(Updated!) Upgrading to Windows 7 Professional from Windows Home editions

Hi Mark,

  First I would like to say thank you for the excellent link. I think that information will be very helpful for many nonprofits!

  I would also like to say that it is important to remember that the products offered by our partners are donations and it is up to the partner to decide which products they want to offer. In the case of Microsoft it is also to do with how they are providing their donated products which is through their Volume Licensing which, as I understand, is only for business platform products.

Autumn

 

Autumn, you are correct - Volume Licensing does not cover home products (like Windows Home Server, Home version of operating systems).

Those of you needing to upgrade from Vista Home Basic/Premium may be interested to know about the Windows 7 Family pack, which allows you to upgrade 3 PCs in total for $149.

Tech Soup caters to non profit organizations....which are still businesses even though we don't make a profit. :) Heck....sometimes we're lucky to stay afloat. Even for very small offices I always, always recommend they go with a business edition (not home) of the operating system because they are a business. It helps put them in position for future changes in their business profile as it may occur. I think it's the safe smart choice....but that's just a me thing. :)

I truly appreciate all the donated software titles. There would be no way the organization I work for could afford the great technology we have without the donated software we purchase through Tech Soup. Thank you soooo much Tech Soup.

MS doesn't have to offer any donated software yet they choose to do so and we still complain (offer suggestions?). :)  Human nature I guess. Since you now know how the upgrade paths work, when you purchase your next computer make sure you purchase it with a business version of the software. (Yep....it does add to the cost of the machine which is probably why you didn't do it when you ordered the machine, which I do understand knowing the limited operating budgets.)  

Windows 7 is nice...no doubt about it, but we're not having any issues with our XP or Vista machines so there really isn't a need to upgrade them at this time. (Although, to be honest, I have upgraded a couple. Wanted to test it out and see how it went. It was very smooth.) The main benefit of the Pro version is the ability to connect to a network server and there are some other security features in those packages. If you don't have a server....then the home versions probably work just fine for your agency and it is too bad you can't upgrade them but even if MS did offer an upgrade path it would be to the same type of OS. Home to home and pro to pro.

Windows Vista Starter - No upgrade paths to Windows 7
Windows Vista Home Basic - No upgrade paths to Windows 7
Windows Vista Home Premium - Can upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows Vista Business - can upgrade to Windows 7 Professional
Windows Vista Ultimate - can upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate

You can see the symmetry of the upgrade paths. I think they've always been this way? Additionally, you have to pay attention to whether your system is 32 bit or 64 bit. The version you have can only upgrade to the type of system you have. So a 32 bit version of Windows Premium can update to a 32 bit version of Windows 7 Premium but can't upgrade to Windows 7 Premium 64 bit.

Just my thoughts.

Here is our experience for what it is worth:

We were able to use our upgrade key to do activate a fresh install. Although that worked, it would have been in violation of the terms of usage EXCEPT that we do have the correct number of full legal and no longer used windows XP professional licenses so we were legally entitled to do that many upgrades. 

We purchased several machines in 2007 which came with vista home installed. We ordered the upgrade to Win 7 not realizing the problem. However we had an aprpopriate number of windows XP professional full licenses from Techsoup from back in 2003 (which replaced windows 2000 on some really old machines which were passed on elsewhere with blank hard drives.) Thus we were legally entitled to the Win 7 upgrades. If it had come to that I would have installed XP on the new machines and then upgraded over that (sidenote: this requires a custom install rather than the easier vista =>win 7 in place install BUT we were going from 32 bit to 64 bit so that part of  it wasn't going to be any more work). On a whim I installed from a stand alone disk for Windows 7 Professional and then tried to activate using the new key. (It is the key that costs money not the installation disk.)  It worked!

 

So (as far as I understand this confusing arena) look online at the windows volume licensing site:

IF

1) you find that you have a 5 seat windows XP professional license (which is not currently being used on any machines)

AND

2) you purchase 3 of the $9 upgrade to windows 7 professional things

THEN you are legally and morally entitled to

3) install windows 7 professional on 3 machines (by whatever method you can come up with) and then activate  using your new key.

 

Just make sure that you keep the information from step 1. You do not actually need it for step 3 but you want it in the event that questions or problems arise down the line.

 

In response to Tracee: I believe that you can get the 64 bit upgrade even if you only have 32 bit XP professional or Vista professional. The only catch is that the install will take 2-3 hours (much of it while you can be elsewhere) and THEN you will need to reinstall your programs (antivirus, office etc.) make sure you know how to reinstall them all! I can't say for sure because I only used the license key in the end not the DVD. It did go very smoothly with Windows Easy Transfer® including various user accounts etc. I am not sure how much advantage the 64 bit version gives but I couldn't resist.

