OEM Upgrade problem

[Stu8018]

I installed my old hard drive which came out of my Dell XPS600 which died. This was a replacement drive as the original that the XPS came with crashed. It has xp installed but obviously when I installed this drive in my custom build it will not activate. Problem is I do not have the product key and Dell and Microsoft, of course, cannot help me recover it. I want to upgrade to Windows 7 anyway. Is there any way to install Windows 7 on this drive without the product key for the old XP?

[MrWicked1968]

I don't think you can use XP to upgrade to Win7 in the first place.

You're better off buying either the full retail or an OEM copy.

[allikat]

Ok, Wicked is semi-wrong on one thing: You can use XP as the base OS for an upgrade to 7, however it will wipe the XP install completely after checking it's valid.

The valid check is the important thing here, as the XP you got shipped with the Dell is locked to a code in the Dell Bios. HP/Compaq and some of the other major OEMs did the same thing. Which means that the install only checks the BIOS against it's authorised codes list, and if the right code is there, it's instantly validated, which is cool.

However, your XP is an OEM copy, which means it's only valid for use on the Dell. You're better off not buying the Win7 upgrade version, and buying an OEM or retail box copy. (OEM copies lock to the hardware they are first installed on, retail can be reinstalled on new hardware after upgrades)

[mp666]

Might help :
http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media.aspx

[Stu8018]

I do have an OEM version. If I use a retail version of 7 through an optical drive and boot to that first will I be able to install on the hard drive even though the OEM XP is on that drive? I'm debating buying a second hard drive and installing 7 there but will I have access to the old drives files or will the OEM XP prevent it?

[shovenose]

if you install win7 on the xp drive it will wipe all your data out, but windows 7 wont care about whether or not you have xp on the old drive.

[McSteel]

It is possible to have both Win XP and Win 7 on the same drive, but it's ill-advised to keep them on the same partition. Both OS's will be able to "see" all the content; provided you do not use encryption. This is called dual-boot configuration, at every system start-up you'd have the option to boot either Win 7 or "older version of Windows" as it is phrased, all without much problems.
Don't expect the software you installed inside one OS to appear in the other, though, it doesn't work that way.