Comments on: How to get the Windows 7 upgrade for free

If you're willing to roll the dice and preorder two copies of Windows 7 at $50 apiece, you should have no trouble selling one of them for $100 later. Crazy? Or crazy like a fox?

[coolfusion8]

You know you are setting yourself up for dissappointment. How many in place upgrades have actually worked as well as a clean install? If you got the EVAL version you must have noticed the term evaluation. This is not a prod version so its mainly for the purposes of testing. Create a second partition enable multiboot evaluate to your heart's content. Then once you make your decision buy it and do a clean install. Don't drag your legacy problems with you. It will only skew your perception of the OS. I recall similar arguments when people were thinking of moving from 98 to XP.

[Wookiee-1138]

I wonder, will 7 be up on MSDNAA anytime soon?

[ASMEX]

I'd rather get a list of people who want to buy from me (local marketing) in Oct first, then buy my copies.

There are going to be a lot of alternatives to getting W7 than ebay, such as mentioned - buying a new computer outright, that justifying a gamble based on guesses doesn't hold water (for me).

But since most people I know are using WXP anyways, and would prefer to just skip WV, there's not much of a market.

Good idea though.

[yanksfan2009]

Do you think M$ will prevent resale of the discounted license, either technically or via the EULA?

[Breezy1601]

Want a sure thing investment that will save you your $100, plus days and days of frustration? DON"T BUY WIN 7 AT ALL! How's that for a great return, unless your time is worth nothing to you.

So please tell me WHY I should spend days/weeks upgrading all my XP machines. What does Win 7 give me that is worthwhile? Win 7 uses that STUPID virtual folder system for user data just like Vista does. I will NEVER voluntairally have MS know more about where my data actually resides than I do. The Win 7 and Vista releases are just designed for MS, not MS users.

[dccmatthew2]

I could not agree more with Breezy 1601. The upgrade cycle is only for MSFT's benefit.

[Orion Blastar]

Microsoft says to have a genuine copy of XP or Vista for the Upgrade to work.

They are vague as to what that means.

Some legit copies of XP or Vista come on a hard drive partition like my Compaq F755US Notebook, no CDs or DVDs were given with my system. I have an option to create DVDs only once, but I misplaced my copies. On the Notebook is a legit Vista Home Premium key, and before the Windows 7.0 upgrade I can boot off the 8Gig hard drive partition to re-format the drive with Windows Vista Home Premium.

I am assuming the Windows 7.0 install software either looks for the install CD/DVD or hard drive partition of the old Windows before doing the Windows 7.0 upgrade. Some OEM copies of Vista activate without a CD-Key because they do the Hardware activation and then download an activation code from Microsoft for the Compaq, Dell, IBM, etc hardware to verify it is the correct OEM version. I hope Windows 7.0 upgrade accepts that as well.

Worse case scenario Windows 7.0 cannot verify your old Windows license and you have to call in to Microsoft to get some unlock key to activate it.

Oh yeah, Microsoft's EULA prohibits selling your copy of Windows to another person or organization or owner. Microsoft usually shuts down sale of their software via eBay or Craigslist, or at least they used to do that.

http://www.pricewatch.com is a good web site to find OEM copies of Windows from cheap, eventually they will cover the Windows 7.0 OEM install CDs.

[DG3809]

I orders my upgrade copy from BestBuy and they already charged my visa card . Amazon and NewEgg says they don't charge till product ships .

[kmogg569]

So I have a several computers.. Some I have built myself and have XP install discs. But I am not real sure which install disc goes with which computer. I have one IBM used laptop that has XP on it but no install disc. Pretty sure it is legal.
So is it likely that if I put Windows 7 upgrade on the laptop and if it asks for install disc, that I could just show it the install disc that I have for another computer and that would make it happy? WOuld it check that the actual install disc I put in is the same one that goes with that particular computer? I imagine the new license would come from the WIndows 7 Upgrade product.
I am thinking of upgrading the processor on one of the computers when I am doing the reinstall anyways. So I imagine that would be an install from scratch. So would I just install from the upgrade disc and then show it a copy of XP when prompted?

[Vtagliatela]

FYI, I called Microsoft support and you can preorder just the download, which arrives as a .iso file, from which you can burn to a DVD and either upgrade or do a CLEAN INSTALL. So really, although they say that you need a legit Vista installation to buy the upgrade, you can really just order W7, download, and then install with no strings attatched and no Vista. That confused me before I called so I figured I'd let you all know.

[MakaiOokami]

This is a ****** bummer. I ended up downloading RC and falling in love with Windows 7 2 hours after the promotion ended. So now I can't really afford Windows 7. I really hope you can help find some other deals for Windows 7 cause next year I'm not going to want to give this thing up. I just didn't realize it was ending so soon.