 

@mathcounts - unfortunately, I think you still technically violated the license agreement.  TechSoup has never been allowed to donate Windows XP Professional as anything but an Upgrade license (the Donated Computer Operating System program from Microsoft through TechSoup allowed you to get Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Home) full desktop operating system licenses, only upgrades.  So unless your Windows 2000 Pro licenses were actually already Open License and not OEM licenses, I think you may have still gone against the licensing.  But this has always been unclear to me because if you are getting open licenses with Windows XP Pro upgrade but are upgrading OEM licenses... where can you install the Upgrade Open License?

I have been thinking about the XP licensing route, as we have enough XP licenses from several years ago (we just ignored the Vista upgrade "opportunity") to cover the upgrade to W7. I have not done the investigation of the XP license; I am not at all sure that, given Microsoft's frequent changes in its licensing terms, that anyone can say definitively what the license is; it is plausible that, if there is a definitive license, it is in terms that do not foreclose using XP in place of a newer Windows version. As I seem to remember it, the XP license covered a long history of Windows versions, and required only a valid Windows license, not a computer with a MS sticker on the box.

This is the edit part. Brother Shipley quotes XP license terms here: http://asiangirlvegasmassage.com/?id=cs/forums/t/29306.aspx?PageIndex=8. If you have the license to an older version of Windows, you can use the XP. Go eBay a few Millennium licenses.

This weekend I spent 4 hours setting up a new computer with Windows already installed. Installing Ubuntu from scratch takes a small fraction of the time that installing, or even merely setting up, Windows takes, and it boots in a small fraction of the time that Windows takes. But, maybe the biggest benefit of Linux is not being under Microsoft's IP thumb. That new computer I set up of course had several MS applications installed, and I think each one had its own separate license that the  user has to accept. I did not need most of them, and, when faced with another license agreement, I deleted them rather than read the license.

Wine, the Windows compatibility layer, has become fairly usable now, and it is possible for some users to run all the Windows programs they actually need (but not all Windows programs) on Linux. It is not long before Linux will be a serious alternative to Windows for many users.

Yep :) you can use the 64 bit upgrade...but you end up doing a clean install. I just meant if you want to do a true in place upgrade where all the programs, data, settings, etc. are moved to the new program for you at the time of install, you need to match apples with apples. Now...if you don't mind wiping your system out, then you can switch from 32 bit to 64 bit.

The only real difference that I know between 32 and 64 bit systems is that a 64 bit system can utilize more memory than a 32 bit system. Well...that and your device drivers need to be 64 bit, too.

shipley.c

@mathcounts - unfortunately, I think you still technically violated the license agreement.  TechSoup has never been allowed to donate Windows XP Professional as anything but an Upgrade license (the Donated Computer Operating System program from Microsoft through TechSoup allowed you to get Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Home) full desktop operating system licenses, only upgrades.  So unless your Windows 2000 Pro licenses were actually already Open License and not OEM licenses, I think you may have still gone against the licensing.  But this has always been unclear to me because if you are getting open licenses with Windows XP Pro upgrade but are upgrading OEM licenses... where can you install the Upgrade Open License?

 

In practice I took a blank hard drive, installed windows 7 professional presented the 25 letter (upgrade) key and it went through. I acted in good faith so i am not going to worry about it further. I think I am OK though (morally and officially). My reasoning is as follows: In 2001 I did an appropriate number of upgrades to windows XP pro (I still have the media!) I honestly can't say if that was from windows ME ( that would be ok) or from windows 2000 pro (that would be ok) or from windows 2000 home ( shouldn't have worked but by now I am not going to worry about it). Having those Wndows XP pro licenses (even though those machines are long gone but without passing on the operating system) allows me to upgrade to windows 7 professional.

Microsoft should make it clearer and or enforce their requirements if they care. 

 

theparentingproject

In practice I took a blank hard drive, installed windows 7 professional presented the 25 letter (upgrade) key and it went through. I acted in good faith so i am not going to worry about it further. I think I am OK though (morally and officially). My reasoning is as follows: In 2001 I did an appropriate number of upgrades to windows XP pro (I still have the media!) I honestly can't say if that was from windows ME ( that would be ok) or from windows 2000 pro (that would be ok) or from windows 2000 home ( shouldn't have worked but by now I am not going to worry about it). Having those Windows XP pro licenses (even though those machines are long gone but without passing on the operating system) allows me to upgrade to windows 7 professional.

Microsoft should make it clearer and or enforce their requirements if they care. 

 

I believe you are correct as well. I'm in sort of the same situation. Way back when (2003 I think) , I wanted everybody in the org on the same page OS and Office suite wise as we had a gaggle of differing versions. So, I went to the local NFP distributor  and bought a couple of dozen XP Pro and Office XP licenses. Over the ensuing 6 years newer machines, all with XP Pro preinstalled,  have replaced the ones those original XP licenses were purchased for. The older machine were plundered for parts and scrapped. The end result of this is that, with the exception of about 4 older machines  still in use for one thing or another, all of those XP Pro licenses are no longer in use but are still perfectly valid. I now have about 4 people with various versions of Vista Home who I will be upgrading to 7 Pro utilizing some of those XP Pro licenses as the qualifying products for the upgrades. As I read the MS criteria, these are perfectly valid and legal upgrades.

