Another activation issue

I've read throughout the forums, and i don't know if this certain situation has been answered already, but I've been working on my new computer for days trying to make this work.

I understand that you can purchase Windows 7 Professional Upgrade with the $29.99 student price, and use that key on Windows Anytime Upgrade to upgrade from (well, based on my situation,) Windows 7 Starter to Professional without people on these forums seem to have any problem.

However, when it comes to activation, it asks for my key again, and providing that key for the Professional upgrade will give me that error code 0xC004F061 and come to find out on the support site (Windows 7 activation error: 0xC004F061) "To install an upgrade version of Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP must be installed on your computer."

And yes, i've called Microsoft tech support, and then they directed me to Windows 7 Activation center, which was of no help since they keep telling me to contact Digital River. Digital River was of no help because then they told me to contact Microsoft... so basically i've been sent back and forth to contact those places.

So now I have some questions:

1. Has anyone who used their software upgrade key on Windows Anytime Upgrade run into the same activation issue i'm running into?

2. If so, were you guys able to resolve this issue WITHOUT having to just reinstall Windows 7 (ex. doing a clean install)?

3. Does this really mean I'm screwed and wasted $29.99 on something I can't use to do an in-place upgrade from one version of 7 to another?

I really don't want to resort to a clean install (even though I found out that works for my situation) because I just bought this Sony Vaio W netbook and want to retain some of the software and drivers it came with that the Sony support site did not have (like Battery Care, Vaio media plus, Vaio Care, etc.)

I think that it can be done using a popular workaround that was originally designed to allow downgrading Win7 Ultimate RTM to a lesser version.

First, before trying this you need to make a Windows 7 Backup Image of your HD saved externally so that if it fails or you need to start over, you can reimage the HDD in 15-20 minutes.

Now take a look at this workaround: UNAWAVE - Downgrade Ultimate to Home Premium or Professional

It allows doing an in-place Upgrade from Ultimate to a lesser version Premium or Pro by changing a registry entry to trick the installer into thinking it is upgrading over the same version (which is a Repair Install in Windows 7).

So if you want to try it, you could probably get Professional to do an in-place Upgrade over Starter by changing the "STARTER" EditionID shown on the registry tab given to "PROFESSIONAL" exactly as it appears in the tutorial. Set a restore point before regediting.

You have a Pro license so I don't see how this is hurting anything, and many have reported this fix works to trick the installer to Downgrade, so why not see if it also works to Upgrade? You'd be using the workaround to actually make MS more money rather than less!

Just be sure to save and test (by cueing up) the Backup Image first so you can start over if it fails. Inplace Upgrades are dicey to being with. Files should also be backed up at all times, so now is a good time to start.

Wow! Awesome! Did the steps above (well, took the risk and left off the Windows 7 Backup Image step) and everything including activation is working perfectly! Even though the 'upgrade' took about 2 hours for me, it seems like things are working fine. OEM files and drivers still intact. Thanks alot! Now I feel very relieved that I won't have to work for hours on my netbook anymore.

Congrats, Champ! That is a major accomplishment!

Now type Backup into the start search box, in Backup center select "Create a System Image backup", save to external drive (and to a primary formatted partition if you want) so you never have to reinstall Win7 again, just boot from the Install DVD Repair console and reimage the HD or a replacement in 15 minutes.

Hi kyourin, Hi Gregrocker

I'm having the same problem with my wife's netbook, except that I'm upgrading to Win 7 Ultimate (not Win 7 Pro). I already install the Win 7 ultimate, no problem at all, except on the activation part.

Did try to get help from MS and also my university, comes with no result :-(...

I want to try your solution, but still not sure about the procedures.
Here is my understanding, please CMIIW:

1. I should change the EditionID and Product name to "Starter" and "Windows 7 Starter"
2. Then I run the setup (since netbook don't have CD, so I copy the file to external HDD, and run from there)
3. Follow the instructions as I was upgrading
4. Activate the Windows using the product key that I have

Is my understanding correct?
Thanks for your help.

I did it! I found 'another' solution. Instead of changing the registry and perform upgrade, I upgrade the same version once again. So, I skip step 1, and perform step 2-4. Works like a charm :-D.

Summary, in order to upgrade from Win 7 Starter, we have to upgrade twice ...

I'm happy! thanks for the inspiration.