Vista Home Basic -> Win7 Pro Upgrade?

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nubnub

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Sep 16, 2009
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My laptop came with Vista Home Basic pre-installed. I've gotten a free copy of Win7 Pro through msndaa.Unfortunately when I tried to upgrade it tells me Home Basic cannot be upgraded to Win7 Pro. I noticed Vista Home Basic can be upgraded to Win 7 Home Premium which in turn can be upgraded to Win7 Pro through Windows Anytime Upgrade. Is it possible to:

First edit my pro disk to allow me to upgrade to Home Premium without a key
Then use the disk to upgrade from Home Premium to Pro?

Or does the upgrade require you to have a valid key.
 
I would just boot the Pro disc, wipe the Basic installation and start fresh.
 
I'm trying to do an upgrade, but if its not possible I'll just wait till a more convenient time to do a clean install.
 
Just posting to confirm that this does in fact work.

Create a home premium disc from your iso.
Upgrade to home premium.
Type in pro cd key into Windows's Anytime Upgrade

Done
 
Why would you have a Pro Upgrade, but have to make a Premium disc? Would you just of downloaded/received the Pro disc?
 
Vista Home Basic is not upgradable to Windows 7 Pro, but it is upgradable to Home Premium. All windows 7 installation discs include all versions of window, you just have to edit the right file. To save time and effort I used "Windows 7 ISO Image Edition Switcher" and made a home premium disc. Popped the disc in the laptop, hit upgrade. When asked for a key leave it blank and uncheck automatically activate online. When upgrade is completely done, open Windows Anytime Update and type in your pro key. Windows will be updated to pro.

The impossible has been done
 
Last edited:
nubnub said:
No no no. Its a full version of Pro, but all Windows 7 discs contain every version. You just have to edit the right file and it magically turns into a different version.
Click to expand...
I fully understand that.
nubnub said:
Just posting to confirm that this does in fact work.

Create a home premium disc from your iso.
Upgrade to home premium.
Type in pro cd key into Windows's Anytime Upgrade

Done
Click to expand...
Make home premium disc, upgrade to home premium ... input pro cd key...

So again, what does Home Premium have to do with going from Vista Basic to 7 Professional? If your suggesting using a Home Premium disc, editing the config file to Professional, then installing that, then I would understand that. But from how you stated it, it sounds an awfully lot like you installed Premium, then imputing the Pro key to upgrade it. You said yourself you can change the version 'magically' so why not just edit the file to Professional rather than Home Premium?
 
nubnub said:
Microsoft has dumb rules about which versions of windows you can upgrade to.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd772579(WS.10).aspx

Vista Home Basic is only upgradable to Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate.
Click to expand...

It's Microsoft's crazy attempt to protect their revenues. They don't want people buying the el-cheapo basic version and then upgrading to the business version from there. IIRC, the OEM Basic version, + the upgrade for Pro is cheaper than buying Pro outright.
 
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