I feel like an idiot for not being able to figure this out, but Microsoft is not explicitly stating what software you must have in order to use an "upgrade" copy of Windows 7 anywhere that I can find. It appears to me that you need to upgrade from Windows Vista and Windows XP users will need to by a "full" copy of Windows 7. I just can't find this clearly laid out anywhere. So, that's the question. I'm running Windows XP Home 32 bit. Can I use an "upgrade" version or do I need a "full" version of Windows 7? Also, I could get a student discount on the Windows 7 Profesisonal Upgrade. If I can use an upgrade package, can I mix the XP Home I already have and the 7 Professional I could get? Thanks.

This is quoted from the Microsoft web site:"If you're ready to purchase Windows 7 for your own PC, order or download it today. All Windows XP and Windows Vista editions qualify for a Windows 7 upgrade."

This is quoted from the Microsoft web site:"If you're ready to purchase Windows 7 for your own PC, order or download it today. All Windows XP and Windows Vista editions qualify for a Windows 7 upgrade."

About that word "upgrade". Yes you can upgrade from Windows XP to Win7. However the upgrade is by replacement so your old XP system (including FSX) dies in the process. Whereas a Vista to Win 7 is done in Situ, ie Vista is converted to Win7 not replaced by it.So if your on XP and want to take the next step its a complete FSX rebuild for you!

About that word "upgrade". Yes you can upgrade from Windows XP to Win7. However the upgrade is by replacement so your old XP system (including FSX) dies in the process. Whereas a Vista to Win 7 is done in Situ, ie Vista is converted to Win7 not replaced by it.So if your on XP and want to take the next step its a complete FSX rebuild for you!

I would recommend getting a new drive and putting Win7 on that. You can do a stand alone install with the upgrade media without destroying your XP system. I did this as I wasn't sure I was going to like Win7 and didn't want to blow it away. The trick is in getting Win7 activated. I ended up having to do the registry hacks pointed out in the following article:http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_ins...grade_media.aspIf you follow his directions you will get a clean, new install of Win7 on a new partition or drive with the update media and still have the XP partition intact. (I have since done away with the XP stuff as Win7 is very nice. Obviously you'll have to redo the FSX but I would think you'd want to do that anyway with a new OS.Jeff

I would recommend getting a new drive and putting Win7 on that. You can do a stand alone install with the upgrade media without destroying your XP system. I did this as I wasn't sure I was going to like Win7 and didn't want to blow it away. The trick is in getting Win7 activated. I ended up having to do the registry hacks pointed out in the following article:http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_ins...grade_media.aspIf you follow his directions you will get a clean, new install of Win7 on a new partition or drive with the update media and still have the XP partition intact. (I have since done away with the XP stuff as Win7 is very nice. Obviously you'll have to redo the FSX but I would think you'd want to do that anyway with a new OS.Jeff

It is worthwhile pointing out (I fell for this trap) that if you are doing an in situ upgrade from Vista to Win 7 then the procedure is to start the setup.exe on the Installtion disk within Vista and not boot from the installation disk and select upgrade. The results are no the same and various problems ensue if you take the wrong path.

Note that there is a difference between 'upgrade' and a 'retail' versions. The 'retail' version is the complete O/S. Where the 'upgrade' is just enough of the O/S to apply to the original O/S 'retail' that is already installed on your computer. Hope that made sense.

Not correct. The upgrade is complete and it can be installed on a clean partition with no previous operating system required.Fred

Not correct. The upgrade is complete and it can be installed on a clean partition with no previous operating system required.Fred

Not quite the whole truth whilst you can install the upgrade without an XP or Vista being installed you must have the original disk for XP or Vista to verify (during Win7 installation) that you are entitled to an upgrade.

Not quite the whole truth whilst you can install the upgrade without an XP or Vista being installed you must have the original disk for XP or Vista to verify (during Win7 installation) that you are entitled to an upgrade.

.Vista to Win 7 is a snap: XP to Win 7 is a different kettle of fish.. and the first thing you should do is to get an external, 200gig drive so you can perform the full backup of your old system. This is recommended by Microsoft, and will allow you to restore all of your old settings, mail, FSX files, all link details, and so on. By skipping this stage you may well have an unrecoverable mess on your hands, the result being having to do a clean install of Windows 7, MS Office, FireFox, FSX, and everything else, with none of the old data being saved.

Not quite the whole truth whilst you can install the upgrade without an XP or Vista being installed you must have the original disk for XP or Vista to verify (during Win7 installation) that you are entitled to an upgrade.

Wrong again. Upgrading from XP to Win 7 does not require any original XP disk or previously installed OS.While the EULA suggests a qualifying OS is required no verification is asked for during the installation.Microsoft expects us to be on our best behaviour and spend the extra $$ on the full version instead of the upgrade.

Wrong again. Upgrading from XP to Win 7 does not require any original XP disk or previously installed OS.While the EULA suggests a qualifying OS is required no verification is asked for during the installation.Microsoft expects us to be on our best behaviour and spend the extra $$ on the full version instead of the upgrade.

Maybe that worked for you but not for me. I ran into problems with my Upgrade disk of Windows 7, call MS and they pointed me to the below, here is an excerpt from Microsoft:To install an upgrade version of Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP must be installed on your computer. If you formatted the drive before starting the installation process, you won't be able to use the upgrade product key to activate Windows 7. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows...lid-product-keyTried to install on a new hard drive, and it installed fine, just wouldn't activate. So I installed XP, it saw it, then formatted the drive and installed Win 7. KJ

Maybe that worked for you but not for me. I ran into problems with my Upgrade disk of Windows 7, call MS and they pointed me to the below, here is an excerpt from Microsoft:To install an upgrade version of Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP must be installed on your computer. If you formatted the drive before starting the installation process, you won't be able to use the upgrade product key to activate Windows 7. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows...lid-product-keyTried to install on a new hard drive, and it installed fine, just wouldn't activate. So I installed XP, it saw it, then formatted the drive and installed Win 7. KJ

Strange. All I can say is that formatting and a clean install did work for me and many others with no activation problems. Your post is the first I have seen to the contrary.

Strange. All I can say is that formatting and a clean install did work for me and many others with no activation problems. Your post is the first I have seen to the contrary.

Did you have a standard Win7 upgrade disk or an OEM disk, just checking this all seems odd. Do you think that different countries may have different rules? I just read that you must have an XP disk or you won't be able to upgrade. I have no personal experience with an XP upgrade as I upgraded from Vista 64 to Win7 64.

Strange. All I can say is that formatting and a clean install did work for me and many others with no activation problems. Your post is the first I have seen to the contrary.

Not the first I've seen, but I'll admit it is rare. Nevertheless, I'd still go with the Upgrade over the Full Version because of price, and even if a problem occurs, there are legal workarounds. KJ

Some further investigation has revealed the following:If installing to a new disk or a newly created partition Win 7 will not accept the Update product key and of course will not activate.If the partition you are installing to has ever had any Windows version previously installed, even if that partition has since been reformatted, the Win 7 install will succeed and activate, which is why it worked for me. It seems that after reformatting there remains some kind of fingerprint that informs Win 7 that a previous Windows version was here and the installation goes ahead.There are several ways around this problem with the product key. The full details can be found here.http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402...-7-version.htmlGood luck, and buy yourself (or someone) something nice with the $$ you just saved.