Microsoft Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade [Home Premium to Professional]

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Move up to Windows 7 Professional from Windows 7 Home Premium with Windows Anytime Upgrade
• Watch, pause, rewind, and record TV on your PC
• Easily create a home network and connect your PCs to a printer with HomeGroup
• Run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode (with processor that supports hardware virtualization.)
• Connect to company networks easily and more securely with Domain Join

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B002JYU5WI
• Item model number: 7KC-00040
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 29, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (280 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #663 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #29 in Software > Operating Systems > Microsoft Windows

Product Description

Windows 7 Professional includes all the Home Premium features you love and the business features your work demands. Connect to company networks easily and more securely and share files across the various PCs in your home. In addition, you can run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode and recover your data easily with automatic back-ups to your home or business network.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

328 of 351 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What this upgrade does November 12, 2009

By J. Jaeger

Access Method:Box|Platform for Display:PC

I don't see much commentary here about the actual product performance. There is a lot of confusion about this upgrade in the retail outlets, so I thought I'd explain to those with questions.

I researched Windows 7 before I bought my computer, and knew I wanted Win 7 Professional in case I wanted to run XP programs. Most retail outlets only had Win 7 Home Premium installed on their computers. The computer stores had the Win 7 Pro computers on backorder. Through some investigation at Microsoft, I found out that all versions of Win 7 are preinstalled, and you just need to get a key to "unlock" the higher versions. This is that key.

It took a total of 14 minutes to install this upgrade on my new computer. The hardest part was typing in the multi-digit key. (In other words, not hard!) It ran for 12 minutes, and then it was ready to go!

I haven't tried the features of Win 7 Pro to rate it, but this upgrade works as promised.

105 of 113 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is how you upgrade from Win 7 Home Premium to Win 7 Professional December 28, 2009

By Roger J. Buffington TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Access Method:Box| Platform for Display:PC|Amazon Verified Purchase

Most laptops/notebooks seem to ship with Windows 7 Home Premium rather than Windows 7 Professional. That is probably fine for most users. However, if you need your Windows 7 Notebook to be part of a business domain network, you need Windows 7 Professional. This upgrade is how you accomplish the change.

It turns out that Windows 7 Home Premium already contains Windows 7 Professional; it is simply not enabled. When you buy this upgrade you are getting an upgrade key. No disk, just a key sticker and very brief instructions. Key it in pursuant to the laughably simple instructions and within minutes you will be running Windows 7 Professional. One caveat: apparently you cannot upgrade from Windows 7 32 to Windows 7 64 bit. This will affect very few users as I do not believe that hardly any computers are shipping with 32 bit Windows 7. Nor should they. Windows 7 64 bit is very compatible with existing 32 bit software, and in the future we can expect lots of 64 bit software and we all want to be ready for it.

Some have criticized Microsoft for charging for the upgrade from Home Premium to Professional, but my opinion (which is only that) is that Microsoft makes its living by selling operating system software and this is one way for them to do it. At least the upgrade is easy, painless, and quick. RJB.

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Needed upgrade March 30, 2010

By Retiree

Access Method:Box| Platform for Display:PC|Amazon Verified Purchase

My laptop crashed and needed to be replaced. Old laptop was on XP Pro; new one on Win 7 Premium Home. One of my old software programs did not work on Win 7, and it is no longer supported, but I needed to use it. Research told me I could create a Virtual PC operating on XP but only from Win 7 Pro. So I bought the unlock code. It worked fine. I have now created Virtual PC and can access my needed old software program in that manner. Couple minor problems. First, a Virtual PC is truly a separate PC. It does not have access to the antivirus software installed on the Win 7 PC. Fortunately my ISP offers free downloads of Norton PC. Laptop came with McAfee (I did not want it because of my free access to antivirus from my ISP, but I had no choice). So I now have the main laptop protected by McAfee and the Virtual PC protected by Norton. Upgrade downloads occur separately and require separate reboots to take effect. There is no conflict because they are effectively two separate computers. Second, Win 7 has separated screen resolution from font size, two functions joined in XP. On XP I always selected a step down on resolution so I could read the fonts. In Win 7, I can now use max resolution and larger fonts. But when I go to Virtual PC, I cannot change resolution. So I either have to step down in resolution before invoking Virtual PC or I am stuck with microscopic fonts.