Compare Windows 7 Editions

Compare Windows 7 Editions​

   Information

This is a comparison list of features between the Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions.

   Note

For more information on this, see also:

• Windows 7 features
• List of features removed in Windows 7
• Windows 7 Product Lifecycle

| Starter |

Home Basic​

|

Home Premium​

| Professional |

Ultimate​

|

Enterprise​

Estimated Full Retail Price​

|

OEM​

|

OEM​

|

$199.99​

|

$299.99​

|

$319.99​

|

Volume Licensing​

Estimated Upgrade Retail Price​

|

OEM​

|

OEM​

|

$119.99​

|

$199.99​

|

$219.99​

|

Volume Licensing

End of Support Life Cycle​

|

2020.01.14​

|

2020.01.14​

|

2020.01.14​

|

2020.01.14​

|

2020.01.14​

|

2020.01.14​

32-bit and 64-bit versions​

|

32-bit only​

|

Both (64-bit disc not included)​

|

Both​

|

Both​

|

Both​

|

Both​

AAC and H.264 decoding​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Accessibility​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Action Center​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Ad-hoc network (create and join)​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Aero Glass Remoting​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes

Aero Peek​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Aero Shake​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Aero Snap​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Aero Theme​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

AppLocker​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/7840-applocker-enable-dll-rule-collection.html ||||

Create Policies, But Cannot Enforce​

|

Create and Enforce Polices​

|

Create and Enforce Polices

Audio Recording over Terminal Services​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

Backup and Restore Files​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Backup to Network​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Bitlocker Drive Encryption​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

Bitlocker To Go​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/4624-bitlocker-drive-encryption-bitlocker-go-turn-off.html |||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

Bluetooth suppport​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Branche Cache Distributed Cache​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes

Calculator​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Compatibility Mode​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Desktop Background Changeable​

||

Yes (No Personalization - Only with "Set as desktop background" in Context menu)​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Desktop Windows Manager​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Device Stage​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

DirectAccess​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

Disk Defragmenter​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Disk Defragmenter (Automatic)​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Display Language​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes

Dolby Digital compatibility​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Domain Join (Windows Server)​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

DVD playback​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Dynamic Disks​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Encrypting File System (EFS)​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Encrypting Offline Files​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/50718-offline-files-encrypt-unencrypt.html http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/50718-offline-files-encrypt-unencrypt.html ||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Enterprise Search Scopes​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes

Fast User Switching​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Federated Search​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/742-windows-7-search-federation-providers.html |||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

Gadgets​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Games Explorer with basic games (FreeCell, Hearts, Minesweeper, Purble Palace, Solitaire, Spide Solitaire)​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Games Explorer with premium games (Internet Backgammon, Internet Checkers, Internet Spades, Mahjong Titans)​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes (disable by default)​

|

Yes​

|

Yes (disable by default)​

Getting Started​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Group Policy​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Guest account​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

HomeGroup​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/43972-homegroup-add-computer-join.html http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/43972-homegroup-add-computer-join.html |

Join Only​

|

Join Only​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

IIS Web Server​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Internet Connection Sharing​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

IE Protected Mode and DEP​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Internet Explorer​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Jump Lists​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Keyboard Input Language​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Language Packs (MUI)​

||||

Yes, purchased separately​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Libraries​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Live Explorer Previews​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Live Taskbar Previews​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Local Users and Groups Manager​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Local Security Policy Manager​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Location and other sensors support​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Location Aware Printing​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ng-automatically-switch-default-printers.html ||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Max RAM (32-bit)​

|

2GB​

|

4GB​

|

4GB​

|

4GB​

|

4GB​

|

4GB​

Max RAM (64-bit)​

||

8GB​

|

16GB​

|

192GB​

|

192GB​

|

192GB​

MPEG-2 decoding​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Multi-Display Terminal Services​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes

Multiple Monitors​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Multi-Touch support​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Network and Sharing Center​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Network Bridge​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Network Printing​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Offline Files​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Paint​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Parental Controls​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Personlization​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Play To​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Power Management​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

64-bit Processor Support​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Physical Processor Support​

|

1​

|

1​

|

1​

|

2​

|

2​

|

2​

Presentation Mode​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Previous Versions​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Problem Steps Recorder​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Processor Core Support​

|

Unlimited​

|

Unlimited​

|

Unlimited​

|

Unlimited​

|

Unlimited​

|

Unlimited​

Projector Connection Switching​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2019-display-projection-switch.html |

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

ReadyBoost​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

ReadyDrive​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Remote Desktop Client​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3922-remote-desktop-connection-rdc-network.html |

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Remote Desktop Host​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Remote Media Streaming​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

RSS support​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

SMB Network Connections​

|

20​

|

20​

|

20​

|

20​

|

20​

|

20​

Snipping Tool​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Software Restriction Policies​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Startup Repair​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Sticky Notes​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

SuperFetch​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Switch User​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Sync Center​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

System Image Backup​

|

Yes - Not to network location​

|

Yes - Not to network location​

|

Yes - Not to network location​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

System Restore​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Tablet PC support​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Taskbar Thumbnail Live Previews​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Number of TV tuners supported​

|||

4 of each type (analog, digital, etc.)​

|

4 of each type (analog, digital, etc.)​

|

4 of each type (analog, digital, etc.)​

|

4 of each type (analog, digital, etc.)​

UAC - User Account Control​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/299-user-account-control-uac-change-notification-settings.html |

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

UNIX based applications subsystem​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

VHD - Boot from​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2953-virtual-hard-drive-vhd-file-create-start-boot.html |||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

VHD - Create and Attach​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/566-virtual-hard-disk-create-attach-vhd.html |

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Enhancements​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes

