Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to retail

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Comments

  • fred fred
    edited November 2009
    the registry trick also works for upgrading from vista business to win 7 home premium.

    verified.
  • Steve
    edited November 2009
    Hey, I'm currently using Ultimate RC, and I didn't have any OS on this computer before (no xp/vista) Can I install the cheaper Upgrade Version of Professional?
  • gawwgaww
    edited November 2009
    Steve wrote:
    Hey, I'm currently using Ultimate RC, and I didn't have any OS on this computer before (no xp/vista) Can I install the cheaper Upgrade Version of Professional?

    You could try, but I don't think so. You can do both if you foillow the instructions to the letter.
  • gawwgaww
    edited November 2009
    It also works for upgrading from vista ultimate to home premium. It even brought forward the fax program from Vista Ultimate.
  • potato
    edited November 2009
    I am interested in doing this but I have a question
    If I install professional over the RC, will I lose the ability to change the unicode to a different language? I believe that is an ulitmate only option?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2009
    If you're referring to MUI packs, yes, you would lose that ability. Only Ultimate can use and manage them.
  • moaning meldrew
    edited December 2009
    2/12/2009 Sounds very intersting got version 7100 on my computer and I must say the best since XP.
    I have ordered Win7 professional OEM
    has anyone tried your method and found problems of any kind also what would I be expected to lose program wise.I cannot bear the thought of another re format but that may be the wiser course what do guys think
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2009
    Nobody has had any problems, and you won't lose any programs because it's an upgrade.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited December 2009
    Finally got around to doing this on my main rig. Took 2 hours on a fast box with tons of data and worked perfectly, as expected.
  • Bob
    edited December 2009
    Note that an upgrade will not deal with an installation where the user files and program files are not in the same partition as the OS partition.

    What an absolute bummer. That'll teach me to be clever and move my user and program files off the OS partition.
  • Thrall
    edited December 2009
    Hey guys I am performing this upgrade now to RTM Ultimate from RC so I did not have to do anything special with registry and such. My upgrade is progressing but I now have my screen blank and my HDDs turning like mad. I have a lot of my doc stuff and everything which I backed up before starting so I am thinking that is the reason for the hold up. Will post my results but my system drive was 120gb full out of 160...might be a good warning to those who have a similar situation to be patient.

    Will comment back in a few more hours as I think my upgrade is going to be on the longer side of things sort of wishing I had just done it clean instead =P
  • Thrall
    edited December 2009
    Okay upgrade completed just fine I did go black screen during install...turns out when I dozed off on the couch it restarted and was sitting at the cd-key screen and the video got messed up.. I powered off the system and rebooted and got back in entered my key and boom all was good. Everything was saved and fine!

    Thanks for the write up now my brother and father can upgrade as well with their versions when I give them their Christmas preset.
  • CJ
    edited December 2009
    Works for Windows x64 professional. If this keeps going on. I don't I'll ever have to purchase windows again.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited December 2009
    Bob wrote:
    Note that an upgrade will not deal with an installation where the user files and program files are not in the same partition as the OS partition.

    What an absolute bummer. That'll teach me to be clever and move my user and program files off the OS partition.

    That sucks. I have my laptop with the RC set up that way.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited December 2009
    Finally got around to doing this, and it worked flawlessly. Thanks as always, Rob.
  • greytil
    edited December 2009
    Just registered to say thank you so much for posting this.

    Wasn't looking forward to reinstalling all my software & settings.

    Used the UK Student 32 bit version and it worked like a charm, and unlike a previous user it registered online.
  • Mike Mc
    edited December 2009
    Thank you thank you thank you! I would like to note that many of us were in the situation where we replaced our original OS with Win7 RC completely after discovering how awesome it was. So, "upgrading" from only the RC doesn't necessarily mean we're swindling MS, we just preferred the to use the goodies earlier than MS would have us. I installed Win7 RC OVER Vista Home Premium on 2 laptops, and fresh installed over XP Pro SP3 partition on a desktop. So it would appear as if I had no originally licensed OS when upgrading when in fact I did. I think most of us are in that boat, and that this workaround shouldn't be considered problematic from a legality perspective.
  • Vic
    edited January 2010
    HEllo ppl ,
    i found this post great and was planning to do a downgrade myself but
  • Vic
    edited January 2010
    oops clicked "add" accidentally earlier..
    Id like some help here.....
    Anyways,
    Hey guys ,i found this post great and it came around at a time when i was looking to down grade from RC ultimate to home premium but im faced with a problem at modifying the registry entry . it shows only the (default) entry and not the reqd entries,so how could i go about the downgrade ??
  • braden
    edited January 2010
    I have Windows 7 RC installed on my laptop. I got ahold of a Windows 7 Professional install through my University. I followed the instructions (changed the install file and registry file). I made a bootable disc using ImgBurn, restarted my computer and went through the first couple screens. The Compatibility Report tells me 'The computer started with the installation disc. Please remove installation disc, restart Windows normally, reinsert disc, and begin setup this way'. Setup doesn't run when I do it this way. Anyone run into this problem or know a forum where they have solved this?
  • Wayne
    edited February 2010
    Is there a way to do this in Vista?
    I have 12 Vista 64 Ultimates that I want to put down to Professional, so I can upgrade to Windows 7 Professional without doing a clean install.
    I Tried the above registry tweek and it did not fool the Vista Ultimate.
  • alanterrill
    edited February 2010
    I've just used this to upgrade from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 7 Ultimate. I'd bought an Ultimate upgrade disc but when installed it wouldn't do anything other than overwrite the whole system. In this case the change to the cversion.ini wasn't necessary -just the two name changes in the registry and now it will keep all my settings when I upgrade. I'm just upgrading the third PC this way while still awaiting a call from my Microsoft reseller who's supposed to be finding out how to do it officially!
  • arr
    edited February 2010
    KEEP GETTING AN ERROR YOU DO NOT HAVE SPACE FOR TEMP FILES-- HAVE TONES OF SPACE
  • Terry
    edited February 2010
    I purchased the Home Premium upgrade disc and used this method to install it. It worked like a champ! I had the Windows 7 Ultimate RC and "downgraded". No issues at all. Thanks a ton!

    Terry
  • Jerry Ball
    edited February 2010
    Surely if mighty Microsoft doesn't want us to update against the RC all they need do is check that we are running the RC at the beginning of an upgrade installation. Am I missing something?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    They do, which is why you need to follow this guide to circumvent that check.
  • Mike
    edited February 2010
    Can you use a downloaded version of Windows 7 and do the same thing?
  • Jerry Ball
    edited February 2010
    The download version from Microsoft has MinClient in the .exe file used to install. It does not expose cversion.ini as far as I can tell. Editing the .exe file should work fine.
  • jagga
    edited February 2010
    worked great upgraded rc to pro,had many games and they all work fine
    had to reinstall ccc and daemon tools
  • jagga
    edited February 2010
    to mike yes u can thats what i did
This discussion has been closed.