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I'm trying to upgrade an OEM version of Windows 7 Professional x64. The key has expired (apparently someone else used it), so we were forced to buy a new full retail edition of Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

I try to do an inplace upgrade, but Windows says I need to use Windows Anytime Upgrade.

So, I've tried this, but I get the following error:

The upgrade key you entered is for an edition of Windows that does not work with Windows Anytime Upgrade.

I'm confused! How do I upgrade to Ultimate if not from a full retail copy of Windows 7 Ultimate??

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Doesn't OEM version mean packaged with the PC (like from Dell, HP, etc)? If so, then it doesn't use a manually entered key, but vendor supplied install disk. (to restore just the base professional version). – jdh Mar 7 '12 at 16:00
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@jdh - OEM can also mean a system builder OEM disk, which uses license keys like the retail copies. – Shinrai Mar 7 '12 at 16:00

1 Answer

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Turns out there's a known issue with the Anytime Upgrade process. It falsely reports there's an issue when actually it's worked perfectly... You just don't see that it's worked until you next reboot.

Retrying the key, as requested by Windows, brings up the error in the OP -- because the key has already been added, and you can't add it again.

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