Windows 7

**ste.t** · December 11th, 2009, 01:25 PM

I have preloaded vista home basic on my pc and im thinking of buying windows 7 home premium upgrade. however after christmas I want to fit a new mobo and have been informed that my vista/windows 7 will not work after doing this as it will think its on a different computer. Will I be able to use the windows 7 upgrade disk again to get my pc running again ( I dont have any disks for vista) ? I presume I cant wipe the harddrive when I change my mobo as it is only an upgrade version. Any advice about (or work around) this and mobo change would be appreciated.

**Nude_Lewd_Man** · December 11th, 2009, 07:16 PM

Hi,

If you've got an Upgrade version, then without 'tricking' your computer (which we can't condone/advise) you aren't likely to be able to put W7 onto your new MoBo build...

If you had a full version/release, then it would work fine - but otherwise an upgrade needs to be exactly that - an upgrade from what is currently on that computer configuration....

**ste.t** · December 12th, 2009, 04:44 AM

OK I get that but what if I was to upgrade to the 32 bit version and then to the 64bit version after changing my mobo and cpu. Would microsoft allow this by phone activation ? I have a my product key for the preloaded vista.

**ste.t** · December 12th, 2009, 08:38 AM

Would this work if I installed windows 7 on a seperate harddrive partition ?

**DoubleK** · December 12th, 2009, 04:17 PM

I am using the HP Windows 7 64 bit upgrade that came with my new laptop on my older 32 bit XP desktop with no issues. W7 is great and I plan on migrating my wife to it as soon as my family pack arrives.

Microsoft simply wants to ensure that people are not running their operating systems on more than one computer. They are not as sinister as people make them out to be.

In my experience having done this 3 times with an XP Oem license over the last 8 years you would have less of a headache to simply wait for your new build before putting Windows 7 on. Once Windows 7 is installed on that hardware configuration, ie mobo and hard drive you will undoubtedly need to contact Microsoft to explain your upgrade and I imagine they then consider your previous hardware profile as obsolete or flagged as unauthorized copy. It is my theory that once a license gets flagged for X amount of unauthorized copies that you will then have the issues that many people do with pirated copies and rightfully so.

In closing if you choose to install W7 now and upgrade later you will probably be forced to call Microsoft and re register a code specific to your new build and your original Microsoft operating system key which I have done no less then 3 times on XP 32 bit with no issues! Microsoft is quite courteous also I would like to add and right here in America so easy to understand

**DoubleK** · December 12th, 2009, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by ste.t

Would this work if I installed windows 7 on a seperate harddrive partition ?

I would not suggest this to most people as your drive letters change from the standard C: to probably something that will confuse you long down the road. There again I do not know your technical knowledge either but changing drive letters down the road is not impossible. Having two operating systems on the same primary hard drive and then later switching to a single operating system is not a seamless transition as some may imply.

**ste.t** · December 12th, 2009, 04:59 PM

Thanks for that. So to conclude I should steer clear of harddrive partitioning and the best way forward would be to change my hardware first and then install my windows 7 upgrade. If I have any issues then I should talk to microsoft. Hopefully microsoft UK are as courteous and understanding as there American colleagues.

**DoubleK** · December 12th, 2009, 09:31 PM

It beats trying to understand what they are trying to tell you from India doesn't it? Not to mention most companies over there seem to suffer from horrible telephone or pbx service.

You will not need to contact Microsoft if you wait to install Windows 7 on your new hardware configuration.

If you decide not to wait, contacting them is a non-issue here at least State side. Good Luck, you will love Windows 7. The only minor issue I have had thus far is that they removed Word for some odd reason from the right click context menu. Baffling since they improved Word.

**Vietster1** · December 13th, 2009, 04:21 PM

Man, I had a triboot of XP, Vista and 7. It is no big deal, XP and Vista stayed with their physical drives, C: XP, D: Vista. 7 was on the E: drive. however while running in the 7 environment, E: Became C: There were no issues with any of this... as far as removing it if you have issues, just delete the 7 line from the BCD... after formatting the partition... Well, I diddnt have any problems with it...