Thursday, May 28, 2015

Can Windows-7 Home Premium 32bit retail full install be used with a Window-7 Home Premium 32bit Upgrade license key?


Can Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit retail full install be used with Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit Upgrade license key?


I bought a Windows-7 32 or 64bit Home Premium Upgrade DVD (upgrade from Vista). I complete the installation upgrade of Windows-7 32 bit Home Premium doing the following:



  1. Install Windows 32bit Vista Basic DVD.

  2. Use Vista serial product license key/COA

  3. Install Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade (using the 32bit DVD, not the 64bit edition DVD, can only use one or the other)

  4. Install of Windows 7 Home Premium checks for Vista already present and then once found OK offers the option of complete clean install, i.e. wiping the drive first.

  5. Use Windows 7 Home Premium License product serial number license key/COA

  6. All OK - valid install upgrade path


But, if I ever need to do this again, for quickness, I'd rather just use a full retail (non-OEM) Windows Home Premium 32bit install DVD from scratch and type in the Windows 7 Home Premium License product serial number license key/COA. Can I do this?


Done some searching already but the results are mixed up with OEM installs so not clear if I can or not, e.g.:


This one is closest, but does it apply to my specific question too:


Answer



I just went through this last night on a fresh hard drive, and Windows 7 won't let you install an Upgrade version unless it detects a valid previous Windows install. There's a "workaround" for this by simply installing Windows 7 once (don't enter a product key when prompted), reboot, and then re-install again over the existing install, this time entering the product key. This avoids the "invalid product key" error you'd otherwise get from the first install on a clean drive.


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