7 Pro upgrade through MSDNAA question

[Lurch]

Okay so i am signed up with the MSDN-AA program and have downloaded windows 7 professional, now i want to put it on my main PC which has the home premium.. Obviously you all know that the anytime upgrade doesn't work with these keys nor can you upgrade using the iso provided. my question is,
Is there ANYWAY to get around doing a clean install? anyway to upgrade and keep all my files and settings and things without formatting the whole drive??

Thanks

 

[Bill2]

Obviously you all know that the anytime upgrade doesn't work with these keys

I dont. Have you tried running Anytime upgrade with the msdn keys?

 

[Lurch]

Obviously you all know that the anytime upgrade doesn't work with these keys

I dont. Have you tried running Anytime upgrade with the msdn keys?

lol sorry, yes i have and ive researched it they are considered a volume license key or something like that and do not work with anytime upgrade, Yes i have tried lol

 

[Bill2]

Can you tell us what error message you get when using the AA keys?

 

[mckillwashere]

Actually I have an msdn account and Anytime upgrade works for me and my associates.

 

[Lurch]

Can you tell us what error message you get when using the AA keys?

it accepts key makes me accept the terms and then when i click upgrade and it starts up it then says The upgrade key you entered is for an edition of windows that does not work with anytime upgrade. enter a different upgrade key

Actually I have an msdn account and Anytime upgrade works for me and my associates.

thats weird, im not sure but maybe there are different accounts? im on the Academic Alliance account through my college, i emailed the admin and he said they do not work with the anytime upgrade that you have to do a clean install, but when using the iso and clicking upgrade it says please use anytime upgrade, so im just wondering if anybody has found a way around this...

 

[mckillwashere]

That is weird the one I have is through bizspark.

 

[Bill2]

If it aint working, I doubt you can force it. There was always a lack of clarity about what keys work with Anytime Upgrade, I remember there was a debate even over full retail keys. Worse, some keys work for some people and not for others.

However, if your college says they wont work, i guess the matter is settled. Since Anytime Upgrade is the only way you can move from one edition of win7 to another, Clean Install is your only alternative.

 

[Lurch]

If it aint working, I doubt you can force it. There was always a lack of clarity about what keys work with Anytime Upgrade, I remember there was a debate even over full retail keys. Worse, some keys work for some people and not for others.

However, if your college says they wont work, i guess the matter is settled. Since Anytime Upgrade is the only way you can move from one edition of win7 to another, Clean Install is your only alternative.

yeahh i kinda figured haha but sometimes ppl find those crazy ways around things like i remember the vista upgrade cds that were sent out could do a full clean install it was weird but hey it worked, okay so do you think i could install it on another partition on my drive and then copy all my files and stuff and then format the other partition and then merge them toghether? or would i be better off doing a backup and full format and clean install?

also i have an hp pavilion dv6 how do i get all the hp stuff back like the webcam things, advisor dock, and also how do i transfer my office student edition i have a cd but will i be able to activate it again?

Thanks

 

[Tews]

You may be able to find the programs on HP's support site... You shouldn't have any problems reinstalling Office...

 

[Bill2]

1) Yes, you can install multiple versions of win7 on different partitions. See this excellent thread on the subject.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...i-install-two-win7-two-partition-same-pc.html

However, I dont see much point in that because you'll need to reinstall all your programs anyway plus you might run into bootup problems.

2) What you can do is use win7 Easy Transfer to back up settings to an external hdd, then restore them in the new setup. Easy transfer lets you migrate program settings (not the actual programs themselves), user accounts, internet favourites etc. See this page.

Transferring files and settings: frequently asked questions

Make sure you back up all data files (just copy paste to external media). Then, do a clean install of win7 over the current win7 partition, reinstall drivers and programs, and restore easy transfer settings saved on the external drive.

3) All the HP software can be downloaded from the HP support page for your model. Office 2007 reinstall shouldnt be a problem since there is no change in hardware.

4) Just a couple of additional things though. You CAN purchase an anytime upgrade key and be done with it. Second, are you sure you need Pro over home premium? For a typical home user, the home premium edition normally suffices. What additional features are you hoping for from pro?

