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I currently have Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit SP1 installed on my PC. I now have the full retail Windows 7 Pro 64bit SP0 Disk. How can I upgrade from one to the other without using Anytime Upgrade to pay for the upgrade? When I use the upgrade option from the disk it tells me to use Anytime Upgrade. I'm not paying for Windows 7 a second time.

Edit: I have a Genuine Windows 7 Professional Key and Disk.

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Do you have only the disc or also the appropriate Windows 7 Professional licence key? – Oliver Salzburg Feb 2 at 22:02
To move from windows Home to Windows Pro, you do have to purchase windows a second time. You either spend the money for a brand new license, or you spend the money to upgrade your existing license. – Doltknuckle Feb 2 at 23:30
Okay, something I didn't specify in my original post was that its a VLK. I managed to find a guy with the same problem and it turns out its not a valid method of upgrade with VLK. Here is the post:social.microsoft.com/Forums/en/genuinewindows7/thread/… – Sam Feb 3 at 3:51
VLK as in volume licensing? That's your problem, that license is for processional deployments and is incompatible with Home edition. Looks like you'll have to reinstall windows with the Pro media. – Doltknuckle Feb 8 at 20:17
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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

You should be able to use the Professional product key during the Windows Anytime Upgrade process. Just start the Anytime Upgrade process from your start menu and use your Pro key. You will not have to pay for it again

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up vote 1 down vote

Windows licenses are controlled by license keys, not disks.

If you have a valid license key, you should be able to use the Anytime Upgrade function to transparently update your license and software.

If you do not have a valid license key and only have a disk, you won't be able to upgrade your version.

UPDATE:

Then just use the Anytime Upgrade process and enter your new key at the appropriate time. The MS Anytime Upgrade page has info you may find helpful: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/windows-anytime-upgrade

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From what I understand, you can use any windows 7 disk to install any version of windows. The setup files are the same, only the configuration files are different. This is what allows the Anytime upgrade process to work. A simple way to think about it is that the process unlocks additional features. – Doltknuckle Feb 2 at 23:27
You are correct. I emphasized a different aspect of the process in order to illustrate the problems with the OPs ideas. – music2myear Feb 3 at 14:46
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up vote 0 down vote

From what I can tell, your only option is to boot into the Pro CD and try to upgrade there. If that doesn't work, you'll be forced to reinstall windows using the Pro media. That will wipe out your hard drive and put down new files so make sure to backup your files.

The thing to realize is that there are numerous versions of windows, each with different rules for upgrades. It could also be that there is something wrong with your install.

If you have a retail copy of windows 7 professional, you should qualify for free support from microsoft. Here is a resource page with lots of information:

http://support.microsoft.com/ph/14019

There is a link on the right side that says "Get Help Now". They are probably your best bet to get this issue resolved.

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