Windows 7 HP to Pro Upgrade Question

Larrs888 · 25 Aug 2010 at 15:23

Hi,

I was wondering if any of the knowledgeable folks on this forum could answer this for me please?

I have a PC with Windows 7 Home Premium x64 installed and i need to upgrade it to Windows 7 Pro. (Mainly need virtual PC) Easy enough with anytime upgrade. What I want to do is buy a retail copy of Pro and upgrade using the key that comes with it but I was wondering would I still be able to use my original Home Premium (retail) key on another PC. I want to use my Home Premium retail copy on another PC of mine but don't want to format the drive and start over on my main PC.

Can this be done or will I lose my copy of Home Premium when I add the key from Pro?

Thanks

marmalade · 25 Aug 2010 at 15:32

The legal answer is no! What you are doing is not buying a full Windows 7 but only part of one - the difference between home premium and Pro

Larrs888 · 25 Aug 2010 at 15:37

I do not want to buy a Pro upgrade edition, I want to buy the FULL retail version of Pro and replace my retail copy of windows 7 home premium. If I format and reinstall pro I still keep my home premium but don't want the hassle of reinstalling all my stuff again.

There is nothing illegal in what I'm asking, there is with the upgrade version but I'm referring to the full version.

I want to keep my home premium for use on another machine but want pro on my main PC and don't want reformat.

Hagar · 25 Aug 2010 at 15:47

In theory yes, the full retail will sit on any PC, the OEM will be tied to one PC, the original. If you transfer a key bit of Hardware such as the hard disk with the HP you should be legal as it would be equivalent to a motherboard upgrade with ram and CPU.

You will need to reactivate for the different hardware

Then you could just spend out for a new hard disk put it into your 'new' computer, You could clone the home premium disk before you upgrade to pro to keep all your original programs.

OEM software was always sold with Hardware to maintain the license conditions. There was a lot of argument as to what constituted a computer and the consensus was generally the storage element at least.