Windows Aero Theme​

||

Partial​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Anytime Upgrade​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

||

Windows Basic Theme​

|

Yes​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Connect Now (WCN)​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Windows Defender​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/6397-windows-defender-turn-off.html |

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows DVD Maker​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Easy Transfer​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows ExperienceIndex (WEI)​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Fax and Scan​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Flip​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Flip 3D​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2694-switch-between-windows-flip-3d-shortcut.html |||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Journal​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Firewall​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/522-windows-firewall-turn-off.html |

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Media Center​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Media Player​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Media Player multimedia redirection​

|||||

Yes​

|

Yes

Windows Media Player Remote Media Experience​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Mobility Center​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/6549-windows-mobility-center-open-use.html ||

Yes (No Presentation Mode)​

|

Yes (No Presentation Mode)​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Photo Viewer​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows PowerShell and ISE​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Search​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/36599-search-windows-7-a.html |

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Server domain joining​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Windows SideShow​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Windows Slideshow​

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/452-desktop-slideshow.html |||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Standard Theme​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Taskbar​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

Windows Touch​

|||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Troubleshooting​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Update​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

Windows Virtual PC support​

||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes

WordPad​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

XP Mode (Windows Virtual PC)​

||||

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

XPS Viewer |

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

|

Yes​

 

[Fatai500]

You guys are wonderful!

 

[F5ing]

For those of you that have Enterprise, does it bother you that end-of-support occurs 5 years earlier than Professional?


I realize this may not bother folks that frequently upgrade, but I tend to keep what I've got a little longer than a lot of people.


I was stunned when I first found out about this...

 

[Brink]

Hello Sibbil, and welcome to Seven Forums.

That would be Start, Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate where the end-of-support occurs 5 years earlier than Professional and Enterprise. Professional and Enterprise both have the same end-of-support 5 years after the others.

This is normal for the home user editions to have support for it end before the business editions.

 

[F5ing]

For those of you that have Enterprise, does it bother you that end-of-support occurs 5 years earlier than Professional?

I realize this may not bother folks that frequently upgrade, but I tend to keep what I've got a little longer than a lot of people.

I was stunned when I first found out about this...

Hello Sibbil, and welcome to Seven Forums.

That would be Start, Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate where the end-of-support occurs 5 years earlier than Professional and Enterprise. Professional and Enterprise both have the same end-of-support 5 years after the others.

This is normal for the home user editions to have support for it end before the business editions.

Wow. First post and I messed it up! But thanks for the welcome!

Anyway, meant to say "For those of you that have Ultimate..."

Guess I kind of figured that since Ultimate was more closely aligned with Enterprise (almost identical feature-wise) that they would have the same support dates. I realize that consumer versions have half the life of business versions, and that XP was a dramatic exception to most of the others, but even XP Home with the latest SP is good until April 2014 (via Extended Support Phase), right? I wonder if SP1 for Win7 extends the dates...

I wonder if I can downgrade to Professional when support runs out for Ultimate.

 

[Brink]

You could, but it would have to be a clean install to Profesional from Ultimate.

 

[F5ing]

You could, but it would have to be a clean install to Profesional from Ultimate.

Was wondering more about cost (in $, not time ) -- just seems to me that it shoudn't cost me to downgrade to an edition of an OS I already "own", to be able to continue receiving security updates.

But, really, wondering more about how folks felt about buying the more expensive Ultimate rather than Professional, only to find that Pro was more aligned with Enterprise (according to MS). This even though Ultimate is more Enterprise than Pro is (feature-wise)...

Thanks for your responses !

 

[Brink]

Yep, Enterprise and Ultimate are just about equal except that Enterprise is geared more toward corporations.

Professional has less features than Ultimate or Enterprise, but is geared more towards businesses.

Ultimate is geared more towards the power user (consumer).

Enterprise and Professional get longer support since it usually takes businesses and corporations longer to be able to update to a newer version of Windows due to the cost of upgrading that many systems. Where as the home user (consumer) is able to upgrade a lot easier and faster.

Unfortunately, to downgrade would mean having to purchase a new key for the downgraded edition. Personally I wouldn't worry about downgrading to get longer support since Windows 7 Ultimate will still run just as well afterwards. By the time support runs out, you would most likely have already wanted to upgrade to Windows 8, or still be just as happy with Windows 7 Ultimate.

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks, Shawn. I'll eventually replace every one of the 200+ links I have bookmarked with one of your tutorials!

 

[Brink]

LOL, no problem mate.

 

[SirDarknight]

Which one is the best?

Ultimate or Enterprise?

 

[Brink]

Hello SirDarknight,

It really depends on your needs for that since they both contain the same features except that Enterprise is gear more toward corporations where Ultimate is geared more towards a power user.

The main difference is that Ultimate uses the usual retail or OEM COA license, and Enterprise is sold through volume licensing to companies which have a Software Assurance contract with Microsoft.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[addan]

thanks for nice information.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Addan.

 

[ComputerKid]

It looks like you've made a mistake.
Max. RAM 32-bit Windows 7 Starter is only 2GB.

 

[Brink]

Oops. Thank you CopmuterKid. It has been corrected.

 

[JonathanV]

Windows Virtual PC does have support for Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium, but does not have support for Windows XP Mode.

 

[Brink]

Yep.

Supported Guest Operating Systems in Windows Virtual PC

 

[JonathanV]

And Home Basic and Home Premium has ability to switch user without logging off because they have Fast User Switching feature.

 

[Brink]

Yep, that's already in the list, and in the tutorial below.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61307-switch-user-shortcut-create.html

 

[MrShowdown]

Windows 7 Home Basic is available Retail in selected regions, and the ERP is about $110-$120 (Indonesia=US$ 116.24)