Question

I just built a new computer and am without OS at the moment. I have a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate OEM (64-bit) on the way. I also have a copy of Windows Vista Home Premium OEM (64-bit) that I used on another computer.

My question is this: Can I install Home Premium on my system and use a trial for a few days and then, once I get my copy of Ultimate, use that product key and automatically upgrade Windows to Ultimate by using its key?

Thank You.

Answer 1

As far as I am aware Vista Home cannot be upgrade to Ultimate. You can however install Windows Ultimate as a trail directly?

However according to this page you can do a direct upgrade, however I can recall that the only copies of the Vista media that had all editions where the Ultimate DVD's. This may have changed with SP1 and SP2.

Answer 2

I believe the practice is that every edition you install has all of the bits available for "better" versions, it's just the key that unlocks specific functionality. The only issue here is the OEM copy of Home Premium...I'm not sure if the OEM editions will accept "retail" keys?