Win7 upgrade: HP>Prof key usage

[TAKTAK]

Hey guys,

What i'm after doing is as such:

I currently have 7 home premium installed, however, i want to upgrade to professional when i have my uni email address, i.e. cheapness

Reason being is my grandad wants win7 but doesn't require RDP, whereas i'm getting rather annoyed about not being able to RDP into my main rig without installing other software.

So to kill two birds with one stone, i'll upgrade mine to premium leaving everything intact.

And then chuck my HP on his comp.

Am i right in thinking that, the upgrade will replace the key from the original install and just add the needed files.

Leaving me free to install HP on my grandads pc via phone activation (i'm assuming the hardware change will cause it to flip out and want activation over the phone..)

so my question really is, will that work?



tl;dr: Can i do an inplace upgrade from Home Premium to Professional, then use the Home Premium key on another PC with no issues beyond telephone activation.


AFAIK, there is no issue, but... With the way things are going nowadays, i thought it would be best to ask...

cheers

[Splash]

Are you buying an upgrade license or a full license? If the former then no. If the latter then yes.

[kalniel]

To add to the above, that's assuming your current win 7 is retail (which I'm sure it is, given the pre-order deals a while back). If it's OEM then you can't transfer it. If it's upgrade then it follows the license type of the OS you upgraded from.

[TAKTAK]

Current HP is retail, full license.

Proposed is, I'm presuming, an upgrade license.

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/


In which case the original license would be subsumed by the upgrade license?



But one could perform a fresh install with the upgrade license over a doner XP/Vista install or a pure fresh install with upgrade media to circumvent the licensing issue?
But there is no way to do an inplace upgrade on-top of HP at all, without subsuming the license?

[Agent]

Is the version you want to put on your granddads PC OEM or retail?

If its retail, then it's fine. If its OEM, it's not. Not only will it break the OEM licence but it would also require BIOS hacking and inserting the certificate into the OS once installed for it to authenticate, assuming it's a pre-activated copy that came with your laptop.

If it's a OEM version from the shop - again, not legit (in most situations), but in terms of activation, it is normally quite straight forward.

edit - ack, beaten

[kalniel]

I'm presuming it is an upgrade license.

In which case the original license would be subsumed by the upgrade license?

But one could perform a fresh install with the upgrade license over a doner XP/Vista install or a pure fresh install with upgrade media to circumvent the licensing issue?

Nope, licensing still applies, but what I mean is that if you originally had a retail copy of XP/Vista and then upgraded, then you can transfer that retail XP/Vista license to a new computer, which you could then upgrade to windows 7. However if your original install was XP/Vista OEM then you're tied to the original machine (motherboard).

[TAKTAK]

Is the version you want to put on your granddads PC OEM or retail?

That version is retail, as that's what is on my main rig ATM. (from the pre-order savings)

If its retail, then it's fine. If its OEM, it's not. Not only will it break the OEM licence but it would also require BIOS hacking and inserting the certificate into the OS once installed for it to authenticate, assuming it's a pre-activated copy that came with your laptop.

If it's a OEM version from the shop - again, not legit (in most situations), but in terms of activation, it is normally quite straight forward.

edit - ack, beaten

So it should be all-right as the original version is retail?

Despite the new version being an upgrade (by the looks of the site).

[jim]

I've done exactly the same thing, so yes it will work.

As for licensing issues, neither a previous OS license or installation is necessary to install an upgrade edition of Windows, so I don't consider it a problem, irrespective of which type of key the HP is.

[this_is_gav]

Am i right in thinking that, the upgrade will replace the key from the original install and just add the needed files.

Ignoring the licensing issues (or not as they may be), I didn't think that would work. As far as I was aware Home > Pro (of any version of Windows) wasn't an upgrade path you could make - that you'd need a fresh install.

I wasn't sure why not, as all the DVDs are the same, barring a single file which determines the type of keys to accept, but that's the way I understood it.

That said, a quick Google of "anytime upgrade" strongly suggests otherwise... and Microsoft would be a bit dim to offer such an upgrade if it needed a fresh install.

[TAKTAK]

Nope, licensing still applies, but what I mean is that if you originally had a retail copy of XP/Vista and then upgraded, then you can transfer that retail XP/Vista license to a new computer, which you could then upgrade to windows 7. However if your original install was XP/Vista OEM then you're tied to the original machine (motherboard).

The doner XP/Vista would be retail versions, dependant on which i can pull out of the draw first


My proposal is as such:

My current = Retail 7HP

Purchase 7Prof from microsoft
Perform in-place upgrade on current rig, negating the need to backup/restore data and settings (i.e. like anytime upgrade without the pricetag...)
Take previous key, fresh install on different computer.

Leaving me with a new upgraded 7Prof (where Retail 7HP was)
And a new Retail 7HP install on a different computer

[SiM]

But one could perform a fresh install with the upgrade license over a doner XP/Vista install or a pure fresh install with upgrade media to circumvent the licensing issue?
But there is no way to do an inplace upgrade on-top of HP at all, without subsuming the license?

Yup. This will work and is allowed. To recap:

Your PC: Wipe HP licence. Install Upgrade (over a demo/XP/Vista install)
Gramp's PC: Install HP licence that has not been used to upgrade

[jim]

In place will work perfectly, no need to muck around.

Anytime Upgrade --> Enter an Upgrade Key

[SiM]

With an in place upgrade (i.e. HP -> pro) aren't you breaking the licence by reusing the HP?

[jim]

As I said before, there's no requirement to provide a previous OS license in order to install an upgrade edition, so I don't see why it would be an issue.

Microsoft certainly didn't complain when I did it - one automated phonecall and all was well.

Maybe if we get very picky about it then it isn't permitted under some clause or other (I have no idea), but in both the moral and technical sense it is a perfectly good way of going about it.

We've purchases sufficient licenses for the products, and we've activated them in the Microsoft-approved manner. Uninstalling your OS, then reinstalling it doesn't really change anything for anybody, apart from making things more inconvenient for the user.

[Paul Adams]

With an in place upgrade (i.e. HP -> pro) aren't you breaking the licence by reusing the HP?

I think so, yes.

My understanding is this:

An upgrade requires an eligible product and binds to it - if you rebuild the computer then the original (full) product and its key still form the basis of the licensed OS, the upgrade key is then added again to unlock the extra features.

It gets a little confusing as Anytime Upgrade allows you to also enter a full* product key, in which case it replaces the original which can then be reused on another machine.

(* possibly full retail only, not OEM, I'm not sure - I've not done an Anytime Upgrade personally)


I might be wrong, but I don't think this is technically enforced but is on a trust basis (leading to claims that upgrading an upgrade or a trial version is permitted by the EULA).