Academic Win 7 key with existing Win 7 Professional install

[Matt L]

My cousin's daughter bought a copy of Win 7 on eBay last winter and got locked out a month or so ago with the sweep MS did for illegal keys. She is in school now and bought Academic Win 7 Pro and tried to input the key but Windows would not take it. Does she have to do a full install to use the key? She has a lot of stuff installed and does not want to start from scratch. Any option to get the legal Academic key to work with existing install?

 

[RebateMonger]

What happens if she inserts the disk for the Academic Win7 Pro and attempts an "Upgrade"? If the versions are the same (Pro/Pro) I'd expect the "Upgrade" wouldn't affect her data or her installed programs.

 

[Matt L]

Hmmm, I mention that to her. She's downloading the file now, slow connection 4-5 hour download. Then I have to walk her through burning the disk, wish she wasn't across the state...

 

[Washoe]

You may have to call Microsoft if all else fails. She has a legal copy - no reason to keep being locked out.

 

[Matt L]

Problem solved. She had a bad copy of Win7 home Premium and the Academic version she bought is Pro, so it took it as an upgrade. Took about 45 minutes all in all and now it's marked as valid. She did not have to reinstall any of her programs or loose any files. Too bad she wasn't in school last winter, the Academic version cost about he same as the bad stuff on eBay.

All in all a pretty easy fix. Thanks for the info...

 

[RebateMonger]

Too bad she wasn't in school last winter, the Academic version cost about he same as the bad stuff on eBay.

Glad you got it fixed.

Buying anything but sealed Retail Box software on eBay is pretty risky. You have to REALLY know what you are doing. And even then, it's a crapshoot.