Upgrading Windows Vista OEM to Windows 7 (cheapest method)

[steppinthrax]

This is not a technical question, but more of a liscensing question. I want to get Windows 7 Pro on my DELL laptop. I have the Vista Home Premium liscense sticker on the bottom of my PC. I understand that there is a "Windows 7 Anywhere Upgrade" that can do an upgrade to windows 7. IT seems to be the cheapest. My question is this possible (Vista -> 7 Pro). Also if it is, can I do it on an OEM version?

 

[Dahak]

actually the anywhere upgrade only works going from a lower version of 7 to a higher version of 7, ie home prem to pro or ultimate

the only way you could do it is
1) buy the retail upgrade,
2) buy oem win7 but that is tied to the machine and per the license cannot be transferred
3) full retail, which will allow full transfer to another machine per license

 

[Lifted]

You cannot upgrade Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Pro. Only Vista Business to Win 7 Pro.

Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium is possible, then you can do the anytime upgrade to Win 7 Pro.

Might be easier to just purchase Win 7 Pro. $139 at Amazon and Newegg for the System Builder / OEM version.

 

[steppinthrax]

actually the anywhere upgrade only works going from a lower version of 7 to a higher version of 7, ie home prem to pro or ultimate

the only way you could do it is
1) buy the retail upgrade,
2) buy oem win7 but that is tied to the machine and per the license cannot be transferred
3) full retail, which will allow full transfer to another machine per license

Yeah, I was afraid of this. Wasen't there a program that allowed you to trade in your Windows Vista liscense for a Windows 7 version?

 

[kurt454]

Yeah, I was afraid of this. Wasen't there a program that allowed you to trade in your Windows Vista liscense for a Windows 7 version?

I think you could only downgrade from Vista back to XP.

I got a Win 7 license for about $30 at one time using an academic discount for students. I guess they still offer that. Or you could find a couple of buddies to chip in with you and get a three-license family pack for $145 from Amazon.

 

[Dessert Tears]

I have a similar question: upgrading Dell OEM XP to 7 Home Premium. I'm leaning towards an OEM license: my XP license stays valid if I want to dual-boot, and I just upgraded RAM and SSD, so 8 should be out for a while before I want a new computer.

 

[Dessert Tears]

2) buy oem win7 but that is tied to the machine and per the license cannot be transferred

As pointed out by [post=33599285]this post[/post], using an OEM license to upgrade is a violation of the license, as there is no new PC involved.

You cannot upgrade Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Pro. Only Vista Business to Win 7 Pro.

Any validly licensed version of XP or Vista may be upgraded to 7 with an upgrade license. All versions of XP and some versions of Vista must be upgraded with a "custom" installation that wipes the previous OS.

Vista upgrade or custom table:
An upgrade installation keeps your files, settings, and programs in place. A custom installation does not preserve your files, settings, and programs.

 

[Dahak]

As pointed out by [post=33599285]this post[/post], using an OEM license to upgrade is a violation of the license, as there is no new PC involved.

True, I should have double checked, as most machines that I deal with comes with the business/pro versions so when it came with vista, we either downgraded that machine back to xp or by the time they wanted to upgrade, we ended up replacing the machine anyway as it was too old / not worth it.