Win7 Pro - school has messed up

1522 Views 29 Replies 15 Participants Last post by TwoCables, Dec 9, 2009

Snowblind

Discussion Starter · Dec 4, 2009

Aggravating...

Yesterday I finished building my sig rig; the first thing I did was to head to my school's IT department to pick up Windows 7.

I bought what I assumed to be a full retail copy of Win7 Pro from my school, and lo and behold, it turns out to be a mere upgrade version.

I was able to install Win7 Pro onto my computer with no problems (posting from it, actually), but the product key that came with the disk is worthless, since it's only for upgraded installations, whereas I'm posting from an entirely new rig.

Where would I get a working product key? Could I use the student offer to get a key for Home Premium, and proceed to activate my installed Pro version? On the flip side, could I get a key for Ultimate, and use it to activate my Pro install?

If those options don't work, where would I get a key for Pro that doesn't cost $100+?

----

By the way, the first thing I did with my sig rig: installed WC3. Anyone want to game on US.east?

1 - 20 of 30 Posts

soadrocksever

· #2 · Dec 4, 2009

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp

UnAimed

· #3 · Dec 4, 2009

I would ask for a refund from the school and buy a normal retail version. I dont think you can get any discounts directly from microsoft, you will probarbly need to ask the school do get you one.

btwalter

· #4 · Dec 4, 2009

I know I saw how to do this somewhere on here:
Below is how I clean installed and activated my 7 Pro Upgrade:
In the beginning of the install, select Custom instead of Upgrade. Near the end when prompted for the product key, don't enter anything and click "Next." When in Windows, click the start button, right click "Computer" and click "Properties." Scroll to the bottom and click "Change product key." Enter your upgrade key and activate Windows. Dance around the room throwing the money you saved in the air.

http://www.overclock.net/online-deal...ml#post7487512

Edit, you can also do this:
Note: A second option is to actually upgrade your unactivated copy of Windows after the first install. Meaning you actually do the install over again but for the second install instead of clicking custom, you click upgrade. This time when prompted for the product key you can enter it instead of leaving it blank.

ZTR1760

· #5 · Dec 4, 2009

yea pretty much every os since XP you can just use the upgrade and in essence "upgrade the upgrade", back when I used to have to buy OS's I never once bought a full version of XP or Vista, no reason to spend the extra money, just get the upgrade, and install the upgrade, then upgrade the upgrade

See less See more

hometoast

· #6 · Dec 4, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnAimed

View Post

I would ask for a refund from the school and buy a normal retail version. I dont think you can get any discounts directly from microsoft, you will probarbly need to ask the school do get you one.

MS does have its own education licensing structure. I bought Visual Studio from them for $99 under the academic pricing. I just needed a school ID.

See less See more

Snowblind

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 4, 2009

3

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZTR1760

View Post

yea pretty much every os since XP you can just use the upgrade and in essence "upgrade the upgrade", back when I used to have to buy OS's I never once bought a full version of XP or Vista, no reason to spend the extra money, just get the upgrade, and install the upgrade, then upgrade the upgrade

Wait...

My school's going to have the Win7 Ultimate upgrade in stock soon. I could just use the key I get from that yo "upgrade my upgrade," thus effectively buying the Win7 full retail version for $25?

See less See more

RonindeBeatrice

· #8 · Dec 4, 2009

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowblind

View Post

Wait...

My school's going to have the Win7 Ultimate upgrade in stock soon. I could just use the key I get from that yo "upgrade my upgrade," thus effectively buying the Win7 full retail version for $25?

Shhh, such things are not to be mentioned on this forum.

See less See more

soadrocksever

· #9 · Dec 5, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by soadrocksever

View Post

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp

You cant get any simpler than this...

See less See more

Snowblind

Discussion Starter · #10 · Dec 7, 2009

2

I entered the Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) upgrade key. Got this message.

halp

See less See more

tanderson

· #11 · Dec 7, 2009

i had the exact same problem. got it from school and was only upgrade version. all u do is put the disk back in (while you're using the comp, dont boot from cd) and run the disc and it goes to a setup menu just like the clean install. just this time dont do clean do upgrade. and it will upgrade it to real version! if you need anymore help let us know!
dont stress about it though it will get resolved easily. it took me about a week but thats bc i didnt know how to do it then i was told to just put the disk back in and run the cd while you're loged on and it worked.

gnolnats

· #12 · Dec 7, 2009

Clean install using upgrade media:
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...medium=twitter

soadrocksever

· #13 · Dec 8, 2009

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnolnats

View Post

Clean install using upgrade media:
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...medium=twitter

lol apparently they dont care to look at links.... Look a couple posts earlier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by soadrocksever

View Post

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp

See less See more

IronZ

· #14 · Dec 8, 2009

Just curious, but did you actually try your cd key? I did a clean install with my 7-Pro upgrade disc and activated without issue.

Z

woodpigeon4

· #15 · Dec 8, 2009

I had this problem, and I installed a pirated copy of vista (I didn't feel bad about it because it was just for a few minutes use), then installed the windows 7 afterwards

See less See more

dudenell

· #16 · Dec 8, 2009

3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowblind

View Post

I entered the Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) upgrade key. Got this message.

halp

have you tried the registry edit listed?

See less See more

Snowblind

Discussion Starter · #17 · Dec 8, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by IronZ

View Post

Just curious, but did you actually try your cd key? I did a clean install with my 7-Pro upgrade disc and activated without issue.

Z

Yeah, I did. Tried it both during and after the installation. No dice.

Registry edit?

See less See more

soadrocksever

· #18 · Dec 9, 2009

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by soadrocksever

View Post

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...rade_media.asp

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnolnats

View Post

Clean install using upgrade media:
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/cle...medium=twitter

Dude its been posted to you TWICE. are you serious? You could have been done been activated.

See less See more

TwoCables

· #19 · Dec 9, 2009

In order to get a Windows 7 Upgrade to install and Activate from a clean, fresh installation, just do the Double-Install method.

That means that as soon as the fresh installation is done, re-insert the DVD while Windows 7 is running and then choose Upgrade. Then when prompted for the Product Key for the first time, enter it. Then when the installation is finished, Activate it online.

If this doesn't work, then try one of the other 2 methods.

soadrocksever

· #20 · Dec 9, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoCables

View Post

In order to get a Windows 7 Upgrade to install and Activate from a clean, fresh installation, just do the Double-Install method.

That means that as soon as the fresh installation is done, re-insert the DVD while Windows 7 is running and then choose Upgrade. Then when prompted for the Product Key for the first time, enter it. Then when the installation is finished, Activate it online.

If this doesn't work, then try one of the other 2 methods.

thats a waste of time. omg.

Its simple.

Windows upgrade activation is based on a flag set by the install process, its simple, if the flag is set to no previous version, then it wont allow you to activate w/ the upgrade key, if the flag says there was a prev. version, than it allows activation of the OS w/ the upgrade key.....

are my posts invisible?

That link explains how to trigger that flag manually if it didnt get triggered for whatever reason, or if you just wanted to do a clean install when you already owned a copy of windows that is valid on said pc.

I dont even know why this thread is still going

See less See more

1 - 20 of 30 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.