HT install XP on top of W7 Home Premium so we can upgrade to W7 Pro

[bridiemurphy]

Help!

Our charitable (501c3) organization bought 22 computers from Office Depot with Win 7 Home Premium 64B installed. Of course, we want to run Win 7 Pro. We dont have a ton of money and are attempting to wipe the 7 home off the hard drive in order to load our licensed XP to then upgrade...

how do we cleanly wipe W7 off the hard drive?

 

[clifford_cooley]

Hi bridiemurphy - Welcome to w7forums

Have you considered the Windows Anytime Upgrade for only $89.95?
This would be cheaper than the upgrade option for XP.

Windows Anytime Upgrade: Windows 7 Home Premium to Professional

 

[bridiemurphy]

Yes, we considered, however, our budget doesn't allow (we need 22 upgrades) -- I thought I was being smart when I went to TechSoup (discounts MS software for charities) and bought a Windows 7 Upgrade license for $8.00. Guess what, no NICE / inexpensive way to go from "consumer" mode to "business" mode. Hence, we're going to use the XP Pro that we currently have in-house/licensed to upgrade. Whew! We just can't afford 22 x 89.95.

 

[bridiemurphy]

oh, the Windows 7 Upgrade that we can purchase for $8.00 apiece from TechSoup will upgrade XP Pro...

 

[catilley1092]

You could contact Microsoft and see what they would work out with your charitable organization. Perhaps some volume license agreement (the last time I read, you can get as few as five). They do work with you according to your situation. It wouldn't hurt to call, and ask to speak to someone with the authority to say yes, if you are initally turned down.

 

[Nibiru2012]

how do we cleanly wipe W7 off the hard drive?

You can do it when you install the new upgrade, OR you can download the CD ISO image of Partiton Wizard, which is a free program.

Burn the ISO image to a CD with ImgBurn which is a free ISO image burning application and then reboot the computers with the CD in them.

Download the CD ISO image from PARTITION WIZARD

 

[Nibiru2012]

You could contact Microsoft and see what they would work out with your charitable organization. Perhaps some volume license agreement (the last time I read, you can get as few as five). They do work with you according to your situation. It wouldn't hurt to call, and ask to speak to someone with the authority to say yes, if you are initally turned down.

catilley1092 has a good point! You may be able to negotiate a VLK (volume license key) with M$.

 

[catilley1092]

You can do it when you install the new upgrade, OR you can download the CD ISO image of Partiton Wizard, which is a free program.

Burn the ISO image to a CD with ImgBurn which is a free ISO image burning application and then reboot the computers with the CD in them.

Download the CD ISO image from PARTITION WIZARD

Nibiru2012, that's a good program. Downloaded it last night myself to work out a dual boot (actually four boot, two Windows, two Linux's) today. Easy tool to use.