 

[Lurch]

1) Yes, you can install multiple versions of win7 on different partitions. See this excellent thread on the subject.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...i-install-two-win7-two-partition-same-pc.html

However, I dont see much point in that because you'll need to reinstall all your programs anyway plus you might run into bootup problems.

2) What you can do is use win7 Easy Transfer to back up settings to an external hdd, then restore them in the new setup. Easy transfer lets you migrate program settings (not the actual programs themselves), user accounts, internet favourites etc. See this page.

Transferring files and settings: frequently asked questions

Make sure you back up all data files (just copy paste to external media). Then, do a clean install of win7 over the current win7 partition, reinstall drivers and programs, and restore easy transfer settings saved on the external drive.

3) All the HP software can be downloaded from the HP support page for your model. Office 2007 reinstall shouldnt be a problem since there is no change in hardware.

4) Just a couple of additional things though. You CAN purchase an anytime upgrade key and be done with it. Second, are you sure you need Pro over home premium? For a typical home user, the home premium edition normally suffices. What additional features are you hoping for from pro?

yeah i guess i really needa invest in a good external hard drive.

And yes i am sure i need Pro because i am a student going through computer networking classes and things of that nature on my way to a networking degree, and for labs and things like that in class we use all pro software, and i plan on setting up a home network using one of my old desktops and installing server 2008 on it, i also want to have Virtual PC so i can run all those kinds of things in a virtual environment. My main thing is that i just got this laptop, and i just put pretty much all my music into itunes on here, which well lets just say its alot of music..

Not sure if you can anwser this for me or not but if i delete the windows 7 home.. will that void the 2 year warranty, and 2 year accidental protection insurance i bought from HP if something were to go wrong??

Thanks

 

[mckillwashere]

In regards to the voiding the warranty, that is on the hardware itself. So it should not void the warranty, just to be safe I would check with HP.

 

[Bill2]

1) Yes, you can install multiple versions of win7 on different partitions. See this excellent thread on the subject.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...i-install-two-win7-two-partition-same-pc.html

However, I dont see much point in that because you'll need to reinstall all your programs anyway plus you might run into bootup problems.

2) What you can do is use win7 Easy Transfer to back up settings to an external hdd, then restore them in the new setup. Easy transfer lets you migrate program settings (not the actual programs themselves), user accounts, internet favourites etc. See this page.

Transferring files and settings: frequently asked questions

Make sure you back up all data files (just copy paste to external media). Then, do a clean install of win7 over the current win7 partition, reinstall drivers and programs, and restore easy transfer settings saved on the external drive.

3) All the HP software can be downloaded from the HP support page for your model. Office 2007 reinstall shouldnt be a problem since there is no change in hardware.

4) Just a couple of additional things though. You CAN purchase an anytime upgrade key and be done with it. Second, are you sure you need Pro over home premium? For a typical home user, the home premium edition normally suffices. What additional features are you hoping for from pro?

yeah i guess i really needa invest in a good external hard drive.

And yes i am sure i need Pro because i am a student going through computer networking classes and things of that nature on my way to a networking degree, and for labs and things like that in class we use all pro software, and i plan on setting up a home network using one of my old desktops and installing server 2008 on it, i also want to have Virtual PC so i can run all those kinds of things in a virtual environment. My main thing is that i just got this laptop, and i just put pretty much all my music into itunes on here, which well lets just say its alot of music..

Not sure if you can anwser this for me or not but if i delete the windows 7 home.. will that void the 2 year warranty, and 2 year accidental protection insurance i bought from HP if something were to go wrong??

Thanks

You need to go through the warranty conditions or contact HP to figure that out.

 

[gregrocker]

Since you were told that your AA key is Volume License, I would imagine that is the reason why it isn't working in Anytime Upgrade since we have many confirmations of retail keys working thusly.

For that reason, I am not sure it will work in the popular workaround by which many have moved between Win7 versions. However you can try. Back up your files and a Win7 backup image. Then set a Restore Point, change the two Registry keys shown below to Professional exactly as they are typed here. This fools the installer into thinking it is doing an always-allowed Repair install of the same version using the Pro installer - if yours is even compatible with a retail install. If not, it should not let Upgrade proceed. If so, as this always resets activation you will have a clean slate to activate with the Pro Product Key.