xzay1967
asked on
W7 upgrade
Disclaimer: I am not endorsing piracy, just trying to get some technical information for a client of mine. My apologies if any rules broken.
I have a client who has a pirated copy of XP installed. It passes genuine advantage checks for authenticity with no problems. His question or concern is: He wants to upgrade to W7 ($50.00 disk), but wants to know if during the installation of W7, if the program will recognize his copy of XP was pirated, and them bomb out. He is trying to avoid spending the hundreds of dollars for a full installation, but does not want to risk spending the $50 for the upgrade disk either, if it will cause errors during the installation. I have been trying to get him to just buckle down and start with nice clean legitimate copy of a full installation of w7, he is not trying to hear me. Can anyone shed some light on this?
I have a client who has a pirated copy of XP installed. It passes genuine advantage checks for authenticity with no problems. His question or concern is: He wants to upgrade to W7 ($50.00 disk), but wants to know if during the installation of W7, if the program will recognize his copy of XP was pirated, and them bomb out. He is trying to avoid spending the hundreds of dollars for a full installation, but does not want to risk spending the $50 for the upgrade disk either, if it will cause errors during the installation. I have been trying to get him to just buckle down and start with nice clean legitimate copy of a full installation of w7, he is not trying to hear me. Can anyone shed some light on this?
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
The member agreement of this site does not allow me to elaborate.
All I can say is the answer to your question is no, it will not work.
All I can say is the answer to your question is no, it will not work.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
If the copy of XP passes the authenticity check, then as far as anything Microsoft is related, that copy is Genuine, and the upgrade will work. Microsoft is constantly advancing their authenticity checker, and if the copy of XP is valid now, then it will be valid when Windows 7 in RTM, and Windows 7 will then have no problems.
However, I strongly recommend that you do not tell your client this. Piracy is a serious offense, and if your client is charged with copyright infringement, a good lawyer could make your client seem like he didn't know any better, and was just following your advice, and then the charges will get pushed onto you.
Cheers,
Nick
However, I strongly recommend that you do not tell your client this. Piracy is a serious offense, and if your client is charged with copyright infringement, a good lawyer could make your client seem like he didn't know any better, and was just following your advice, and then the charges will get pushed onto you.
Cheers,
Nick
ASKER
He wants to take advantage of the discount being offered for %50 off. As far as pirated, I believe he got it from p2p site, not sure. But I know he has been using it a while, and getting successful updates. I don't know where he got the key or how it was generated. I am only trying to get information for him. I already paid for my copy of W7 ultimate, jiust waiting for it to be released and shipped.
ASKER
You are right Nick, luckily he is not a business client, but rather a personal client. And I have tried to convince him to go with a clean install. I am not doing the upgrade for him, I am just seeking the information for him.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
A quote from Paul Thurrott's page:
"In summary:
1. A qualifying Windows operating system must be installed.
2. The qualifying Windows operating system must have a genuine license (product key) and it must be activated.
3. To upgrade, boot to the qualifying Windows desktop, insert the Windows 7 Upgrade disc in the DVD drive.
4. When the setup menu appears, select Custom (advanced) to initiate a clean install procedure."
For the client, Windows XP is the qualifying OS. Also, I would highly recommend against an upgrade procedure anyway. Almost every single Vista problem I have encounter is because of an upgrade installation from XP to Vista instead of a clean install.
By the way, privacy != piracy!
So let me correct. I do support privacy. I do not support piracy.
--Nickk
"In summary:
1. A qualifying Windows operating system must be installed.
2. The qualifying Windows operating system must have a genuine license (product key) and it must be activated.
3. To upgrade, boot to the qualifying Windows desktop, insert the Windows 7 Upgrade disc in the DVD drive.
4. When the setup menu appears, select Custom (advanced) to initiate a clean install procedure."
For the client, Windows XP is the qualifying OS. Also, I would highly recommend against an upgrade procedure anyway. Almost every single Vista problem I have encounter is because of an upgrade installation from XP to Vista instead of a clean install.
By the way, privacy != piracy!
So let me correct. I do support privacy. I do not support piracy.
--Nickk
The option to choose customize then select the upgrade wont be there since Win7 doesnt support upgrading from XP. The option to upgrade will be greyed out and only the option to full install will be there. But with that there is no way to full install from the upgrade media. So if the information that Microsoft provided is correct, the user would first have to upgrade to Vista and then run the Win7 Media to upgrade at that point.
It is not confirmed cause there is no upgrade media. But from what Microsoft says on their own FAQ about the upgrade it wont give you the upgrade option from within XP. I quote:
Microsoft designed Windows 7 Upgrade media for Windows Vista. A customer with Windows XP can purchase Windows 7 Upgrade media but must back up their files, clean install, and then reinstall their applications.
I am just going by what Microsoft has given itself. The subject is still very grey in the way of knowing for sure since there is no upgrade media out there to even test out any theories about it. I dont see my conclusion as flawed as it is the same thing that was seen with Vista. If a user tried to upgrade to Vista using a Win2000 install the option to upgrade was not there. Which would be the same thing we would see from a user trying to upgrade from XP.
Again it is not known at this time cause there is no way to test out any of these theories. We can only go by the little bit of information we have and the history of how the upgrade process has worked. I am just going by the information provided.
It is not confirmed cause there is no upgrade media. But from what Microsoft says on their own FAQ about the upgrade it wont give you the upgrade option from within XP. I quote:
Microsoft designed Windows 7 Upgrade media for Windows Vista. A customer with Windows XP can purchase Windows 7 Upgrade media but must back up their files, clean install, and then reinstall their applications.
I am just going by what Microsoft has given itself. The subject is still very grey in the way of knowing for sure since there is no upgrade media out there to even test out any theories about it. I dont see my conclusion as flawed as it is the same thing that was seen with Vista. If a user tried to upgrade to Vista using a Win2000 install the option to upgrade was not there. Which would be the same thing we would see from a user trying to upgrade from XP.
Again it is not known at this time cause there is no way to test out any of these theories. We can only go by the little bit of information we have and the history of how the upgrade process has worked. I am just going by the information provided.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Wow, I really sparked a debate here, and I really appreciate all your input. From what I have read on the MS site, a user can "upgrade" to W7 from XP, (except it will not be a traditional in place installation), but in fact a removal of the XP OS, and be replaced by W7. I think they need to reword the information to make it more clear for end users. I believe I have what I need to pass on to my client.
ASKER
While all is not certain, I think enough information has been rendered to make a calculated decision.
ASKER