After my recently acquired Windows 7 laptop short circuited I'm in the desperate situation of using my desktop PC that still has a Windows XP OEM license on it. Internet seems to say that you can use a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade license to install over it but I'm worried about new installs in the situation of a new motherboard. Apparently Upgrade versions take on the license of the original Windows OS, which in this case is OEM, so I'm afraid I'm going to spend $100 and only get to use it on my current computer and be shit out of luck when I buy new desktop hardware. Anyone have any experiences with exactly this situation?
You can't install "over" any version of XP with 7. You are allowed to use the upgrade version of 7, but here's the kicker - the install process is not actually an upgrade, and on top of that, it's pain in the ass because Microsoft wanted to inflict maximum amounts of frustration on people. For example, you can't launch the installer from Windows XP. You have to boot from the disc. But if you choose the upgrade option and do a format, oftentimes, the Win7 install will get flagged as not legit and you'll have to jump through hoops to fix it. So: Launch the installer by booting from the disc. During the install: Don't put in the serial number when asked. Uncheck "activate upon first opportunity" or whatever. Unplug the computer from the Internet. Once Windows is up and running, do the following: Now you can plug the internet back in, and run the following command from an elevated command prompt: You'll be asked for your license number from your Upgrade disc packaging, put it in, and go ahead and activate. Completely legitimate, licensed copy, without the hoops that Microsoft seems to think make fucking sense.
I have no problem formatting over XP, but my understanding was that the upgrade version wants to see XP or Vista already installed on the computer before formatting it and legitimately activating itself, or something.
Hypothetically, the upgrade version will see the previous version of XP, then it will format the partition, then it will install and correctly set the registry key that we edited above. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you how often it does NOT set that key, because FUCKING MICROSOFT. At which point, according to Microsoft, the thing you're supposed to do to rectify the situation is to launch an upgrade install from within Windows 7 to correct the error, because they would rather have you waste 40 minutes on the upgrade process than trust you to change a single registry key (or because they're too big of cocksuckers to release a Fixit exe that can fix that key automatically). Either way, it's them being fuckheads.
Way back they used to ask you to put the CD of the old OS in the drive when using an upgrade install but on a fresh HD.
Ahhh OK. I'm seeing now that there are a lot of people with that problem you mention, so I'm going to have to copy that info down just in case it doesn't work. As for migrating to a new PC with an already activated upgrade license, I'm finding conflicting info on that. Yeah that used to be the old-school requirement but I don't think that's in play anymore, considering you don't even get Windows discs with OEM PCs anymore, it's all "Recovery" discs.
I recently experienced hoops and was at least somewhat annoyed. My wife's laptop had been getting really slow and I concluded that it was probably her drive. I put another drive in it but in a moment of insight I decided to install from a Windows 7 OEM disc I have instead of using the shitty restore disc that came with the laptop because it's filled with an insane amount of bloatware that takes hours to uninstall. When I typed in the key I used, of course, the one stuck to the bottom of the damn laptop. It seemed to activate ok but a few days after claiming that the activation went fine I got a message saying there was a problem with the activation and that I had to do it again via phone. So I had to sit on the phone with some MS auto system typing in numbers into my phone and then listening to numbers read back to me. When all was said and done the laptop said "Oh! Everything's fine now" and I guess it's fine. But it's pretty damn annoying the way they screw around with different install types and different key types. I mean, you either have a f@$#ing key or you don't right? It's the same damn laptop with the same NIC, the same processor, the same GPU, the same amount of RAM and a different hard drive. There should be no need for all these shenanigans.
That was back before creation of authentic install media didn't take 5 minutes. Nowadays, license keys and activation are the test of authenticity, and it's a good system if Microsoft would get their heads out of their asses and actually design their installers to work properly. I'm not clear on what you mean by that; you've got an upgrade license for Win 7 that you have previously used, and that's the one you'd like to use for this XP laptop?
Nah the laptop is shat out, forget about that. I have OEM XP on my desktop and I want to buy a Windows 7 Upgrade license, but I'm not sure how long I'm going to have this motherboard. When I upgrade my motherboard I want to make sure I can still use the same W7 Upgrade license.
Ah, great. The good news is Win7 upgrade relies only on the Win7 license key, and the retail copy is transferable to other motherboards explicitly, though it may require a call to Microsoft activation on the new mobo at which point you explain to them that the old motherboard shat the bed. Since you can legitimately install the Win7 upgrade even without the previous copy on a hard drive, you won't run into any issues down the line if a motherboard change needs to happen.
Alright good. The laptop itself of course had an OEM W7 key on it so I won't be able to do anything about that. Internet seems to say that Microsoft is pretty unforgiving about OEM key transfers, and it's no longer as easy to use an OEM key on other computers like it was back in the XP days.
