I have a HP machine that came with a free upgrade to Windows 7. I did a blank install for that upgrade. The version is Home Premium. I am wanting to use the virtural PC software from Microsoft, however it requires Professional version. Looking back I should just installed the MSDN version.I have a MSDN subscription, and use this machine for development. I am debating if I can just enter the key from the MSDN subscription for the professional upgrade. I don't want to re-install everything since I have all my programming software running good all ready. My goal is not to have to reinstall Adobe, VS 2008, SQL and etc softwareThanks for any help,David

Sorry guy, you can back up your data but it will require that you do a clean install.MCSE, MCSA, MCDST

You can perform an Windows Anytime Upgrade on your machine.This feature allows switching Windows editions without the need to reinstall.More information: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/windows-anytime-upgrade The following command on your Windows 7 Home Premium installation will list the Windows 7 to which you can upgrade: dism.exe /online /get-targeteditions The following command on your Windows 7 Home Premium installation will upgrade it to Windows 7 Professional: dism.exe /online /set-edition:Professional /productkey:ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PQRST-UVWXY

You know, I keep forgetting about anytime upgrades (since we never do that here).MCSE, MCSA, MCDST

For more information, please refer to: Windows Edition-Servicing Command-Line Options.

Hi all, I'm sorry, this doesnt work for me. I am trying to upgrade from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional. I followed your instructions. Am I doing something wrong? Here is what I tried, replacing the product key from MSDN with XXXX C:\Windows\system32>dism.exe /online /set-edition:Professional /productkey:XXXXX... Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Image Version: 6.1.7601.17514 Error: 50 Setting an Edition is not supported with online images. The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log I tried dism.exe /online /get-targeteditions and got the following response C:\Windows\system32>dism.exe /online /get-targeteditions Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Image Version: 6.1.7601.17514 Editions that can be upgraded to: Error: 87 The Windows edition was not detected. Verify that the specified image is a valid Windows operating system image. The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log Thanks much, Guy