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Mixed up Product Keys for OEM upgrade to Win7 and my Retail upgrade -- can I get my retail license back? RRS feed

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    I find that my VISTA to WIN7 upgrade on my Gateway laptop was done with / using a retail WIN7 upgrade disk / product key when I should have used the upgrade disk and Product key sent with the free VISTA to WIN7 upgrade disk I received from Gateway.  No problem, but now I have buit a new computer and want to use the retail license on it -- but it is tied to the Gateway laptop.  Can I just re-enter the correct product key on the laptop, and will this then free up the retail product key to use on my new computer (which would be a proper upgrade from my XP)???

    Friday, February 24, 2012 3:49 AM

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    "Yooper375" wrote in message news:6b748d99-aecf-44c5-a3f6-32a6a11cf1a8...

    I find that my VISTA to WIN7 upgrade on my Gateway laptop was done with / using a retail WIN7 upgrade disk / product key when I should have used the upgrade disk and Product key sent with the free VISTA to WIN7 upgrade disk I received from Gateway.  No problem, but now I have buit a new computer and want to use the retail license on it -- but it is tied to the Gateway laptop.  Can I just re-enter the correct product key on the laptop, and will this then free up the retail product key to use on my new computer (which would be a proper upgrade from my XP)???

    Yes – but you will probably have to activate both by telephone.
     
    telephone activation (operator calls)
    Click on the Start button
    in the Search box, type
    SLUI 4
    and hit the Enter key
    follow the instructions - but when asked which service you require by the telephone ansafone, do NOT reply - this should force an operator to respond, who can deal with you.
    Once activation is complete, and before you let the operator off the hook, go to the validation website at www.microsoft.com/genuine/validate and check that everything is OK.
    Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth
    • Proposed as answer by Darin Smith MS Friday, February 24, 2012 10:26 PM
    • Marked as answer by Darin Smith MS Monday, February 27, 2012 11:39 PM
    Friday, February 24, 2012 8:38 AM
    Moderator

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    "Yooper375" wrote in message news:6b748d99-aecf-44c5-a3f6-32a6a11cf1a8...

    I find that my VISTA to WIN7 upgrade on my Gateway laptop was done with / using a retail WIN7 upgrade disk / product key when I should have used the upgrade disk and Product key sent with the free VISTA to WIN7 upgrade disk I received from Gateway.  No problem, but now I have buit a new computer and want to use the retail license on it -- but it is tied to the Gateway laptop.  Can I just re-enter the correct product key on the laptop, and will this then free up the retail product key to use on my new computer (which would be a proper upgrade from my XP)???

    Yes – but you will probably have to activate both by telephone.
     
    telephone activation (operator calls)
    Click on the Start button
    in the Search box, type
    SLUI 4
    and hit the Enter key
    follow the instructions - but when asked which service you require by the telephone ansafone, do NOT reply - this should force an operator to respond, who can deal with you.
    Once activation is complete, and before you let the operator off the hook, go to the validation website at www.microsoft.com/genuine/validate and check that everything is OK.
    Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth
    • Proposed as answer by Darin Smith MS Friday, February 24, 2012 10:26 PM
    • Marked as answer by Darin Smith MS Monday, February 27, 2012 11:39 PM
    Friday, February 24, 2012 8:38 AM
    Moderator
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    I find that my VISTA to WIN7 upgrade on my Gateway laptop was done with / using a retail WIN7 upgrade disk / product key when I should have used the upgrade disk and Product key sent with the free VISTA to WIN7 upgrade disk I received from Gateway.  No problem, but now I have buit a new computer and want to use the retail license on it -- but it is tied to the Gateway laptop.  Can I just re-enter the correct product key on the laptop, and will this then free up the retail product key to use on my new computer (which would be a proper upgrade from my XP)???

    You just stated that you built a new computer and intend to use the Upgrade Version of Windows 7 to install an operating system on it.

    You can't do that unless the newly built computer has a qualifying licensed version of XP or Vista on it.

    You will need to purchase a FULL install version of Windows 7.

    Saturday, February 25, 2012 7:20 PM
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    You just stated that you built a new computer and intend to use the Upgrade Version of Windows 7 to install an operating system on it.

    You can't do that unless the newly built computer has a qualifying licensed version of XP or Vista on it.

    You will need to purchase a FULL install version of Windows 7.

    This is incorrect.  The Original Poster stated that they had mistakenly used the product key (form a full retail Windows 7) on their Dell Laptop instead of using the Upgrade key that Dell sent.  The question is, can they change out the Retail product Key and replace it with the Upgrade key (on the laptop) and then use the Retail key on the new computer.

    The answer, as Noel has explained, is Yes.

    Darin MS



    Monday, February 27, 2012 11:43 PM
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    Hi, thanks for the answers.....   to clarify, my retail disc is an upgrade disc, but this newly built pc is a really a replacement (new motherboard, cpu, memory, etc but kept the hard drives) so there was a legal/proper XP on the hard drive already --- and so upgrade was proper (to my understanding anyway).  Good thing I didn't re-format the disc I guess (created a new partition for Win7 instead in order to allow time to move some stuff first).  I installed Win7 without a hitch, will do the laptop key swap / activation phone call per Noel / Darin's response this weekend when I have more free time.....       Thanks again.
    Thursday, March 1, 2012 3:08 AM