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David Overton's Blog » How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools

[Please also read the Action Pack FAQ on this blog at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/02/13/windows-vista-windows-xp-office-2003-and-office-2007-action-pack-update-my-faq.aspx] 

If you want to electronically upgrade from one version of Vista to another then the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools are for you.  To understand what versions you can upgrade from, have a look at Why Windows Vista Home can only be Upgraded to Home Ultimate online, but can upgrade via retail.

You then need to go to one of the merchants.  Mike P posted about this pointing out:

So i notice the upgrade links are now working (www.windowsanytimeupgrade.com/maps and https://emea.windowsanytimeupgradestore.com/WAU_DIRECT/home.aspx) although I'm a little puzzled as to why it costs £110 PER LICENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!

MS has arranged several merchants to provide this upgrade service to consumers (as well as providing it direct throught he urls above). There is a huge discrepancy in the pricing...

Comet -> https://comet.windowsanytimeupgrade-emea.com/WAU/Home.aspx -> £94.99

PC World -> https://pcworld.windowsanytimeupgrade-emea.com/WAU/Home.aspx -> £109.99

FNAC -> https://fnac.windowsanytimeupgrade-emea.com/WAU/Home.aspx -> £118.00

Vaio -> https://vaio.windowsanytimeupgrade-emea.com/WAU/Home.aspx -> £80.00

To see the complete list of EU merchants see https://www.windowsanytimeupgrade-emea.com/WAU/SelectMerchant.aspx

From a Microsoft Action Pack Subscription point of view, you can either use the Microsoft site with software at our recommended price or one of the others.  Mike posted the numbers above, so don't shoot me if the prices change.

One thing to note, if you have a legel legit Vista DVD (action pack, OEM, FPP etc) then you DO NOT need to order the DVD with the kit.

Finally, the upgrade is just that, so expect to still have to comply with the upgrade requirements of Windows Vista.

 

ttfn

 

David

 

Posted Mon, Feb 12 2007 11:34 PM by David Overton
Filed under: , , , , ,

Comments

David Overton's Blog wrote Windows Vista, Windows XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007 Action Pack Update - my FAQ
on Mon, Feb 12 2007 11:37 PM

Inside Microsoft we have been toiling very hard to provide solutions that answer the most common feedback.

David Overton's Blog wrote Windows Vista, Windows XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007 Action Pack Update - my FAQ
on Tue, Feb 13 2007 10:01 AM

[last updated 13th Feb 2007 - 10:00 am] Inside Microsoft we have been toiling very hard to provide solutions

Colin Diponio wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Sun, Feb 18 2007 11:42 AM

Hi

I have done a Windows Anytime Upgrade using one of the links above. The Sony one and it worked.

This is going from Windows Vists Business to Ultimate.

You pay, Download the small file, then put your ActionPack Windows Vista Business Upgrade DVD in and do an upgrade.

Naturally during the upgrade process you choose the option to leave your existing files/folders intact.

It took a good hour on my machine.

But all is well.

Being an working consultant I am VAT registered so the cost is £68+VAT or (£80 including VAT)

Thanks for the Tip David.

David Overton's Blog wrote Windows Vista, Windows XP, Office 2003, Exchange 2007 and Office 2007 Action Pack Update - my FAQ
on Wed, Mar 7 2007 10:55 PM

[last updated 7th Mar 2007 - 22:51pm GMT] Inside Microsoft we have been toiling very hard to provide

Stephen Thomson wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Fri, Mar 9 2007 10:04 PM

I had home premium an put the anytime upgrade disk in my machine, found an ultimate product key and when it asked me 2 enter a product key, instead of typing the home premium one, i just typed the ultimate one an it worked.

[email protected] wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Fri, Jun 15 2007 2:56 AM

I PAID FOR TH U;TOMATE UPGRADE AND NEVER GOT IT!

David Overton wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Fri, Jun 15 2007 7:22 AM

Pennyros - Go back to the anytime update site you ordered from and contact them from there.

thanks

David

Mike Smart wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Sat, Jun 30 2007 10:02 AM

Are any of these upgrades locked into a particular hardware. Like for instance if I bought via Lenovo (only £56inc vat & disc), is the anytime upgrade going to be locked so that it'll only work on Lenovo hardware?

Otherwise why would anyone bother to order off any of the other far more expensive retailers?.  

David Overton wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Sat, Jun 30 2007 10:49 AM

There is no hardware lock-in from a particular site.  bear in mind that I would personally recommend a MINIMUM of 1GB of memory and it would be better with 2GB - as you move up the versions, the greater functionality requires more memory (eg the Aero Graphics require both video card and system memory)

thanks

David

Gill Jordan wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Wed, Sep 26 2007 3:18 PM

I bought a Vaio with Windows Home Premium and an anytime upgrade disc. I inserted the disc, followed the instructions and upgraded to Ultimate. It ran for a while but the system became increasingly corrupted. Unfortunately I am therefore unable to use the back up restore disc. Fortunately Vaio keep a copy license in their digital locker so I am hoping to re-upgrade from the WHP hard drive recovery we did and hope for a further stab at Ultimate!

MMAAAMM wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Sat, Dec 8 2007 10:40 PM

Is windows anytime upgrade a installation disk for vista? can you install windows vista on an xp?

Peter Morgan wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Tue, Jan 8 2008 4:56 PM

I like Stephen Thomson's method of just getting a key from 'somewhere' and using the upgrade CD.

Could I get an OEM key (as these are fairly cheap) and use that to validate and activate windows, or will it insist on some 'special' uprade key?

rod wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Sun, Apr 27 2008 10:11 AM

hi  i purchased     a recon pc from pc world it came with vista home on it but no back up cd should anything go wrong at anytime  and i av to reload vista   i emailed pc world they gave  me this link but it says  i av to pay for this can you tell me why please or am i talking to the wrong person if accept my appologies   regards rod

SoANN0y3d wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Sun, Jan 11 2009 5:48 AM

I brought a HP Pavilion dv6000 on a whim just to have a laptop. It came installed with Vista TM. It worked fine at first until one day 7 mths later it prompted me for a product key to activate Vista. I thought this was odd because it hadn't done this upon initial start-up but I enter the Product Key from the bottom of my computer anyway and got a invalid product key error. Annoyed as I was, instead of smashing it with a hammer, I just tossed it in storage for a while and forgot about it. I recently looked at it again and said screw it. Maybe I can install XP over it because XP had never given me any trouble... It didn't work... so I get a new hdd only to find out that a lot of the drivers were incompatible after the install. I kept the orginal hdd... if I wanted to take a crack at Vista again... could I use the Windows Anytime Upgrade disk? And how if it doesn't detect any of the original drivers...? I hate sitting on the phone for tech support because I'm overseas and not only is it inconvenient, it's costs sitting on hold for hours... any suggestions?

alittleknowledgeisdangerous wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Wed, Mar 18 2009 10:29 PM

Windows Anytime Upgrade disc contains all Vista versions and is activated via your license key to the version required. Vista should contain the relevant drivers to recognise and install your components, it does not recognise drivers but should recognise the components.

stevie wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Thu, Nov 12 2009 9:58 PM

used upgrade trial but want to go back to xp,how do i go about this,grateful for any help.

David Overton wrote re: How to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade tools
on Sat, Nov 14 2009 1:21 PM

Stevie,

the only way to go back to XP is to restore from a backup or re-install XP.

Thanks

David

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