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Reinstalling Windows 7 with an upgrade disk...
schattenjaeger
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Pretty straightforward mess I may have gotten myself into: My old pre-built Dell came with Windows Vista. A year or so ago I decided to upgrade to Windows 7, got the upgrade version, and did that.
Just a few days ago I constructed a new PC, though I hung on to the same hard drives. I still had to reinstall the OS because I changed everything else, including mobo and CPU. Not even anticipating the problem (I would have anticipated it if I was using a fully blank HD, but I was installing on top of my old fully functional copy of Windows 7, I thought it'd be ok with that) I installed it. I was suspicious since it wouldn't accept the product key during the install, but you can just skip past that and activate online later. Well, now I'm trying to activate online and it's telling me that the upgrade version can't be used for a full install. ruh-roh. NOW I do some research and I see that the proper way to accomplish this goal would have been to reinstall my copy of Vista first, then re-upgrade to 7. Assuming my Dell came with a copy of Vista on a CD, I'm skeptical it's survived my journeys for the last four years, and assuming it did I'd be pretty annoyed to have to reinstall my OS again. Anybody have any experience with this? Can I get it sorted on the phone?
Just a few days ago I constructed a new PC, though I hung on to the same hard drives. I still had to reinstall the OS because I changed everything else, including mobo and CPU. Not even anticipating the problem (I would have anticipated it if I was using a fully blank HD, but I was installing on top of my old fully functional copy of Windows 7, I thought it'd be ok with that) I installed it. I was suspicious since it wouldn't accept the product key during the install, but you can just skip past that and activate online later. Well, now I'm trying to activate online and it's telling me that the upgrade version can't be used for a full install. ruh-roh. NOW I do some research and I see that the proper way to accomplish this goal would have been to reinstall my copy of Vista first, then re-upgrade to 7. Assuming my Dell came with a copy of Vista on a CD, I'm skeptical it's survived my journeys for the last four years, and assuming it did I'd be pretty annoyed to have to reinstall my OS again. Anybody have any experience with this? Can I get it sorted on the phone?
schattenjaeger on
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Also
http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media
^
that has a couple workarounds.
The one you can probably use is the double install, where you put in the windows 7 upgrade cd and reinstall using the upgrade option over your existing copy of windows 7, then you can activate normally.
Note that I'm under the assumption that you have both a vista and windows 7 upgrade license.
Thanks! I was going to say oh god no of course I don't have the Vista key, but there it is in all its glory printed on a sticker on top of the old Dell case!
What do you mean by Vista upgrade license? It came with the Dell, so it was OEM, and I have the OEM product key.
"Note that I'm under the assumption that you have both an (OEM/retail vista) and (windows 7 upgrade) license."
thats what i mean.
Thinking I'll try the registry fix...
Your programs and documents will not be affected as long as you do not format.
is what I use whenever i've had to reformat with my upgrade copy of windows 7
Did not know you can do that, I always format, install windows, skip activation, format, install windows, activate.