Upgrade from 7 Pro to 7 Enterprise

[yfetahaj]

Hello,

im interested to know if it is possible to upgrade from Windows 7 Professional to Windows 7 Enterprise?

I work in a bank as an IT Pro, so it is my job to do this upgrade. I have more than 400 computers that have 7 Professional installed and need to be upgraded to Windows 7 Enterprise.

I have done some research and so far i found out that its not possible to do so.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

It's no-can-do if you choose to believe this, at least for "Anytime Upgrade":

Windows 7 Upgrade Paths

 

[pparks1]

First you have a have a volume license agreement with Microsoft to get licensing for Windows 7 Enterprise? Do you have a volume license or enterprise agreement with Microsoft?

I'm guessing you want to move from Professional to Enterprise to get BitLocker support?

 

[gregrocker]

There is a workaround to change between versions which has been used successfully here for years now, including by tons of beta testers changing to their paid version of Win7. It tricks the installer into thinking it's doing a same-version Repair Install which is always allowed, since no other in-place Upgrade path is available for Win7.

However this has never been tried that I know of to Enterprise which has its own licensing scheme. I doubt licensing comes to bear while changing the OS over, however, but would be done later with the new method.

You could experiment with a single unit to see if it will work then write a script or SysPrep to mass deploy, since your only other option is apparently to clean reinstall all 400 computers.

The important thing to remember when mulling this is that a Repair Install completely reinstalls the OS so there is no trace of the old OS left, but leaves your files, programs and settings in place. You'd need to closely examine whether settings provide a corruption path or some sort.

 

[magistry]

Hi everyone. I'm working on behalf of a government agency (local government nothing crazy) and we are in the midst of migrating to Windows 7 from Windows XP. We've got all that handled but the biggest problem we have is the machines that we've been rolling out for the last year or so have Windows 7 Pro x64 and need to be converted to Enterprise x64. We're already on a Volume License with a KMS in place with 7 Pro so what exactly is the issue with converting Pro to Enterprise?? There HAS to be some way to script it or upgrade it without having to re-install the entire OS. It would just be a pain in the rear to have to migrate all 500+ PC's for something as simple as a version change. Does anyone here have the "technical" reasons why it doesn't work? I've got plenty of test machines to do this on and get this figured out. I'm determined to make this work but I need some help. Where should I start? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

[gregrocker]

You can test it as suggested in my last post. Set a System Restore Point - Create and make a Win backup image so you can start over if necessary. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

The workaround involves changing the two registry keys exactly as shown below then running a Repair Install with the SP1 installer which changes versions as it in-place upgrades Win7:

click to enlarge

No guarantees since Enterprise is a different animal from normal retail Win7, however since you have the same type VLK keys which are used for Enterprise if it works it may Activate. There have never been any complaints about the performance after using this workaround which has been used countless times since Win7 release to change between version, including from beta.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[MSchild]

Apologies for reviving such an old thread, but the OP never posted back with his results. I would like to post mine if that's alright

Going from an OEM installation of 8.1 Core, tweaking the registry settings suggested by gregrocker, I was able to use 8.1 Enterprise VL media to perform a repair installation and preserve all the user files, OEM software, drivers, etc. Windows is now activated with VL key just fine.

I hope this will serve as a helpful reference for anyone who needs to accomplish this. I have been having all kinds of issues getting sensors and features (auto-rotate and WiDi) to work after a reinstall on all sorts of devices, and I am of the belief that many OEM installations are tweaked in such a way that an end user would not be able to replicate the changes needed to get things functional again. This has solved many of my problems in that arena, so thanks be to you, gregrocker!

As for the repair installation, you can refer to brink's walkthrough here:
Repair Install Windows 8

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks for reporting back your results, since we still had not heard whether Enterprise can be version-switched with the Repair Install workaround many used from beta.

 

[chairwheel]

I know this is an old thread, but I found it very helpful and wanted to report apparent success upgrading a Window 7 Professional install to a Windows 7 Enterprise install. (and then successfully activating the upgrade via KMS to utilize our Enterprise license) Did two Lenovo laptops. One had been used a while and had more things installed. The other was straight out of the box.

Some notes:

0) You will of course need Enterprise install media AND a valid Enterprise license to complete this.

1) Do the backups suggested in case something gets screwed up

2) If upgrading an OEM installation that's new from the box, don't bother with Windows updates beforehand. They will all need to be reapplied later. You will however need to at least run through the initial welcome setup to get into Windows and make the registry changes. (and the backup - I skipped that on the out of the box one as it had a restore to factory system that came with it that I could use)

3) The registry keys shown in the example need to be changed to "Enterprise" where it says "Professional".

4) You run setup on the install DVD from within the existing windows (rather than booting from the CD).

5) After the upgrade install, it will go through device detection as the devices get removed during the install... however all the OEM's drivers will be there already , so it is just a mater of waiting for Windows to find them all and reinstall the devices. No manual intervention was required on my part... just watching "Windows has found a new device and is installing drivers..." do it's thing. This saves a TON of time vs tracking down and installing all the drivers manually from the manufacturer's website if you were to have done a clean reinstall. Especially in the case where you start with a VGA resolution screen and no networking support.

6) As previously mentioned, Windows updates will need to be reapplied is if it were a new install.

7) User accounts, and pre-installed software and OEM drivers seem to be uneffected by the upgrade and things work as expected afterwards. So far at least for me.

Thanks again for the advice!!

 

[blakepie3]

Which version of Enterprise to upgrade to?

For those of you that successfully performed the upgrade, which version of Enterprise did you upgrade to? I have access to VLK's for many different versions:

Enterprise
Enterprise Upgrade
Enterprise Upgrade wtih SP1
Enterprise with SP1
Enterprise K
Enterprise K Upgrade
Enterprise K Upgrade with SP1
Enterprise K with SP1
Enterprise KN
Enterprise KN Upgrade
Enterprise KN Upgrade with SP1
Enterprise KN with SP1
Enterprise N
Enterprise N Upgrade
Enterprise N Upgrade with SP1
Enterprise N with SP1


As I understand it, N and KN do not have some apps like Windows Media Player and Windows DVD Maker. Does it matter which one I choose to install? I need to upgrade closer to 50 machines and the customer doesn't want to have to fully reformat and reconfigure every machine.

 

[chairwheel]

For those of you that successfully performed the upgrade, which version of Enterprise did you upgrade to?

not sure that it matters... However I do believe that if you were upgrading a pro version with SP1, you should upgrade to a SP1 enterprise version.

 

[blakepie3]

Just as a follow up, I was able to get installations from the following to upgrade to Enterprise:

Professional 32 bit
Professional 64 bit
Professional 64 bit with SP1

Everything worked out great and authenticated. Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[osborn4]

I understand this is a older thread, but it has been very informative.

Has anyone figured out how to do this in an automated fashion from SCCM?

Thanks.

 

[fvm2000]

No luck for me...

I changed the registry keys as recommended in this thread, but I get the following message when I launch setup for Windows 7 Enterprise N SP1:

Windows 7 Professional cannot be upgraded to Windows 7 Enterprise N. You can choose to install a new copy of Windows 7 Enterprise N instead, but this is different from an upgrade, and does not keep your files, settings, and programs. You’ll need to reinstall any programs using the original installation discs or files. To save your files before installing Windows, back them up to an external location such as a CD, DVD, or external hard drive. To install a new copy of Windows 7 Enterprise N, click the Back button in the upper left-hand corner, and select “Custom (advanced)”.

So, in other words, it still figured out the original windows is a Pofessional and not Enterprise, despite de registry changes I made. Am I missing something here ?:sarc: