Solved Where can I buy a non-OEM *legal* copy of Win 7?

[Atarian]

IMHO Win 8 blows. I really wanted to give it a second chance so I played around at Costco for probably close to two hours on both notebooks and desktops. Yeah, it really sucks that bad. I need a legitimate copy of Win 7 than I can transfer to another computer if need be. I'm not talking about installing it on 10 different machines at once, but if I build a machine and then decide to scrap it in a few years, I want Win 7 to still work. That rules out OEM. The cheapest I can find from what I consider a legitimate source is Newegg for $199 (Home Premium). I can buy a used computer from them for twenty bucks more with Win 7 Pro installed.

WTF?

Anyone have sources for Win 7 non-OEM that are LEGAL?

PS: Win 8 really sucks so bad that I would goto Linux. Not bad enough for Mac though...

 

[VistaKing]

windows 7 Home premium 32 and 64 bit retail full edition ( legit ) for $144.77

Click here Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Retail | Discount Mountain Software

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

NewEgg is the best place I know of to safely buy Windows anymore (I found Home Premium at NewEgg for only $200.). Fry's is also safe but they want $30 more than NewEgg. Even Amazon has been known to sell counterfeit software. And you definitely want to avoid FleaBay.

Any used computers will probably have an OEM copy installed and you wouldn't be able to transfer it.

 

[Arc]

Windows 7 Home Premium - Microsoft Store

 

[ThrashZone]

Buying another license is just about as much as a separate oem disk anyway, more sometimes because your dealing with Microsoft as Arc has shown at the Microsoft store as 199.00/ which reads as (On a single computer).
I've bought two windows 7 oem disks one last week for 101.98 at TigerDirect/ for a future machine No issues.
Who ever said Windows 7 is cheap ? but it is getting cheaper with the windows 8 release

 

[gregrocker]

If you have any retail copy of XP or Vista whether it is installed or not then it qualifies you for using Win7 Upgrade version. Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

So you could simply keep a copy of XP in the drawer and Win7 can migrate to any machine you want with that XP copy as its qualifier. You may have one already or know someone who isn't using it any longer which is about half of the population.

You can find Upgrade version for around $100. You do not want Anytime Upgrade which is only for upgrading within Win7.

 

[Atarian]

Thanks for the replies. I have two full versions of XP Pro retail that are not installed on anything now, although they were at some point. The computers were parted out and the HDDs wiped. Nor have I 'lent' the keys out so these should still be legit.

The upgrade option seems the best as it's basically half-price for the same end result.

Q: Will it be a problem if I buy the upgrade now and install it 18 months later, after XP is well past end-of-life?

I don't want to find out at some point in the future that my upgrade is no good.

This is also a sad note on how little faith I have on MS to 'fix' Windows to where it's not like a GD phone....

 

[gregrocker]

You qualify for Upgrade version just by having a retail copy of XP, whether it's installed or not and regardless of XP's expiration. The key doesn't even come into play. This is on the honor system.

However when booting the installer to Custom Clean Install Windows 7 if it doesn't see an OS it may reject the Upgrade key. In that case leave the Product Key blank during install then afterwards do the quick Option 3 registry workaround in Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version. This is a courtesy allowed for those who have a new or wiped HD so you don't have to install two OS's.

 

[Atarian]

Thanks for the quick reply. I saved the guide as a PDF. Off to Newegg...