Upgrade to Windows 7 Question

[Usenet User]

I currently have Vista Home Premium. If I do an upgrade to Windows 7 I
understand that Windows 7 will deactivate the Vista product key. OK, so
in the future, if I have to reload Windows 7 because I have replaced the
hard drive, how do I reload Windows 7 using the upgrade DVD?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I currently have Vista Home Premium. If I do an upgrade to Windows 7 I
understand that Windows 7 will deactivate the Vista product key. OK, so in
the future, if I have to reload Windows 7 because I have replaced the hard
drive, how do I reload Windows 7 using the upgrade DVD?

The issue isn't deactivation but retirement. When you buy an upgrade
product key you are required to retire the older product key you are
upgrading from. If you have a Vista upgrade product key then you will be
out of compliance with its licence if you use it again after having used a
Win7 upgrade product key to upgrade over it. If you want to continue to use
the Vista upgrade license you need to buy a full edition of Win 7 and not an
upgrade.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

I currently have Vista Home Premium. If I do an upgrade to Windows 7 I
understand that Windows 7 will deactivate the Vista product key. OK, so in
the future, if I have to reload Windows 7 because I have replaced the hard
drive, how do I reload Windows 7 using the upgrade DVD?

As far as I am aware, it deactivates it but doesn't stop it working in the
future. In the event that you have to start over, the key code will get
Vista activated such that you can use your upgrade.

BUT, the Vista key code must NOT be activated again as long as the Windows 7
installation is activated and operational..

 

[Curious]

What you have to do is re install Vista on the new HDD using Phone
activation and your Vista installation DVD or set of recovery DVDs you made
when you got the Vista system and then do the Win7 upgrade again using phone
activation.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

What you have to do is re install Vista on the new HDD using Phone
activation and your Vista installation DVD or set of recovery DVDs you
made when you got the Vista system and then do the Win7 upgrade again
using phone activation.

This is true only if he buys a full edition Win7. If he buys an upgrade
Win7 then the Vista license is tied to the Win7 upgrade license and is not
to be reused.

 

[Curious]

Are you saying that if I have a total disk failure on a system that was
upgraded to Win7 with an upgrade license that there is no way to reinstall
Win7 on the same system using the upgrade license?

 

[Dominic Payer]

No-one knows yet because we have not seen a Windows 7 upgrade disk, so
do not know exactly how the upgrade validation process will work.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp worked
for Vista and presumably that or something similar will work for Windows 7.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Are you saying that if I have a total disk failure on a system that was
upgraded to Win7 with an upgrade license that there is no way to reinstall
Win7 on the same system using the upgrade license?

No, I'm not. I am saying that once Win7 is installed using an upgrade
product key the old OS that it replaces may not be installed anywhere
anymore. There is nothing in the license to prevent your recovering a
system by backtracking to the old OS and upgrading to Win7 again in order to
rebuild the system. You are entitled to recovery. You just can't use the
old OS once you use it as the basis for an upgrade to the new OS.

 

[Louie Pham]

Are you saying that if I have a total disk failure on a system that was
upgraded to Win7 with an upgrade license that there is no way to reinstall
Win7 on the same system using the upgrade license?

Just used the phone activate instead internet activate.

 

[totfit]

No, I'm not. I am saying that once Win7 is installed using an upgrade
product key the old OS that it replaces may not be installed anywhere
anymore. There is nothing in the license to prevent your recovering a
system by backtracking to the old OS and upgrading to Win7 again in order to
rebuild the system. You are entitled to recovery. You just can't use the
old OS once you use it as the basis for an upgrade to the new OS.

So, you can't install on a separate drive or partition and dual boot?
If that is the case, I may not upgrade Vista. I don't want to loose
it. There are things I like about it that Windows 7 doesn't have. Now
I do have another machine with XP which I may upgrade instead. I
probably wouldn't have even pre-ordered had I know that I couldn't
dual boot. Guess I should have.