Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to retail

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• Ivan Icrontic’s Loveable Bot

  Oct 2009

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  You can use an upgrade disc.

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• Mine Guest

  Oct 2009

  Hi Robert, I know the article states any retail version, but could you confirm will this fix work if I buy the any of the Upgrade any time Versions or do I have to buy the complete upgrade version.

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  You need an upgrade, OEM, or full retail license. I cannot reasonably assert that an anytime upgrade will work.

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• FrameExpert Member

  Oct 2009

  Thanks for the great article. I just did this to go from Windows 7 Home Premium RC to Windows 7 Ultimate OEM version. You may wonder how I originally got Windows 7 Home Premium RC. I used a trick from Windows Secrets to install Home Premium instead of Ultimate. I did this because I thought that is what version I would finally want. BUT, I changed my mind and decided on Ultimate for the final version.
  
  Because of this, though, I did have to perform Step 3 and change the registry keys from Home Premium to Ultimate. Otherwise, it wouldn't let me upgrade. In any case, it all worked great and the upgrade took about an hour and a half. Thanks again for the great article.

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• Strife Guest

  Oct 2009

  Worked flawlessly, like I never had to upgrade. The only difference is the version(and the lack of features) and no more watermark on my screen. Thanks!

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• Jonathan Guest

  Oct 2009

  Is there anyway to bypass the space requirements? I'm running W7 RC 7100 on a 35gb partition with 7gb free. I like to keep my OS partition small and all my files on the other parts of my HDD. But the setup says I need 11gb?? wtf?! I don't want to have to uninstall a few apps just to upgrade to the retail version... Any help appreciated. Thanks!

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  You're welcome, guys! Thanks for dropping us a line. :)

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  Jonathan said:

  Is there anyway to bypass the space requirements? I'm running W7 RC 7100 on a 35gb partition with 7gb free. I like to keep my OS partition small and all my files on the other parts of my HDD. But the setup says I need 11gb?? wtf?! I don't want to have to uninstall a few apps just to upgrade to the retail version... Any help appreciated. Thanks!

  The space requirements are not a joke! The Windows install routine needs significant temporary space, and space to move your files during the install process. You might try reclaiming some space by turning off hibernate: Launch a command prompt as an administrator and type "powercfg -h off" and hit enter. After you restart, it will clear the hibernate file which is equal to the amount of RAM you have. If you have 4GB RAM, it might push you overr 11GB. Otherwise, burn some data to dvd temporarily.

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• Sri Lankan GSB Guest

  Oct 2009

  Hi,
  Thanks for the great article. Can step 3 above be used to upgrade from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional in place? Or are the registry settings different for a Vista to Win 7 upgrade?
  
  Thank you!

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• randalltrini Guest

  Oct 2009

  Hey Robert,
  
  Thanks a million for you article. One question. I have ordered Windows 7 Professional Upgrade. Will the procedure work on this version of the retail?
  Also, if for some reason it fails or I get application or issues with my RC partition, can I go ahead and do a clean install on my XP partition? Or will I get a serial # conflict (do I have to unistall from the RC partition or somehow deactivate the licence?)
  
  Thanks in advance,
  
  Randall

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  Hi,
  Thanks for the great article. Can step 3 above be used to upgrade from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional in place? Or are the registry settings different for a Vista to Win 7 upgrade?
  
  Thank you!

  It might be usable, but I can't guarantee you anything. I'd back up your important data before you try. Though it's best just to do a clean install, as upgrades from one OS to another are never all that great.

  Hey Robert,
  
  Thanks a million for you article. One question. I have ordered Windows 7 Professional Upgrade. Will the procedure work on this version of the retail?
  Also, if for some reason it fails or I get application or issues with my RC partition, can I go ahead and do a clean install on my XP partition? Or will I get a serial # conflict (do I have to unistall from the RC partition or somehow deactivate the licence?)
  
  Thanks in advance,
  
  Randall

  1. Yes, it will work.
  
  2. You can do a clean install on your XP partition, but it's advisable to format the RC partition if it's being problematic. You'll get two Windows 7 entries at boot if you don't.
  
  3. You won't have any activation problems.

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• Richard Guest

  Oct 2009

  I followed all the directions, checked and double checked the registry file and the Windows 7 instalation disk copied to a network drive and it still says that I can't upgrade an Ultimate to a Professional. I just got the disk in the mail yesterday. Any ideas?

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  Please post a picture of the registry. Secondly, you have the release candidate installed, correct? NOT one of the leaked Ultimate RTMs?

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• Michael Joseph Guest

  Oct 2009

  I am having difficulty with step 3. Cracking open the registry on the Release candidate box. Is this on the system or part of the 7 DVD? Is there a specific line to type in after regedit in the command line?

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• Richard_Connecticut Member

  Oct 2009

  Thrax said:

  Please post a picture of the registry. Secondly, you have the release candidate installed, correct? NOT one of the leaked Ultimate RTMs?

  
  Nope, not one of the leaked Ultimate RTM's. Got it directly from Microsoft. Everything is legit.
  
  I tried installing it from a folder in the root directory, then I attached a network drive and tried to install from there. I moved an old "Windows Old" folder from the root directory. I rebooted and rechecked, nada. Thanks for your help!

  

  

  Lassen Registry.doc

  1 x 1 - 237K

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• Richard_Connecticut Member

  Oct 2009

  I had problems even after following the instructions. However, I found that I did not follow the instructions to the letter. There happens to be more than one Current Version in my registry. I had to find the one that was in the Windows NT folder. I hope my error can help someone else. Thanks again, Richard

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  Michael Joseph said:

  I am having difficulty with step 3. Cracking open the registry on the Release candidate box. Is this on the system or part of the 7 DVD? Is there a specific line to type in after regedit in the command line?

  It's on the RC box, and there's nothing else to type after "regedit" and pressing enter.

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  Richard_Connecticut said:

  I had problems even after following the instructions. However, I found that I did not follow the instructions to the letter. There happens to be more than one Current Version in my registry. I had to find the one that was in the Windows NT folder. I hope my error can help someone else. Thanks again, Richard

  Yes, it's very important that the "current version" in the Windows NT folder get modified. :) It's why I bolded that line in the registry.

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• Richard_Connecticut Member

  Oct 2009

  Thrax said:

  Yes, it's very important that the "current version" in the Windows NT folder get modified. :) It's why I bolded that line in the registry.

  
  
  I had no idea I would find the "Current Version" in more than one folder. I did a search and found that I was in the wrong folder. I successfully upgraded/downgraded RT Ultimate to the end version of Windows 7 Professional. Regardless of your superior intelect, it woud be interesting to me how you came across this very valuable work around. Inside information, colaboration? Thanks again, Richard

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  A little trial and error, and a little inspiration from a workaround that allowed Ultimate users to upgrade to Enterprise a few months back.

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• Richard_Connecticut Member

  Oct 2009

  Brilliant!! Thanks again, Professor Richard

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  You're welcome, Richard! :D Thanks for registering.

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• Michael Joseph Guest

  Oct 2009

  What is the Windows RC BOX? It's not a physical package, Where do I find it specifically.

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• technabob Guest

  Oct 2009

  Thanks for the pointers. You just saved me many hours of pain going from Windows 7 RC Ultimate to 7 Home Premium final - and it worked without a hitch. All my applications seem to work perfectly fine post-upgrade.

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• Thrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep

  Oct 2009

  Michael Joseph said:

  What is the Windows RC BOX? It's not a physical package, Where do I find it specifically.

  Box is another word for computer.

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