I have been asked by a neighbour to upgrade his HP Laptop which is running Vista. I plan to install Win7 Home Premium - I already have a genuine copy of W7HP. He doesn't want Win8 or Win10 installed at the moment. Suggestions/recommendations please for the best supplier to use to purchase a genuine Home Premium Product Key? I am in UK. The Key has to be genuine as he uses the laptop for his business. Thanks (PM me if you prefer)
In a rush so don't have time to test, plus I doubt if Anytime Upgrade works anymore. At least it didn't give Me options on Win 8.1 Core when I just checked. The best option Would have been installing Starter and Daz loading. Verify its GENUINE, then upgrade to HP using Windows Anytime Upgrade to purchase the Key.
So Now You really need to ask yourself, "Do you really want to Pay for a "Genuine" Key" that as posted above, probably isn't OR.........
For HOME users maybe but not on corporate pc's My remark about the possibillity to have a genuine 7 on a vista system is based on reallife experience. Once a friend had a Vista laptop and got the voucher for 7 when 7 came out. When checking the slic table with the OEM Query tool it stated: Valid oem os: Vista/7. My own laptab has a oemm for 8.x/10. Sometimes there are legit options to upgrade
I somehow doubt this is a corporate PC, more likely a self employed person. Reason? Corporate ones would more likely be running Professional/Enterprise, or they would just get a new laptop with Windows rather than spend money on a new OS for old obsolete hardware.
On any business system it's not aproved of using pirated os's (ms doesn't care so much about private systems, but they watch(ed) businesses closely, they even (once) "hacked" businesses to see if they used legit windows) . I used the term corporate, i meant all business (non private) systems
So you consider a Window cleaner doing his finances on his laptop "corporate". I guess my point is this is more likely a home laptop that somebody uses for minor business use (in which case M$ won't really care) or the op has chosen the wrong OS to install really.
Not round my neck of the woods. Most of the window cleaners round here prefer the added benefit of not paying tax I guess the real issue here is if it's a company or if he's an employee. If the "business" has 25 or more PC. companies like FAST usually like to "offer" there auditing services, otherwise they just not interested. A 1 man band is unlikely to ever run into issues and would probably be fine on Home Premium. A sales person for a mid/large company on the other hand would want audited purchasable licences, usually with new hardware.
You can't legally just buy a "Key" even M$ doesn't do that. You have to buy the disk with a COA key from a legit business that's licensed to sell M$ software... In the U.S it would be Fry's, Tiger Direct, NewEgg or that Micro place (forgot what it's called)
Thanks to all for your replies ... @Joe C...Yes you are absolutely correct! I'm quite happy to purchase COA key and disk but I'm in UK. Googling indicates it's possible in USA but USA suppliers sites say 'Unable to ship to UK'. This is why I created this thread! I'm aware of other methods (so is my neighbour) but he has said he wants a LEGAL and GENUINE installation. Surely that must still be possible for Win7?? @Enthousiest ... Thanks for your updates. I may have to try your suggestion to check whether the Bios may have authorisation to allow a genuine Win7 install. But I was hoping to keep the install simple!! Michaela's suggestion to try calling MSoft ... any question that's not Win10 I feel would result in a 'not interested' reaction! Any other MDL members/guests have any suggestions: Anybody?