Win 7 Upgrade with lost receipt?

[johnboy99]

Hi,

Thanks in advance for any help,

last year i bought a Samsung computer in Thailand (Aug 09). The computer was sold without an operating system and i bought a genuine OEM System Builder Pack with Vista Home Premium.

The shop that i bought the computer from installed and activated the OEM software and all has been running sweet. I now live in Australia and wish to upgrade to Windows 7 Home premium.

The OEM software came with an upgrade option to upgrade to Windows 7, i have the new product key for the upgrade option as it came in the OEM System Builders Pack. However my problem is that i have lost the receipt for the original OEM software.

I have looked on the upgrade option website and see that Microsoft require a proof of purchase receipt before they will send an upgrade DVD.

Any suggestions as to where i could go from here, would Microsoft be forthcoming with the DVD without a receipt. I could tell them the product keys for both the OEM and upgrade options if this would this help.

If i get my hands on a Upgrade DVD can i use it with my product key (suspect they are all the same).

Finally when i bought the OEM software the shop told me i must activate the software in Thailand as it was licensed for "Distribution only to specific countries within Asia - Pacific region" and it says this also on the box. I did activate it in Thailand but am wondering if i will have any problems activating the Win 7 upgrade in Australia.

Would appreciate any comments or recommendations that you may have.


Thanks,


Johnboy.

 

[gregrocker]

Others have reported that MS allowed them to activate in a country other than the one they were supposedly restricted to, when they attempted phone activation and spoke with an agent.

I think the key you're referring to with the Vista OEM is the Vista product key. You wouldn't normally get the Win7 key until MS ships or authorizes your upgrade download. If they ship it, it will be on an insert. They email the keys for downloads.

Isolate the exact date, then contact the shop which sold you the OEM system builders Vista copy and ask them to look up and fax you the receipt. This may be your only option

If in fact you have a Win7 key issued with the Vista OEM upgrade deal, then you can use any Win7 installer to install Win7, although you may have to unlock all versions by deleting the ei.cfg file in Sources folder, then recompile the ISO to burn to DVD: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/32055-bootable-iso-create-installation-files.html

 

[whs]

The iffy part is the OEM version. You are not supposed to use an OEM version unless you are a system builder. So you better tell MS that the Thai people (who may qualify as OEM builders) put that on for you and you bought it as a package. If MS gets wind of the fact that you bought the OEM version seperately, they may not want to do anything for you. They may, however, send you back to the Thai people because in principle MS does not support OEM versions - the OEM does (e.g. HP, Dell, etc.).

 

[gregrocker]

Isn't it System Builder's OEM, not manufacturer's OEM? And put on by a shop which built it?

If so, it sounds legit to me.

But still not sure about how a Win7 Upgrade was included in the deal. Do you actually have a Win7 Certificate of Authenticity with the key on it?

 

[johnboy99]

Hi guys,

thanks for the quick replies, been doing a bit more research on the web and just realised that what i have is not the actual key or COA for Windows 7 but it's actually the "Offer Form code" as seen in this picture,

https://windows7upgradeoption.com/Landing.aspx

mine is the same as the one on the right. I thought is was a key but it turns out its actually just an ordering code. I just followed the procedure in the above website and filled in the code and my details etc. All went through without a hitch, no need for a receipt or anything. Just needed my shipping address and phone no. I didn't even need to pay for shipping.

DVD is due to be shipped on the 29th Jan so i'll let you all know how it goes. Hopefully it will be straight forward to install.

Would you recommend i do a clean install or the upgrade?

Anyway thanks for all your comments and suggestions, you've been most helpful.


Cheers,


Johnboy.

 

[gregrocker]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

When you boot the installer it will scan the HD, see Vista to allow Upgrade key. Then you can use Custom Drive Tools (see screenshot above) to delete and create partitions as you wish, format before installing.

Make a Win7 backup image to store externally (and in a primary partition if you want) so you never have to reinstall again.

 

[johnboy99]

Just been thinking about this whole experience, i bought my original software and computer in Thailand and later moved to Australia.

I activated the software in Thailand as advised by the shop where i bought the computer.

If at some stage in the future i experience a hdd failure and needed to reinstall the OEM software again on the same computer would i have any difficulties activating the software outside of the original purchase region.

Also now that i have(or will soon have, i hope) the upgrade version will there be any problems activating it? Will it be linked to Australia or Thailand.

Finally if i have a HDD failure after running WIN 7 for a while will i need to reinstall vista and then upgrade or can i just use the upgrade disk to do a clean install of win 7 on a new HDD. I think i did read on the net that i can use the upgrade disk to do a fresh install with a little bit of tweaking. Anyway hope i never have to do that.


Thank for your help,


Cheers,

Johnboy.

 

[theog]

You may need to phone MS:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18715-activate-windows-7-phone.html?ltr=A

 

[whs]

If at some stage in the future i experience a hdd failure and needed to reinstall the OEM software again on the same computer would i have any difficulties activating the software outside of the original purchase region.

Once you have your upgrade installed, make an image with an imaging program (Macrium, Norton Ghost, Paragon, etc.). Then make frequent images thereafter. Then you can always pull the image in when there is a disaster.

 

[gregrocker]

You never have to reinstall again if you save a Win backup image to a primary formatted partition and/or external HD. You just boot the Win7 DVD or Repair CD, Recover Using An Image and in 15 minutes your HD (or a replacement) is reimaged flawlessly.

Here's how: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html