Solved Can I Use a W7 Professional Disk to Reinstall on a W7 Home Premium PC

[boweasel]

Two months ago we upgraded our Lenovo desktop from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 10. Now we've decided we don't like it. I couldn't find my W7 Home 64 disk, but I have a W7 Professional 64 DVD which I then used to reinstall the OS. At the end of the installation I was prompted to enter the product code. I, of course entered the code from the W7 Home Premium sticker, and was given an error message indicating some sort of mismatch. I then skipped that step, and the tower is now functional.

Before I use another PC to get the proper drivers from Lenovo, and reinstall the printer, MSE and copy the pictures, documents, etc. from a flash drive I'd like to know if this is going to work. Will I be able to activate over the phone? If I get the Ethernet driver installed will I be able to activate online? Or do I have to find a Windows 7 64 Home Premium iso image (I think one may be available somewhere on this site) and do another reinstall?

 

[Layback Bear]

Windows 7 COA key will only work on the Proper Windows 7 installation.

Home Premium for Home Premium only.
Pro for Pro only ect.

 

[boweasel]

I no longer seem to be able to find those iso image files I used to see on these pages. I have no idea where my W7 Home Premium disk has disappeared to. If those images are no longer available is there something I can do to create a W7HP disk on the laptop I'm using now? It is a W7 64 bit Home Premium laptop.

 

[AddRAM]

Download Windows 7 ISOs, Legally and for Free | PCsteps.com

or

Microsoft DigitalRiver Mirror


As Jack states, you can`t use a Home Premium key to activate Professinal

And you can always make an all in one installer from your Pro disc.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/85813-windows-7-universal-installation-disc-create.html

 

[boweasel]

Well I finally found my W7 Home Premium disk and I reinstalled, and the product key was accepted. But even though the disk installed SP1, it's only running IE8. I tried running Windows Update, but after searching for a good 20 minutes it finally errored on a 80244019 - Windows could not search for new updates.

 

[AddRAM]

Restart the PC, and try again.

IE11 will come from Windows Update or here

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/Internet-Explorer-11-for-Windows-7-details.aspx

 

[boweasel]

Tried to use the Windows Updates Fix-It tool to no avail. Downloaded Tweaking.com's Windows Repair and ran it with only the Windows Update box checked. Rebooted when it finished and am now installing 283 updates. Whether IE11 is one of them is a crapshoot. That Repair tool almost never fails to impress me.

 

[boweasel]

Updates completed. Everything working fine. IE11 was apparently included in that batch of updates.

 

[AddRAM]

I told you it was, now you have to be careful not to install any windows 10 updates, they will be in the optional updates.

You should have your settings like this. And this is my list of updates not to install, not all pertain to windows 10, there a few useless updates too.

After the initial round of updates, you should be diligently checking the description of each update to see if it`s needed. If it`s not needed, just right click and hide it.

And be sure to make a disk image of windows when you`re done updating and installing your programs, so you don`t have to go through this again.

Updates not to Install

KB2876229 SKYPE, If you want Skype then install it.
KB2923545 RDP
KB2970228
KB3035583
KB2990214
KB3021917
KB3068708 Telemetry
KB2592687
KB2660075
KB2506928
KB2952664 x2
KB3050265
KB2726535
KB2994023
KB3022345 Replaced by KB3068708 Telemetry

KB3022345 Caused false sfc result
KB2545698 (IE9)
KB3065987
KB3077715
KB3078667
KB3080149 Telemetry
KB3075249 Telemetry
KB2999226
KB3083710
KB3097966
KB3095649
KB3102810 Fixes slow Windows update, I don`t need it.
KB3107998
KB3097877 Cause sidebar to stop working
KB3102429 Foreign Currency update