Posted 07/20/2009 at 09:37:09am

That method will work in the event of a system crash but generally won't work if you're making substantial hardware changes. (ex: MB change, etc).

You'll likely get a BSOD if you restore the old image on new hardware.  

Posted 07/16/2009 at 04:35:19pm

But Dr. TJ is implying that it doesn't matter when the RC goes "poof".  Upgrade and activate W7 by using the RC key and from then on MS's servers will treat W7 as a full vs upgrade sku. (only need to prove the upgrade once).

Posted 07/16/2009 at 04:13:54pm

If this is really how it works then it makes perfect sense.  Tie the new CD key to the previous CD key on MS's servers and then flag the old key as dead. From then on it's MS that remembers the upgrade vs. the user having to prove it each time they re-install. (in other words the W7 upgrade SKU morphs into the full version the first time it's activated with a previous key and the servers remember everything from then on) 

Let's hope this is how it works but so far there's been widespread rumors but no direct substantiation from MS. Even their own MVP's give conflciting info. However I'm betting this Dr. TJ method is correct.

From all of this it also sounds like MS is "throwing a bone" to the RC users and counting the RC as an upgrade.  If Dr. TJ is right then it won't matter when the RC expires.  Register W7 before 2010 and MS's servers will forever remember it as a valid upgrade.   

By
dr.tj on
Jul 13, 2009

It looks like you are misinformed about the changes to the upgrade install process.

If you want to reinstall at a later date, you won't need your old license key or the old copy of Vista installed.

Why is this different now? Because now when you install an upgrade
version, it requires the old OS's license key which will then be tied
to your new Windows 7 key on Microsoft's servers. The benefit to you is
that you can toss those old Vista media and license keys, since they
will be invalidated on Microsoft's servers. However, that also means
you can't then use that copy of Vista on another new machine.

Also, when you install you will always be given an option to "Clean
Install" which will put any old OS's in Windows.Old. That old directory
is more of a way to make things easier for you, Microsoft could have
just deleted it. This "Clean Install" option is available even without
the RC installed. And for those of us going from a 32-bit OS to a
64-bit OS, it's actually the only option allowed.

The upgrade version just wants your old license key just once, so it
can be tied to it forever on Microsoft's servers. So the only
fundamental difference to the "full" and "upgrade" version is how the
license keys are validated on the first try. After that, they are the
same. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the media is EXACTLY the same
when you get it from Microsoft, just that the license keys are
different so they can be handled differently on Microsoft's side