In a bit of a delimma with Windows 7 Upgrade through Dell...

C

_cashel

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 9, 2002
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First off, if this is in anyway illegal, I apologize and disregard this post.

I just picked up a Dell refurb laptop w/ Vista Home Premium that qualifies for the Windows 7 upgrade. Dell requires that you wait at least 15 days after RECEIVING the laptop to even begin the upgrade process through them. I received this laptop yesterday, and I NEED to have it upgraded to Windows 7 by this Monday. I'm giving this to my mom on that day, and she's having a bunch of programs set up for her by her brother for currency trading and whatnot. I don't want to have to figure out how to set everything up, especially when she's a few hours away from me, her brother is only in town this Monday, and she barely knows how to use a computer.

Right now I've found a copy of the full Windows 7 Home Premium for download. My plan was to install this and not activate it till I get the key from Dell in a few weeks. Will this work, or am I going to have to find an UPGRADE copy of Windows 7 Home Premium? Also, she's got the x86 Vista Home Premium, and I'm wanting to get her the x64 version of Windows 7. Will there be any issues with the upgrade key not working?
 
Grey area. It's technically a "grace period" mode, your supposed to activate immediately per the EULA.

But you *can* do what you want.

I got a copy of the MSDN disc back in July, (if you do this via torrent/p2p, make sure you verify MD5 hash). Modded the ei.cfg file to allow installation of any version, did a fresh install of Home Premium. Rearmed 2-3 times from July -> Oct. Dropped in my Home Premium Upgrade key I got my $39 preorder from Microcenter last Thursday and it activated just fine.

Microsoft doesn't tie keys to 32 or 64bit versions, only to the feature set (e.g. HP, Pro, Ult). If you have a HP key, you can use either 32bit or 64bit interchangeably. Changing between 32/64 doesn't allow their in-place upgrade mechanism, it does a "custom" or format and fresh install.
 
When you say you got the MSDN version and modded the ei.cfg, what version of Windows 7 was it? I do have access to MSDN through my school, but I can only get Windows 7 Professional. I'll look into this option.
 
I just tried that ei.cfg trick with my MSDN copy of Win7 Pro, and it worked like a charm. Now I just gotta wait/hope the upgrade key works. Thanks man
 
You could always install 7, don't put in a key, and just use the rearm process until Dell sends you your license. I'm doing this on 2 MSI computers (my mom's, and a family friend's)
 
That's what I was trying to do, just wasn't sure how to go about doing it. I've got it working with that ei.cfg method above. Used Win7 Pro, installed Home Premium. Now I just gotta wait to get my license.
 
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