I have to have the previous version of Windows already installed on the computer. Can anyone confirm this?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 3,822
    Windows10 Pro - 64Bit vs.10547
       #2

    if you bought a legitimate OEM version of Windows 7, it should have come with it's own key..

    - use that..
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 31,242
    Windows 11 Pro x64 [Latest Release and Release Preview]
       #3

    Have a look at the options here .....

    Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

    You may also need to check the links to other tutorials at the bottom of the page for student downloads
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       #4

    Alkaline2 said:
    Ok so I bought the OEM Windows 7 64 bit Student's Addition cd. Well I was told by the college bookstore cashier that I didn't need to already have a previous version of Windows on my computer to install Windows 7, I just need the product key handy for the old version. Well I was reading around as to why I keep getting the Windows 7 activation error: invalid product key; and Windows 7 activation error: invalid product key , is saying that I have to have the previous version of Windows already installed on the computer. Can anyone confirm this?

    I believe that to be true, but would not have believed a bookstore cashier either. Is there any remedy at the bookstore? have you called MS to see if they would change the key for a small fee?


    Ken
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Student's Addition
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Ok thanks

    All I had to do was just not enter a product key and click "next". Then it finished installing Windows 7.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,705
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 ®™
       #6

    Alkaline2 said:
    Well I was told by the college bookstore cashier that I didn't need to already have a previous version of Windows on my computer to install Windows 7, I just need the product key handy for the old version.
    Your Windows Vista Product Key will not activate an upgrade Windows 7 DVD, or any other version of Windows 7.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1,705
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 ®™
       #7

    Alkaline2 said:
    Ok thanks

    All I had to do was just not enter a product key and click "next". Then it finished installing Windows 7.
    How do you plan on activating it?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Student's Addition
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Yeah I wasn't able to activate it. So I tried installing windows XP 32-bit and then inserting the Windows 7 64-bit disk to upgrade and got a incompatible message so I couldn't upgrade from XP to 7... So I don't really know what to do now.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 1,797
    Windows 7 Ulti. x64
       #9

    Just do the custom install now that xp is on the drive 7 will see it and let you use your upgrade key. good luck to you. and welcome to SevenForums
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Student's Addition
    Thread Starter
       #10

    djjaeger82 said:
    Hi everyone,
    This is not necessarily the case. Clean install from upgrade disc only seems to work with a previous version of windows on the drive already (not necessarily activated). I did a lot of testing on this tonight when I tried to upgrade my primary workstation after resetting my RAID array (completely blank, no partitions, no data etc).

    Please take a look here:
    Doing a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

    So can anyone confirm this? If I were to install my Windows 7 on a clean hard drive with no pre-existing windows OS and skip the product key code to finish the install AND THEN reinstall the same Windows 7 and enter in the product key this time it will accept it and finish the install without getting the "wrong product key" message?
      My Computer


 
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