UK student Win7 offer/boot camp questions

[burningbright]

Hi, I'm considering going for the £30 UK student offer for Windows 7 Pro, but not sure if I could install it on my C2D Macbook. It says 'upgrade copy' on it, but elsewhere it says it can do a custom, clean install. Would I be able to install it via Boot Camp considering I don't have any variety of Windows installed on it at the moment?

Also, it comes as a download, not a CD- would that be any problem for Boot Camp? The (pretty old) documentation I've found talks about CDs quite a bit.

Finally, should I get 32-bit or 64-bit? I'll be upgrading to SL from Leopard before installing Win7, presuming 10.6.2 comes out fairly soon. I'm believe Leopard Boot Camp is 32-bit only, but has that changed in SL?

The Windows site avoids mentioning Macs, so thought this place might be the best place for advice. Hope you can help!
BB

 

[TheBritishBloke]

The student one IS an upgrade copy. This means you will have to have a genuine copy of Vista (maybe XP) already installed.

As A download, just burn a copy to a CD and pop it in and run boot camp, it will run the update installer.

 

[steezy1337]

if it's anything like the vista upgrade disk was then you'll be fine, microsoft seems to put all versions on the disc but the serial key will only work for one of them. i think it will most likely download as an iso, which means you just need to mount the disk then it should be sailing from there.

 

[burningbright]

Hmm, to answer one of my own questions, I've just found that you can use Boot Camp for 64-bit versions of Windows 7. I guess I might as well go for the 64-bit, then!

http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/08/31/boot.camp.win.7.64.support/

 

[MattZani]

I've ordered 2 Keys, and 1 Disc.

The Pro version requires a fresh install, so im hoping it can be installed without another Disc being used, otherwise its not going to be easy to install on my MBP, i've got a 98 Disc, just you cant eject :S

Mainly ordered for my Gaming PC Though, so its all good.

 

[Cabbit]

You mite be able to get it for free, my University (The University of Abertay) was handing them out for free to students but these only last for your term of university.

 

[burningbright]

Thanks for the responses! Sounds like the CD problem is easily solved!
Just randomly checked on the Amazon website and it says this for the upgrade edition:

"Important--changes to EU release of Microsoft Windows 7

Please note that Microsoft have recently made a number of changes to the European release of Microsoft Windows 7. Please be aware that while this is subject to change, the latest information that Amazon has is:
This version of Windows 7 ships as a full edition, suitable for both new Windows users and Windows Vista users looking to upgrade. Although a ‘clean install’ is not essential for existing Windows Vista users, this is recommended by Microsoft UK.
All editions of Windows 7 will now include the Internet Explorer 8 web browser as standard.
Amazon.co.uk will continue to update this page as and when further information becomes available."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Professional-Upgrade-Vista/dp/B002DGS82G/ref=sr_tr_2?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1255891337&sr=1-2

I think I might wait until the question is nailed down on the 22nd to buy- I believe the offer runs until the end of the year. Thanks again for your responses!
BB

 

[burningbright]

Thanks for the tip, Baby Jennifer- I just checked the MSDNAA website, which I presume you're referring to, but, whilst it lists my uni (Cardiff) on the site, the only links to the "software center" are for Comp Sci and Engineering schools, so I guess I don't qualify for that!

 

[MattZani]

Only 3 days until we find out

Might have to wait a while for the Download, wonder if my Disc will arrive before its done :d

Ohwell, will be great to finally have my Gaming PC Up and running (Been sat in the corner of my room for 3 months with no OS) and maybe a Bootcamp

 

[Cabbit]

Thanks for the tip, Baby Jennifer- I just checked the MSDNAA website, which I presume you're referring to, but, whilst it lists my uni (Cardiff) on the site, the only links to the "software center" are for Comp Sci and Engineering schools, so I guess I don't qualify for that!

We don't get it from the MSDN website, we get it from the library, Tech support, or lecturers. Try asking around.

 

[Bbusyb]

Just a tip if your are planning to use the download version to install Win7.

I went that route, and while I Did order the Disc, I wanted to do an install immediately, and as such downloaded the installer as well.

Keep in mind that to download the installer, you do need windows as Digital River, the Distributor requires you to use their download manager which is windows only.

The Manger downloads three files, an Installer, setup1.box and setup2.box. The box files actually contain the install info which will be extracted when you run the Installer.

While you could try and install directly from the installer, I decided to create a Boot Disc, and found some good instructions of it on MyDigitalLife.

Do read the Comments, as they do contain some relevant info, and also dome alternative approaches.

Going the Bootdisc rout is probably the best option as Its atried and tru method, and should work fine with Bootcamp.

As mentioned earlier, While the UK site does say it is a Upgrade, all EU versions I believe are actually full versions.

Having said that, If you do run into issues of not being able to activate it, you could try using the old Vista Hack, that of reinstalling over the unactivated version and activating that, which many people have reported appears to still work.