Comments, Questions and Thoughts on Windows 7

Similarly, if you were running XP Home on your machine, say because you chose to downgrade from Vista Home when you bought it, you can acquire a donation of XP Pro, and upgrade to Windows 7 using Software Assurance.

Ok.  I don't mind the XP Pro being revoked because I want to stay legal.  My question was trying more to save me time.  Doing the Win7 install on a Vista Home PC, can I just present the XP Pro disc to the install process to satisfy the requirement, or do I have to go to the trouble of installing XP Pro on the Vista Home PC?

Your answer sounds like I have to install XP Pro.

I recently bought a new desktop, with Vista on it... it didnt come from Tech Soup - can i still upgrade through a tech soup donation?

The issue is not where you bought the pc but the version of your windows software.  If you have any version of Vista Home, than you can't do the upgrade.

Technically speaking you wouldn't need to present the XP Pro disc to do the installation. I was stating more the legal requirements for the donations rather than technical ones.

I am following all these posts and am very confused.  We are a small 3 person non-profit with two computers running on Vista Home Premium.  If I was really technical, I might be able to piece together all these posts to determine legally and physically how to go from Vista Home to Windows 7 (am I understanding correctly that we would need to not only buy XP Pro but install it first?).  But, I am hoping someone at Tech Soup would do a clear step by step write up of this process.

Thank you,

Al

You might check with the maker of your computer first, several of them are offering free upgrades to 7 home edition

Hi Al,

  The following information is from an early post:

"...we've checked every angle and possibilty, from getting XP Professional and then using Software Assurance to upgrade to Win 7, to getting Vista Business and using Software Assurance to get Win 7. 

Unfortunately there are NO legal upgrade options to go from Vista Home to one of the upgrade products that are offered through TechSoup. This is because the Microsoft products carried by TechSoup are Volume Licensing products which have different licensing restrictions from commercial products.  I don't know if you can get a retail Vista Pro upgrade product and use that to upgrade - I'm not familiar with the commercial products' licensing rules - but that might be a possibility.  

For orgs that want to break the cycle (from the Microsoft Home line to the Business/Pro line) you'll need to either get a new pc with a professional license, or buy an OEM license and pay a little less. So if you pay $150 for an OEM Vista Business license, you can get a donation of Windows 7 Pro upgrade for $8, then you are still better off than buying retail, and you get Software Assurance benefits too."

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Autumn

Is there a place in the ordering process where I can order extra copies of the install media?  We have volunteers in various locations and to have to share one set of install media will be an enourmess pain in the patoot. :)

We're getting a new desktop with Windows 7 Home on it. Will the upgrade to Windows 7 Pro work on this machine? We also have a copy of XP that we were intending to install on a MAC but never got around to it. Could we install xp and then Windows 7 upgrade on it? 

jangell2:

Is there a place in the ordering process where I can order extra copies of the install media?  We have volunteers in various locations and to have to share one set of install media will be an enourmess pain in the patoot. :)

If Windows 7 is like XP and Vista,  you will get one piece of media from the order process.  Additional media can  be ordered from Microsoft World Wide Fulfillment (As I recall it was $20.00 per set) -- there should be instructions on the e-open site, You should also be able to copy the media, or download the ISO image from eopen.

Dave

Deeb:

We're getting a new desktop with Windows 7 Home on it. Will the upgrade to Windows 7 Pro work on this machine? We also have a copy of XP that we were intending to install on a MAC but never got around to it. Could we install xp and then Windows 7 upgrade on it? 

According to the posts on this thread and the information on the Tech Stock Windows 7 product pages.  WIn 7 home is not legally qualified to upgrade using the donations available on Tech Soup.

If the copy of XP, Provided it is XP Pro not Home and it is a full retail product -- again NOT the donation product from Tech Soup -- then that would qualify to load on the new desktop (abandoning the Win 7) to allow you to upgrade to Win 7 available as a donation from Tech Stock.

Neither of the Home versions are qualified to upgrade with the product donations from Tech Soup, though you could upgrade an XP home machine to XP Pro, then using software advantage on the XP Pro go to Win 7 (or an additional Win 7 donation if the XP Pro donation is over two years old.

Dave

dwelp:

jangell2:

Is there a place in the ordering process where I can order extra copies of the install media?  We have volunteers in various locations and to have to share one set of install media will be an enourmess pain in the patoot. :)

If Windows 7 is like XP and Vista,  you will get one piece of media from the order process.  Additional media can  be ordered from Microsoft World Wide Fulfillment (As I recall it was $20.00 per set) -- there should be instructions on the e-open site, You should also be able to copy the media, or download the ISO image from eopen.

Dave

I purchased XP Home edition from TechSoup about 16 months ago for systems that were donated to us.  It didn't include software assurance.  I skipped Vista but would like to upgrade to Windows 7, but upgrade appears to require Pro version of XP or Vista.  What do you suggest?  (From reading, it appears that I must delete everything (fomrat the drive) and do a clean install using the Windows 7 upgrade.  I assume that it will ask for product key from XP or Vista Pro, or ask that XP or Vista Pro disk be inserted.

You can request XP Pro upgrade from TechSoup and then use Software Assurance to get Win 7 professional licenses from Microsoft.  You do not need to actually install XP Pro on your computer.  Once you get the licenses for Windows 7 (you can either download the Windows 7 installation software or request a CD be sent to you for ~$20) you will have to perform a clean install of the Windows 7 operating system. This is the ONLY upgrade option for computers running any version of XP to move to Windows 7. The installation process does not require you to have an install CD for either of your XP products, and I don't believe it will ask for your XP Pro license information either (although you'll have that anyway).