Clarification on Win7 versions and keys.

I just bought a pc on Ebay. I picked it up tonight.

It has Win 7 Ultimate 32bit on it. He also gave me the disc/product key.

It's a Windows 7 Ultimate Promotional Disc - 32 bit.

It's a dual core pc. I'd like to install 64 bit ultimate on it instead. Is this allowed if I wipe the 32 bit version?
Can I use the same key?
I have a 64bit windows home premium DVD but not an ultimate one. Is it possible to use that DVD or do I need to get a copy of the 64 bit ultimate DVD?

Any assistance would be great.

Thanks.

T.

Your windows 7 product code will let you install the 32 bit or 64 bit version. The product keys are locked to a certain version, for example a Home Premium key will only let you install Home Premium, it will not let you install Professional or Ultimate. Also your Home Premium DVD is locked to Home Premium. There is a way around that though. If you create an ISO image of your Home Premium DVD you can edit it so it will let you install any version you want. All you do is delete the ei.cfg file from the sources folder and then burn a new disk. This DVD should then give you a menu with Starter, Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate to choose from. The product code has to match the version you select, so you can't cheat and install a higher version than what you paid for. If you have PC's with different versions it's handy to have one DVD to do installs from instead of 2 or 3. I put mine on a USB thumb drive.

logicearth said:

All you have to do is remove "ei.cfg" from the DVD.

Yep, use this software to make a bootable Windows 7 installation flash drive, and then when it is complete, delete the ei.cfg file from the flash drive...then install.

not to thread-jack, but you'd have to delete the ei.cfg for both the 32 and 64 bit discs if you wanted a multi version disc of each type correct? I've yet to do this, but it sounds handy...

logicearth said:

All you have to do is remove "ei.cfg" from the DVD.

Tried this, now I'm getting install.wim is missing errors. /sigh

In my opinion the simplest way to do it is the way DeaconFrost described. Create a bootable thumb drive and then delete the ei.cfg file from the sources folder. I use the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool > Microsoft Store: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool Help . It doesn't get much simpler to use and it comes right from the horses mouth. Once you have your OS on the thumdrive you can delete the ei.cfg file to unlock all the versions.

EDIT: You just deleted the ei.cfg file FROM the sources folder and not the folder itself, right?

Got it working thanks!