Q: (from Dan)
I have a partner on the phone (ok… he was on the phone – I’m not making him wait while I type this) that has the following scenario:
Woman bought an XP laptop. Upgraded it to Windows Vista Home Premium. Now, she needs to connect it to the domain at work. So, he got online and started the Anytime Upgrade process – he bought a product key from Amazon for the upgrade. Now, the Vista install is telling him to insert the Anytime Upgrade Disc, which he doesn’t have (since he just bought the key from Amazon).
I checked this site and read the FAQ about the AUD. I see it is possible that the OEM could pre-install all the required Vista files on the laptop. (Obviously, since this was an XP machine, that didn’t happen here.) My question is: How would an OEM go about doing this? I ask because this partner does build/sell custom PCs, so there should be a way for them to get these upgrade items on the machine, right? Is this something he can access quickly? The problem here is that this woman needs to get her Vista machine upgraded NOW. He doesn’t want to order an Upgrade Disc from MSFT if he doesn’t have to. He was looking (unsuccessfully) for one locally. Does he have any other options here?
A:
Did the partner try using the Vista Home Premium disk? If it is logo’d with Windows Anytime Upgrade, it will have the Vista Ultimate bits on it. Otherwise, he needed to spend the $5 to get an Anytime Upgrade disk when he bought the key – The Amazon site has the details.