Student offer confusion!

Hi,

Here in the UK I can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for £30 (inc VAT and delivery). I can also pay £9 for a disc as opposed to a digital download.

I want to do this, but the disc is an upgrade disc, so I'm wondering what you'll need to perform a clean install. I have genuine copies of XP Home and Vista Home Premium, but if I do a clean install, how does the upgrade disc know this? :S I remember with Windows 98 you had to insert a Windows 95 disc to prove you had it, but today I can imagine that this would be too easy for pirates! I have the disc for Vista Home Premium to go with the code, but not for XP Home.

I've read the stickies, but they were about upgrading, whereas I want to do a clean install!

Thanks,

Thomas.

Well you're not going to be able to upgrade to W7 from the XP version anyways, so you'll squarely be dealing with the Vista portion...

Originally Posted by thomasw234

Hi,

Here in the UK I can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for £30 (inc VAT and delivery). I can also pay £9 for a disc as opposed to a digital download.

I want to do this, but the disc is an upgrade disc, so I'm wondering what you'll need to perform a clean install. I have genuine copies of XP Home and Vista Home Premium, but if I do a clean install, how does the upgrade disc know this? :S I remember with Windows 98 you had to insert a Windows 95 disc to prove you had it, but today I can imagine that this would be too easy for pirates! I have the disc for Vista Home Premium to go with the code, but not for XP Home.

I've read the stickies, but they were about upgrading, whereas I want to do a clean install!

Thanks,

Thomas.

This is a quote from one of the stickys:

"You can use the upgrade disc to replace XP with Windows 7, you just have to do a clean install.

There is a terminology conflict between Microsoft and common usage. Microsoft calls changing from an older to a newer operating system as an "upgrade" regardless of the specific procedure required. You may do an "in-place" upgrade, or you may do a "clean install" upgrade. Common usage only applies the term "upgrade" to an "in-place" upgrade. (You can perform an "in-place" upgrade from Vista to 7, but you must perform a "clean install" upgrade from XP to 7. Either of these operations can be performed from the Windows 7 upgrade disc.)

So, it is a true statement to say that you can upgrade from XP to Windows 7 with an upgrade disc, but you must do a "clean install" upgrade. You cannot, however upgrade from Windows 2000 or Windows 98 for instance to Windows 7, you would have to have a full version disc. "

You will be able to "Upgrade" Windows XP to W7, but you will have to do a clean install. There is no CD verification from XP or Vista to W7, it will simply (Clean or In-place) upgrade Vista, or it will Clean-install over a Windows XP installation.

To do a clean install from an upgrade disc, all you'll need is a previous operating system intact... (i.e. XP or Vista) on your harddrive...

Did that kind of answer your question? <(^_^)>

I was under the impression the UK was not going to get the upgrade version due to some legal mistake MS made but they were going to give out only the full version. So i think you will end up with a full version. Either way you can do a clean install with the vista install. All you have to do is access the upgrade disc in vista and it puts a tag on the hd that is seen by 7 that will allow a clean install ontop of an existing vista install. So you are good to go either way.

Thanks to both of you! I know I can go ahead and get a copy of Windows 7 now, and hopefully I'll get the full version (I'm going for Professional over Home Premium as they're the same price!).

Thomas.

[QUOTE=thomasw234;80891(I'm going for Professional over Home Premium as they're the same price!).

Thomas.[/QUOTE]


Thomasw has this figured out, but if this question lingers in anyone else's mind: If a higher tier OS in Windows 7 is the same price as a lower tier, always go for the higher. Unlike with Vista, you only gain features as you move up in Windows 7 and never lose any features. There is never a decision such as, "Do I need Media Center or do I need easier networking?". Every feature available on one level is carried to the next with more features added.

Is the Windows 7 version available for student the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version? Are you able to get each? Also, if the software you get is an upgrade version, are you able to install 64-bit version if you are currently running 32-bit version?

Originally Posted by woodall83

Is the Windows 7 version available for student the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version? Are you able to get each? Also, if the software you get is an upgrade version, are you able to install 64-bit version if you are currently running 32-bit version?

As long as you purchase W7 Home Premium or above through the Student Discount program, the package will include both a 32-bit and 64-bit version of the operating system.

If you want to install the 64-bit version on a PC running a current 32-bit version, you'll need to do a clean install, meaning it will erase everything. If you want to keep both for compatibility reasons, I would recommend that you create an extra partition and install the 64-bit version on that so you can dual-boot into both on the same computer.

Are you sure? I had to choose 32 or 64 bit (I went for 64).

Originally Posted by thomasw234

Are you sure? I had to choose 32 or 64 bit (I went for 64).

Well in the US that's how it is... I guess I'm not too familiar with the UK policies