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Windows 7
Fizban140
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
I just found out I can't use the RC anymore starting March 1st, I didn't have access to my computer for the past 5 months so I was not able to upgrade and now I am stuck with a quickly approaching deadline. I have no OS on this computer, what is the cheapest way to get Windows 7? All I have found are student discounts which I can't get to work right now, at least in 9 days.
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754&cm_re=Windows_7_oem-_-32-116-754-_-Product
(that's the 64 bit edition, it's similarly priced for 32 bit if you need that)
AFAIK, the only trick to getting an OEM license is that because it's intended for use in new computers, Microsoft expects you (as the OEM provider) to provide your own tech support. I can't find any other limitations other than that, but it's usually not worth it to call Microsoft when something goes wrong anyways. There may be other limitations, but I did some searching and that was all I could find.
You're also only able to install it on one motherboard without major hassles.
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And, technically, the requirement is that you need to sell the completed system to someone else, and not just give it to a friend, or keep it for yourself. This is a relatively new requirement for windows 7, iirc. They changed the oem terms to add this.
Of course, situations where you can run into a problem with this are probably pretty rare, but aren't impossible (like, say, motherboard failure leading to replacement and a call to their non-automated hotline)
Also after the deadline your current version won't be utterly unusable, it will just sht down every two hours without saving your work. Maybe you can hold out for your student discounts with it? It won't be fun but might be worth it to save a buck.
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It should be noted that even when June 1st rolls around, the only issues are going to be:
It'll just keep restarting every two hours, and bitching about activation. That said, without activation, it won't update, etc. It's not a great state to be in, but it's enough time to copy data off to another drive in bits and pieces, etc.
Note that these were only made in limited numbers for the initial release, and are probably sold out almost everywhere now. I work here at MS, and even iI'm not happy with this particular move. I think they should have kept it (if only because I could have used it to cut down on the number of boxes in my apartment
If you can, get upgrade media, it should be cheaper than OEM and/or retail full install. If you've got an XP or vista product key on the side of the box, then you qualify.
The educational discount? Yes, afaik. Note that if you're using it for work purposes, you should probably get it from your IT department instead, I'm pretty sure the license suggests you shouldn't be making money using it. (not like it's easy to police that, either)
Okay, so your old OS was in a different motherboard? If it wasn't just a replacement motherboard, then yeah, the oem license from that doesn't apply to your current system. I assume that means you built it yourself, and tried to transfer the license from your old system. That's not really the intent of an OEM license, unfortunately
If you can't sort out the educational version, you're probably out of luck. Buying an OEM edition is certainly doable, but it's not 100% within the terms of the license if its for yourself. (I doubt anyone here is going to dob you in
Just a side-note. If you decide to take an alternate, non-monetary route to getting Win7 RTM, be aware that a recent investigation found that around 30% of the different releases of win7 on the shadier networks that bypass activation also sadly come with a gift of malware. Unfortunately, these tend to be impossible to clean out, or even find.
that or, go with the student version.
If you know two other people that need a copy, you could chip in on the Family Pack. $150 for three licenses.
Edit: Nevermind. I see that AshRidah is correct, and they're not selling it anymore. Glad I got in on that at release now.
and if you're not comfortable messing with the registry, you can just install it twice, and it works fine.
That only works if you've got an eligible release of vista or xp around, it does the check before formatting the disk.
no, you can easily install on a blank hard drive... i just upgraded my laptop with an SSD and installed Win 7 upgrade on it from scratch using directions similar to these:
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp
Bah. I knew someone would bring thurrott's article up. Note that it says "may" work