retail W7 cd with OEM key?

J

jmh547

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Joined

Jul 26, 2005

• Nov 24, 2012

• #1

I am repairing a laptop for a family me mber. The hdd failed and they don't have a cd. Can I use my Windows 7 home premium cd with the w7 home premium key on the bottomed of the laptop?

 

JLK03F150

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May 17, 2005

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Georgia

• Nov 24, 2012

• #2

It will work fine provided both keys are OEM flavor. I've done it many times myself.

 

OP

J

jmh547

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Jul 26, 2005

• Nov 24, 2012

• Thread Starter
• #3

thanks for the quick response.

what do you mean by both keys? my cd is the full retail version and (I assume) the laptop key is oem

 

JLK03F150

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• Nov 24, 2012

• #4

The keys used to match the version (don't know if that's still the case). A full retail key used to be different than an OEM key or an upgrade key. I'm not sure if using a retail disk & an OEM key will work.

 

soulfly1448

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Nov 30, 2005

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St. Louis

• Nov 25, 2012

• #5

JLK03F150 said:

The keys used to match the version (don't know if that's still the case). A full retail key used to be different than an OEM key or an upgrade key. I'm not sure if using a retail disk & an OEM key will work.

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It worked when I did a fresh install on my laptop a few weeks ago. As long as the retail disc and the OEM are the same flavor, i.e. Premium, Pro, Ultimate one should be fine.

 

jaymz9350

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May 13, 2006

• Nov 25, 2012

• #6

soulfly1448 said:

It worked when I did a fresh install on my laptop a few weeks ago. As long as the retail disc and the OEM are the same flavor, i.e. Premium, Pro, Ultimate one should be fine.

Click to expand...

That shouldn't be an issue as since Vista all versions are on the same disc (OEM has 32bit and 64bit on different disc's not sure about retail though) you pick the one that your key is for and install. I don't know if the retail disc and OEM key will play together though.

 

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jmh547

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Jul 26, 2005

• Nov 26, 2012

• Thread Starter
• #7

Thank you both. I am going to give this a try this weekend.

 

JLK03F150

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Georgia

• Dec 1, 2012

• #8

I'd be interested to read your result.

 

bmwbaxter

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Jun 9, 2010

• Dec 1, 2012

• #9

As long as the disk and key are both 64 bit or 32 bit you will be fine.