I think I bought the wrong Windows 7 Online

[hexonxonx]

I paid fo rthe family pack upgrade and I have installed the trial version of Windows 7. When I go to enter my serial number, it tells me that this specified product can only be used for upgrades and not clean installs.

I only have a Windows XP CD but that can't be used for upgrades. Now what do I do? Thanks

 

[hexonxonx]

I called Microsoft and got a refund. i now have to purchase the full $199 disc for each computer.

 

[Sunday Ironfoot]

I called Microsoft and got a refund. i now have to purchase the full $199 disc for each computer.

Top tip: Buy yourself an OEM copy if you want to save a bit of money, OEM's are the version that are sold with new computers (Dell's, HP etc.). They can be bought seperately though if you look around.

 

[balamw]

Top tip: Buy yourself an OEM copy if you want to save a bit of money, OEM's are the version that are sold with new computers (Dell's, HP etc.). They can be bought seperately though if you look around.

I'm not a fan of OEM for anything other that what they are intended for. White box builds resold to third parties.

IMHO, if you are willing to go "off-label" and use OEM as an individual end-user even though MS specifically forbids it in the license, you might as well use one of the simple workarounds to make retail upgrades work fine.

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media

Retail upgrade can be cheaper than OEM.

B

 

[hfg]

I paid fo rthe family pack upgrade and I have installed the trial version of Windows 7. When I go to enter my serial number, it tells me that this specified product can only be used for upgrades and not clean installs.

I only have a Windows XP CD but that can't be used for upgrades. Now what do I do? Thanks

Do a little Google searching and you will find the solution. It is just like Vista where you can do a double-install, first as a clean install trial demo, then use that to perform an upgrade to a full install. You should own a copy of a previous version of Windows to be legal in doing this install, but it is not necessary to install it first on your computer.

This works fine with the Family Pack, and if desired you can further upgrade that to a higher version.

 

[hexonxonx]

Do a little Google searching and you will find the solution. It is just like Vista where you can do a double-install, first as a clean install trial demo, then use that to perform an upgrade to a full install. You should own a copy of a previous version of Windows to be legal in doing this install, but it is not necessary to install it first on your computer.

This works fine with the Family Pack, and if desired you can further upgrade that to a higher version.

Thank you. Found all the answers and yes, I do qualify because I own an XP full disc. Thanks for the help.

 

[hexonxonx]

Got it working, bought a new upgrade family pack and now activated on both machines. Thanks allot!