Windows 7 Upgrading Windows 7 to a better version

JTL9000

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2009
I've got a upgrade related problem that I can't seem to figure out. I'm current running the RC of Windows 7 Home Premium and recently got a release copy of Win 7 Professional via Microsoft's Academic Alliance (which, for some reason, got it about a month before the official release date). Naturally, I want to upgrade Home Premium to Pro, preferably without formatting my entire system. But here's the problem. If I put in the Pro disc and try to install, it says that, to upgrade to a different version of Windows 7, I need to use Windows Anytime Upgrade instead of the disc. So I tried Windows Anytime, entering my Pro product key when it asked for my Anytime Upgrade key, and got a message saying that my key is invalid. I double and triple checked the key but it still didn't work. What am I missing here? I'm sure there's got to be an easy way to upgrade to a better version of 7, but I can't figure it out...
 
The site is rather barebones, but from what I could gather they should work just like ordinary product keys.

At this point, the only thing I can think of is that Anytime Upgrade may not actually work until after Win 7's official release date (if I use Anytime Upgdade to try and purchase a new key, it says it won't be available until Oct 22). But other than that, I'm out of ideas.
 
There is no upgrade path from the beta nor RC directly to 7 upgrade. So you will have to back up anything you want to keep and reinstall the original OS then the 7 upgrade. I know how you feel. I am not looking forward to reinstalling vista only to install 7 but that is the way it is.
 
Seriously?!? The only reason I even installed the RC in the first place was because Vista Home Premium won't upgrade directly to 7 Pro thanks to the way Microsoft structured their upgrade paths (which, BTW, I can't think of any logical reason for) and I didn't want to have to format my entire system. Isn't there some work-around?

EDIT: Upon further investigation, the error I'm getting when I try to install Pro over the HP RC isn't the "this pre-release version can't be upgraded" error. It just wants me to use Anytime Upgrade. So I'm assuming that's not my problem (though I could be wrong). Also, the RC can be directly upgraded to a later version of 7, it just requires a simple hack, which can be easily Googled.
 
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Sigh... I decided to just give up and do a new custom install of 7 Pro. At least I can save myself a little time by grabbing some of my stuff out of the WindowsOld folder instead of restoring and reinstalling everything. Though I do think the fact that I had to do this is the first place is pretty dumb.

Thanks anyway, guys.
 
There is no upgrade path from the beta nor RC directly to 7 upgrade. So you will have to back up anything you want to keep and reinstall the original OS then the 7 upgrade. I know how you feel. I am not looking forward to reinstalling vista only to install 7 but that is the way it is.

Actually that's not true. It can be done with a small tweak to the ISO file. Here's a good post on how easy it is to upgrade from the RC version of Windows 7 to RTM. Did this myself and it works quite well.

Upgrade Windows 7 RC to RTM | FettesPS

Note: If you are using a customized version of a Windows 7 it will probably fail.
 
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