Windows 7 Upgrade w/ new Hardware: XP activation?

14tokihorn

14tokihorn

1,000+ Posts
I've been web searching alot trying to find a definitive answer to this.
Every article seems to segue to a situation where an upgrade path (w/ the Win 7 Upgrade disc) begins with a OEM version of XP.

But I have a bona fied Retail XP running on this desktop.

Anyway, I have a new Mobo& CPU on its way. Windows 7 Upgrade is here looking at me, waiting to install.
Why can't I get Win 7 up and running on a new mobo (using a cloned disk of my retail XP (to complete the upgrade), then put the old mobo with (essentially) the same XP back together again?

It's so damn confusing; between trying to figure 1. the EULA stuff (for retail versions) and 2. the possible upgrade procedure itself.
I don't know if the upgrade itself will nix the XP activation. But, apparently, people easily dual boot Win 7 and their old XP (obviously on the same hardware).
I am not too keen on dual booting - the old Mobo won't do the Aero and doesn't do virtualization. I just would like to have one rig with Windows 7 and my old rig back running XPPro. Perhaps I will only ahve to call MS and re-activate Win 7 on new hardware...not worrisome at all, but what happens to XP?

Has anyone done something like this? Thoughts?
P.S. I skippped Vista altogether and I din't mess with the Win 7 RC over the summer.. just kept to my familiar XP Pro.
 
This may work differently for the 'Home' version (I have Professional), but you should be able to do a clean install of Windows 7 by booting up directly from the DVD. When I did this it did not stop me from installing on a completely blank hard drive. If that does not work (or it won't activate) you can try this. Worst case scenario will be to install XP on the new computer to the point where you can activate it and then start the 7 installer.

Either way you will have to do a completely clean install, and because of this I would NOT use your old hard drive.


As far as following the licensing, the upgrade extends the original license to the current version of the software, so you can still only have ONE instance of Windows installed on hardware. Some of the licenses (I know Professional and up do) allow instances of XP to be run in a virtual machine (i.e.: XP mode). Legally, if you want to continue using XP on the old computer, you need a new Windows 7 license for the new computer. This post kind of explains this. There are no physical restraints that would keep you from doing this, though. XP and 7 will each activate independently, and since they use separate license keys there's no way for Microsoft to 'shut down' one or the other.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top