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I have Windows 7 Pro. I'm interested in Windows 8, particularly for the $40 upgrade option. If I upgrade my box, but decide I prefer Windows 7, can I do a fresh install of Windows 7 on the same box using my original Windows 7 key?

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If I upgrade my box, but decide I prefer Windows 7, can I do a fresh install of Windows 7 on the same box using my original Windows 7 key?

Of course you can. It's only illegal to use the license on another computer.

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  • Not if it is an OEM version of Windows 7 Professional.
    – cowgod
    Nov 5, 2012 at 22:58
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    @cowgod - You don't make a great deal of sense. If its an OEM license of Windows 7 Professional then what I said is exactly the case. If its not an OEM license then the Windows 7 could be installed on any machine once the Windows 8 license on the machine he upgraded was no longer being used on that machine.
    – Ramhound
    Nov 6, 2012 at 11:52
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Yes. If you perform a clean installation of Windows 7, note that you will lose all your programs and files, so it's best to perform a backup prior to upgrading to Windows 8. In fact, I would recommend you just restore your system from your backup instead of performing a clean installation. You can do this using the Backup & Recovery tool in Windows 7 by saving a system image when you do the backup.

Alternatively, you can try Windows 8 in a Virtual Machine on your current Windows 7 installation if you don't want to take the huge leap and upgrade right away.

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  • regarding the Virtual Machine, I tried this, using the official Windows 8 Enterprise Trial from MS. It installs and runs, but in order to get it to run fullscreen at full resolution (1080), I needed VirtualBoxGuest additions, and once that was installed the OS was unusuably slow. Without fullscreen, you don't get the mouse niceties events in the corners or edges of the screen. Nov 5, 2012 at 23:04
  • COOLUSERNAME, please consider using ReadyBoost Technology in Windows7 to speed up your computer. It allows you to use a flash drive as an extension to your RAM instead of HDD. All your page files will be written there instead of HDD and reading/writing to flash drives is faster. Read up on google if you want :) Not quite like adding extra RAM but atleast good enough. And cheaper :)
    – A User
    Nov 6, 2012 at 4:21

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