I have an OEM Windows 7 Home Premium cd key and a Windows 7 Ultimate Retail Install disk. What procedure would I have to do to install home premium with my cd key? Do I need to edit ei.cfg?
1 Answer
You will need to either edit the ei.cfg
and replace Ultimate
with HomePremium
, or delete the file entirely.
http://windows7center.com/news/how-to-install-any-version-or-sku-of-windows-7/ gives a more detailed step-by-step process of doing so:
- Open the disk image in 7-Zip
- Delete or edit
sources/ei.cfg
:- Delete to have the option select the SKU you want during install, or
- Change the
EditionID
value to be the SKU that you want:Ultimate
Premium
HomePremium
HomeBasic
Starter
- Save the image and burn it to disk
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1When I delete the ei.cfg completely, does it default the channel to Retail or OEM?– keyohJun 13, 2010 at 1:08
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1I missed that portion of your question - deleting the file entirely will allow you to select the SKU (Starter, Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate), though nothing is mentioned about Retail or OEM - I'm under the impression that the only difference between Retail / OEM keys are that the OEM motherboards often have them embedded so no activation is needed at all, but the key is otherwise a valid key for windows. I know for XP, the keys you got with the OEM systems worked fine with retail install disks, and I'd expect Windows 7 to be the same. Jun 13, 2010 at 2:53
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If a delete ei.cfg will I be able to activate Ultimate version with key from Home Premium?– GiorgiJul 22, 2010 at 20:01
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The article you linked to has gone dead. Can you summarize the process? Nov 27, 2012 at 1:51