Students = Cheap windows 7

MOOGLEYS · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:25

Now down to 1mb sec must be getting hammered....

StarSolitude · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:26

smilingcrow said:
Not really as if you have a FULL RETAIL version you can also choose to do a custom installation without needing a previous version on your drive; I believe that’s what it’s referring to.

Student Offer Home Premium = Full Retail = clean install without any OS needed
Student Offer Win7 Pro = Upgrade = Previous OS needed even for a clean install

Is that right?

lauy · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:26

just as I type that, i get the email! will download in the morning me thinks

smilingcrow · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:30

StarSolitude said:
And if you have no OS installed? Then what, do you need to put an XP disk in or something for it to know you have an older OS? I only have an XP Upgrade Edition cd.

According to the blog quoted at the top of this page you have to have a previous version of Windows actually installed if you want to use the Win7 Upgrade disc or exe.

NickM · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:35

No download link for me even if I log in to order tracker

What if I use my retail copy I bought from some where else to do a clean install then use the product key from this?

smilingcrow · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:36

StarSolitude said:
Student Offer Home Premium = Full Retail = clean install without any OS needed
Student Offer Win7 Pro = Upgrade = Previous OS needed even for a clean install
Is that right?

Both are Upgrade versions so require a previous O/S to be present.
The issue around whether you need to do a clean install depends on what your source O/S is and what the destination O/S is.
For XP it’s always a custom install but for Vista it varies.

meths · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:37

NickM said:
No download link for me even if I log in to order tracker

What if I use my retail copy I bought from some where else to do a clean install then use the product key from this?

The download link is in the latest email sent to the address you used to purchase the offer.

The one that also has the product key.

lauy · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:38

NickM said:
No download link for me even if I log in to order tracker

What if I use my retail copy I bought from some where else to do a clean install then use the product key from this?

think the key is for upgrade only so they will know somehow...

StarSolitude · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:39

Hmm, so, I have a Windows XP Upgrade Edition disc, would I be able to use this at all? There won't actually be an OS installed on my new hard-drive, but I Have this XP disc.

lcg · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:39

I know this must have been asked quite a few times, but can I confirm that the student Upgrade edition is OEM rather than retail? i.e. it's locked to the motherboard you first install and activate it on.

NickM · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:40

Meths said:
The download link is in the latest email sent to the address you used to purchase the offer.

The one that also has the product key.

I haven't got it yet so I thought I'd see if I could find the link online.

meths · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:40

StarSolitude said:
Hmm, so, I have a Windows XP Upgrade Edition disc, would I be able to use this at all? There won't actually be an OS installed on my new hard-drive, but I Have this XP disc.

If you can install XP first then yes but if there is no OS on the drive then no.

StarSolitude · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:43

Meths said:
If you can install XP first then yes but if there is no OS on the drive then no.

That would mean getting my hands on a Windows 98 boot disk... I suppose it won't hurt to install XP first. It will just make my HDD feel "less new".

But after I install XP, Windows 7 will wipe it and start from scratch anyway?

smilingcrow · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:45

StarSolitude said:
That would mean getting my hands on a Windows 98 boot disk... I suppose it won't hurt to install XP first. It will just make my HDD feel "less new". But after I install XP, Windows 7 will wipe it and start from scratch anyway?

That’s why the Full Retail versions for under £45 were such a good deal; no messing around.

StarSolitude · 22 Oct 2009 at 00:53

smilingcrow said:
That’s why the Full Retail versions for under £45 were such a good deal; no messing around.

Haha, yeah, I missed all that. Well, I guess it's worth going through this trouble for Windows 7 Proffesional for £30.

smilingcrow · 22 Oct 2009 at 01:06

StarSolitude said:
That would mean getting my hands on a Windows 98 boot disk... I suppose it won't hurt to install XP first.

I assume you mean a Win98 CD? I haven’t seen one of those in years thankfully.

StarSolitude · 22 Oct 2009 at 01:16

smilingcrow said:
I assume you mean a Win98 CD? I haven’t seen one of those in years thankfully.

I need it to trick XP Upgrade Edition into thinking Windows 98 is on my hard-drive, before it will let me install it... you can just download and create a boot disk.

smilingcrow · 22 Oct 2009 at 01:19

StarSolitude said:
I need it to trick XP Upgrade Edition into thinking Windows 98 is on my hard-drive, before it will let me install it... you can just download and create a boot disk.

I thought you had to feed a Win 98 CD into the optical drive at some point and didn’t know you could use the boot disk to fool the XP upgrade installation.

StarSolitude · 22 Oct 2009 at 01:41

smilingcrow said:
I thought you had to feed a Win 98 CD into the optical drive at some point and didn’t know you could use the boot disk to fool the XP upgrade installation.

Before XP installs it asks you to put in a previous OS disk (This was a fresh install on a new HDD), so I put in the 98 boot disk (Which I burned onto a CD) and it worked, then you put the XP disk back in and it installs as normal.

So I'll do this again, and then clean install Windows 7 Proffesional over XP (which it will identify on my hard-drive). And if anything goes wrong... then somebody better sedate me! :mad:

It will save me £80~ so it's worth it!

smilingcrow · 22 Oct 2009 at 02:00

StarSolitude said:
Before XP installs it asks you to put in a previous OS disk (This was a fresh install on a new HDD), so I put in the 98 boot disk (Which I burned onto a CD) and it worked, then you put the XP disk back in and it installs as normal.

So I'll do this again, and then clean install Windows 7 Proffesional over XP (which it will identify on my hard-drive). And if anything goes wrong... then somebody better sedate me!

You might well need to phone MS to activate XP if you previously had it installed on a different PC. The Upgrade versions aren’t so flexible when installing on new hardware.