Upgrading from Windows 7 Home Premium to Professional

[FrNigel]

I have a Pavilion dv7-6103ea Notebook running the default Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium. This was fine until I found there was no driver for my Sony video camera, so it looks like I need use XP mode which I believe requires Windows 7 Professional.

It so happens that I have a retail copy of Windows 7 Professional which I have been using on a desktop which is too slow for video - hence my purchase of my HP notebook.

I do not want to do a clean install for many reasons, not the least of which is the HP goodies currently on the system, never mind the literally many hours it would take to reinstall and reactivate all the Adobe software I have loaded.

I phoned Microsoft, and in spite of comments to the contrary on their forums, MS say you cannot use a retail licence to upgrade.

Can anyone advise?

The camera is a Sony DCR-HC96E, so an alternative would be find a Windows 7 driver for that!!

Thanx in advance. 

[Mumbodog]

I would do the Windows 7 anytime upgrade, it cost a few dollars but is fast and simple to upgrade to Pro, keeping all your current settings and data.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-anytime-upgrade

That model is not compatible with Windows 7 so XP mode is the way to go.

http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Details.aspx?type=Hardware&p=Sony%20H...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Why not use the Windows Anytime Upgrade utility found in your programs menu?

Of course, you'll have to pay to upgrade.

As far as your retail version of Windows 7 Pro...If it is an upgrade version, it is perfeclty legal to remove it from your current PC, and install it on your notebook, and re-activate it.

If it is a full version, you can also remove it from the current PC and transfer it to any PC, but I guess that would mean a clean install to comply with the license.

Paul

[FrNigel]

Thanks for the input, Mumbodog, but here in the UK Anytime Upgrade costs £120, or $186. Apologies for appearing mean but I am retired!

Since all I need is a magic twenty-five characters that I've already paid for, I'm not a happy bunny!

[FrNigel]

Hi Paul, I'm dumping my old PC so I can use my retail Professional for my HP Notebook, but I've got Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat Writer loaded, plus a full MS Office, and to go through the installation, activation and personalisation again is rather more than I can bear! An Anytime Upgrade is the only acceptable route.

I'm grateful for your response and that of Mumbodog, but it would almost be cheaper to buy a new video camera than pay MS for an upgrade! Except of course I've got a stack of tapes for this camera and if I bought a new one I'd go for a flash memory version that wouldn't be able to read or write to them. Hey ho. 

[Mumbodog]

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FrNigel wrote:

Thanks for the input, Mumbodog, but here in the UK Anytime Upgrade costs £120, or $186. Apologies for appearing mean but I am retired!

Since all I need is a magic twenty-five characters that I've already paid for, I'm not a happy bunny!

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Try Virtual Box, it is similar to xp mode, you can create a XP virtual machine inside of Windows 7.

It does require your processor support Virtualization Technology and needs to be enabled in the bios also.

https://www.virtualbox.org/

[FrNigel]

The Virtualbox installation went well, followed by installation of XP that didn't take toooo long. But although I also installed the USB extension for Virtualbox, the only camera I could identify with Premiere Elements was the built-in camera on the PC.

Howver yesterday the PC told me I was on day 3 of evaluating Windows 7 Professional, and please would I enter the Product Key! I tried entering the original key that came with the PC but got told to please enter a Windows 7 Professional key! So I did as I was told, and had to go through an automatic phone activation, but then got told I was 'all systems go' for Professional! So I shall now download the Windows XP mode software and see how I get on.

For the record, this started by entering a retail Professional license into the Anytime Upgrade process.

But thanks for help given.