Action Pack Windows 7 Upgrade Licenses

Question

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with an upgrade license question.

I'm considering purchasing a subscription for "Action Pack Development & Design" and I want to find out if I'll be able to use one of the 10 included Win 7 Pro licenses to upgrade a Windows 7 Starter Netbook.

Irrespective of whether this is a good idea or not (given the limited hardware) I just want to know if it is allowed? I don't mind if it runs slow etc. I just need to be able to run a local IIS instance. which Win 7 Starter cannot do.

The document about the qualifying operating systems https://partner.microsoft.com/40120289 seems kind of confusing. From looking at this it sounds as though it's only possible to upgrade from the same or higher version, unless it's a academic license. This doesn't seem to make sense. I'm assuming I'm reading it wrong.

Thanks very much,

Eugene O'Brien

Answer 1

I agree, the answer is about as clear as mud!

 

Windows 7 licenses are upgrade licenses only. Upgrade from what? Do you have to perform an in place upgrade and if so from what? XP? Another version of W7? If it's from another version of W7 then surely it's the most pointless entitlement ever?

Answer 2

Hello,

By "Upgrade License" we are simply saying that you can't install this on a machine currently unlicensed. For example, you can't build your own PC and install Windows 7 on it. This is explained a bit more clearly at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/upgrading-to-windows-7-frequently-asked-questions. All that said, I have to admit that this isn't very clear ("clear as mud" is accurate).

The guidance here is that when moving between Windows 7 Editions it follows the rules for our Anytime Upgrade (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/windows-anytime-upgrade). '

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

This really makes no sense as upgrading from XP to Windows 7 is clearly not supported. This environment requires a 'clean' install, not a upgrade. Now, if Microsoft means that the PC must be 'licensed', does the Win7 installer check for a current XP installation on that PC prior to blitzing the hard drive?. 

Thank you.