Kevin

shipley.c

@mathcounts - unfortunately, I think you still technically violated the license agreement.  TechSoup has never been allowed to donate Windows XP Professional as anything but an Upgrade license (the Donated Computer Operating System program from Microsoft through TechSoup allowed you to get Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Home) full desktop operating system licenses, only upgrades.  So unless your Windows 2000 Pro licenses were actually already Open License and not OEM licenses, I think you may have still gone against the licensing.  But this has always been unclear to me because if you are getting open licenses with Windows XP Pro upgrade but are upgrading OEM licenses... where can you install the Upgrade Open License?

 

I don't see where your distinction between OEM and Open licenses comes into play. We have NFP X who has over the course of the last few years gathered together a hodgepodge of computers and OS's I come to TechSoup (or any other distributor offering NFP pricing)  and order upgrades to a newer OS for the hodgepodge. My understanding is that it matters not a wit if the OSs on those machine were obtained via the OEM, retail or even from a NFP distributor. It matters ONLY that, one for one, I have a valid license for a version of the older OS that qualifies for the upgrade. 
 

It is also my understanding that when you purchase an "upgrade" to a newer version the cost of that newer version is whatever you pay of the upgrade AND your original license for whatever you are upgrading from but the end result is that after that upgrade you have a fully complete license that version for the new OS. Again, regardless of which distribution line the upgrade came from, or for that matter, which one the outdated  OS came from, as long as they were legally obtained from someone who had the rights to transfer them, be that an OEM, a retailer or a distributor.

At least that's how a guy from MS explained it to me some years back when I first started IT'ing for a NFP.

So, in this current example, regardless of what was on the machines when originally obtained from TechSoup, as long as they were legally upgraded to XP Pro, why would it matter which distribution channel the upgrades come from  as long as the XP upgrades were on the up and up?? Are you saying  that there is some limitation on the upgrade that says you are not allowed to upgrade an OEM version of the OS to a more recent one??

 Kevin

agardk

Are you saying  that there is some limitation on the upgrade that says you are not allowed to upgrade an OEM version of the OS to a more recent one??

Not exactly.  My confusion is around whether or not if you've upgraded OEM licenses to XP Pro Upgrade, whether or not you've essentially "freed" those licenses from the hardware.  As we all know, OEM licenses are non-transferable between hardware.  So if you buy Open License upgrades, does that indemnify you, or do you still need to produce the original OEM license that was upgraded from, and thus the hardware it was installed on?  Yes, I know it sounds draconian to assume something like this, but honestly I wouldn't put it past Microsoft's legal writing to say one thing and a MS staff person to say something else entirely.

shipley.c

Not exactly.  My confusion is around whether or not if you've upgraded OEM licenses to XP Pro Upgrade, whether or not you've essentially "freed" those licenses from the hardware.  As we all know, OEM licenses are non-transferable between hardware.  So if you buy Open License upgrades, does that indemnify you, or do you still need to produce the original OEM license that was upgraded from, and thus the hardware it was installed on?  Yes, I know it sounds draconian to assume something like this, but honestly I wouldn't put it past Microsoft's legal writing to say one thing and a MS staff person to say something else entirely.

Well, I've have been doing this for a while now and have never experienced any issues with MS. I mean really, the only way I can see it coming up is if MS showed up at the door on day and tried to do an audit. and even then I'm not sure they'd have an issue. I've worked out problems with MS on a few occasion over the years where I've explained exactly how a given machine got to it current state and they never even blinked at it so it is not something they seem overly concerned about.

I think their main concerns are with the folks who are outright stealing their titles or buying 15 seats and installing 1500, not the folks buying the installed number of seats, regardless of how they were obtained, and at least trying to follow their rules.

That said, I can see what you are saying and you may well be correct. I don't know the answer to your question and have never really considered it before now. I have had machine so configured go belly up where I have just taken the hard drives and popped them into spare machines so given your question, such an action may very well have violated the letter of the OEM license. I don't know. Then again, you have ask to which part of the "equipment" the license is tied to, if at all. The main board? the CPU? The case with the sticker? When I decommission a box, I strip it for usable parts and toss the rest. I use those parts to repair/upgrade the operational machines. Over the years I've reconfigured/repaired some machines to the point that their own mama machines would not recognize them. At what point am I then in violation? It seems to me that such OEM restrictions would be almost impossible to enforce legally without a clear statement as to exactly which component the license is tied to and what the options are if that particular component goes belly up.

In the end though,I have found that the non-profit pricing difference between upgrade and full versions (of MS titles) has not been big enough to bother with upgrades. I generally just go with the full product licenses. I'm only doing upgrades now because, unfortunately, that's all TechSoup has and at $8 a seat. . . .