Upgrade Vista Home Premium --> 7 Home Premium --> 7 Pro

[ryandk]

I was wondering --

I bought Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade when it was 1/2 price in July. I can also purchase Windows 7 Professional through the Ultimate Steal here in Canada.

I currently have Windows Vista Home Premium on my computer. I really don't want to do a clean install.

After I do an in-place upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium, can I use the key from Windows 7 Professional to upgrade to that version?

After that, can I then install Windows 7 Home Premium on a friend's computer, using the same key I had originally used on my computer, now that I'm not using Windows 7 Home Premium any more?

Thanks.

 

[gregrocker]

It appears the Upgrade keys are much more flexible than in the past, so it is worth a try at install. The worst is that you would have to use the key that came with the version.

No one I've read knows for sure whether an upgrade deactivates the underlying O.S. key, and MS's own Technet MVP's say it doesn't in case of reinstall need. It violates the EULA, of course, which says the upgraded OS replaces it except for reinstall.

Since upgrade keys are working in clean installs, you might want to try this providing your Vista Premium is retail so that you can migrate it to your friend:

1) Make an image of your Vista Premium install so it can be easily restored.

2) Try a clean formatted install booting from desired Win7 Upgrade version, which should take the key, or require the double "upgrade over upgrade" trick so the key is taken.

3) If this works, you can migrate your retail copy of Vista to your friend's computer, if not just use your backup image to restore it for in place Upgrade.

You will need to make a backup image of the finished job to avoid having to reinstall both OS in the future.