How many times can I install windows 7 home premium

[shakoor1]

I’ve pre ordered a copy a Windows 7 home premium and how many times can I install that on a pc, once or how many times you like

 

[TheSchaft]

I’ve pre ordered a copy a Windows 7 home premium and how many times can I install that on a pc, once or how many times you like

I believe it will be like XP in that you can re-install it on the same machine as many times as you wish. A major change to the system will probably necessitate a call to Microsoft to obtain a new key value. That is the way it is with XP.

 

[whs]

One upgrade for one machine. Have a look here for more details: http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/26990-questions-regarding-w7-upgrade.html

 

[TheSchaft]

The OP did not say it was an upgrade. If it is not, I believe that multiple installs are possible, just like with XP.

 

[whs]

The OP did not say it was an upgrade. If it is not, I believe that multiple installs are possible, just like with XP.

It does not matter - upgrade or full. A Win7 license from MS is for one system at any given time. What one can do, however, is to uninstall it from the first system and install it on the next system. But always only one system at any given time. On the same system you can reinstall as often as you fancy.
That is different with OEM licenses. They are tied to the system (to be exact, to the mobo) on which they came. So they are not "portable".

 

[DreadStarX]

I’ve pre ordered a copy a Windows 7 home premium and how many times can I install that on a pc, once or how many times you like

I believe it will be like XP in that you can re-install it on the same machine as many times as you wish. A major change to the system will probably necessitate a call to Microsoft to obtain a new key value. That is the way it is with XP.

Just a correction to this. Only if a major change has happened, switching out hard drives, upgrading even 128mb of RAM will require you to RE-ACTIVATE the operating system so it can update the HAL.

 

[Casey48917]

The HAL??? What is HAL? Thanks.

 

[Mike B]

It does not matter - upgrade or full. A Win7 license from MS is for one system at any given time. What one can do, however, is to uninstall it from the first system and install it on the next system. But always only one system at any given time. On the same system you can reinstall as often as you fancy.

That is different with OEM licenses. They are tied to the system (to be exact, to the mobo) on which they came. So they are not "portable".

I bought the OEM version. If I install it on my laptop, and later want to install it on another computer, how does the read only CD/DVD know that I installed it on another machine? Does it have to access MS to continue the install?

I under stand that if it accesses MS to verify my copy, MS can tell if it was a different machine, but does this happen?

What if I turn off my internet access? Will it still install the first time I try to install it on my new laptop?

 

[Lee]

The CD/DVD does not know the difference, albeit when you attempt to activate Win 7 the Microsoft activation computer does. You have 30 days from installation to activate your copy, and once it is activated it is tied to that computer through Microsoft's activation system. You can reinstall the the OS, and activate up to three times after that you will be presented with an activation screen and a phone number to call for reactivation. This also goes along with replacement of specific parts (memory, HDD, etc.), again it is the same as the fore mentioned. Hope this helps.

Enjoy and Welcome to the Seven Forums.

 

[Mike B]

Thanks for the welcome, your reply is the first to clarify my concerns.

That is what I figured would happen. Makes sense to prevent people from installing W7 on their neighbors `puter.

My Vista Home Premium HP Pavilion dv7 1285dx notebook came with a 500G Scorpio Blue HDD and 6G of ram. I have installed and formated another 500G Scorpio Blue HDD. I want to install W7 on the second drive and be able to dual boot to either Vista or W7. What is the correct way to do this? I have a program called EasyBCD Ver 1.7.2.7 that is a boot loader program. Will this work for what I want to do?

When UPS gets here in a couple of hours, will W7 install on my "E" drive without effecting my setting and files on my Vista "C" drive?("D" is the recovery partition).

I've read where the driver letters may change after W7 is installed and W7 will then become the "C" drive, even if it is installed on my "E" drive. Will this be a problem with the programs already on my Vista drive and will it hurt to change it?

Sorry for all the questions, but you seem to know what your are doing.

Thanks for the info. Will post here to let everyone know how my install goes.

Mike B

 

[Barman58]

When installing windows 7 into a multi-boot with vista It is simply a case of making sure you choose the custom install not the upgrade . The multi-boot menu will be created automatically with Windows 7 set as the default

One other thing if the drive is completely empty and unformatted when your install Windows 7 will create a recovery partition of 100 MB - If you do not want this, (the console is available on the DVD), make sure you pre-format the drive before install.

As for the drive letters both Vista and Windows 7 will treat their own drive / Partition as the C: drive with the other OS allocated a drive letter from the available pool - Both OS's will allow you to re-allocate all drives / letter combinations except for C:

 

[Mike B]

Question for the experts: If I dual boot to Vista or W7, can I use windows explorer to look at both drives and file systems?

I sure miss the DOS dazs.

 

[Barman58]

The default for a multi-boot with vista and Windows 7 is to allocate a drive to the other system which is fully viewable (may need some permissions setting)

I will let Lee answer your other question

 

[Mike B]

I think I understand what you tried to say, but I'm not sure you said what I thought you meant.

So... If I boot to W7, it shows as the "C" drive and if I boot to Vista, it too shows as the "C" drive and looking at each other,(explorer) they show the next available drive before or after the other possible(CD/DVD and removable) drives.

Have I got that right?

 

[Mike B]

The "E" drive is new and has been used slightly, but has had a full format.

 

[Barman58]

Yes the both OS's will be on C: when running, with the other OS visible as another Disk, the letter allocation will be dependent on what other drives are available.

 

[Dave76]

I think I understand what you tried to say, but I'm not sure you said what I thought you meant.

So... If I boot to W7, it shows as the "C" drive and if I boot to Vista, it too shows as the "C" drive and looking at each other,(explorer) they show the next available drive before or after the other possible(CD/DVD and removable) drives.

Have I got that right?

Which ever OS, Vista or 7, you boot up will be called drive'C'.
The other, not being used, OS will take another drive letter.
They will switch back and forth when you boot them.
So yes, you got it.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Mike:

I'm not going to be installing until tomorrow and I won't be dual booting, but here are a few points.

I assume you now have a 500 gig drive with a large C and a small D; and another 500 gig drive with a single E. That could be confusing.

You should be able to direct the new install to any of those 3 partitions, assuming each of the 3 are large enough. It's up to you to be able to ID and choose the right partition. In your case, I would assume E is the largest of the 3 and if that is the case, you should take care to ensure you are choosing the largest of the 3 as the target.

I haven't dual booted in a long time, but you should end up with a menu. One choice leads to Vista, the other to Win 7. Regardless of the choice, I think the chosen drive will always be identified as C when the booting is done.

The programs you now use in Vista will not automatically be available to you when you boot to Windows 7. You will have to reinstall whatever programs you want to use in Windows 7 within Windows 7 itself.

It might be useful to give your individual partitions names that represent their OS to avoid confusion.

 

[ken9122]

Mike, check out the tutorials. There is excellent description of how to dual boot.

 

[Mike B]

The original "C" 500G drive has a "D" (14G) restore partition. I gave the new 500G drive a volume label of Windows 7.

I just found the Dual Boot Tutorial Ken. Reading it now. Thanks,

UPS: 10/23/2009 04:55:00 - OUT FOR DELIVERY - PHOENIX, AZ
Ring my bell UPS! I love new toys...

Mike B

(Interesting... I type Dubya 7 and it shows up as Windows 7, but W8 doesn't.)