How to upgrade your netbook to windows 7 home premium
Posted on April 2, 2010 at 10:14 am
Almost every netbook that ships with Windows 7 comes with the crippled Windows 7 Starter Edition. Users can’t use Aero Glass desktop effects or even change the desktop background. Windows 7 Starter doesn’t include Windows Media Center or support for multiple monitors. Wikipedia has a good breakdown of all the Windows 7 features you’re missing if you get a netbook with Windows 7 Starter.
The reason most netbooks ship with Windows 7 Starter is simple: It’s cheaper than other versions of the operating system and helps PC vendors keep prices low. Since the whole point of a netbook is that it’s a cheap, portable computer, price is kind of key.
But Microsoft does offer an upgrade path. Netbooks with Intel Atom processors are perfectly capable of running the higher priced versions of Windows 7. All you have to is pay for the “anytime upgrade.” Normally that means shelling out $79.99 to upgrade from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium. But starting on April 4th Microsoft and participating retailers will be offering a promotion that lets you upgrade for $49.99.
The promotion ends on July 3rd in the US, but specifics will vary from place to place.
Microsoft is also dropping the price of upgrading from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional from $89.99 to $79.99. But I don’t think that’s likely to affect netbook users as much as the first price drop. $50 really doesn’t seem like a lot of money to pay for an upgrade, even if you only spent about $50 on your netbook.
Of course, if all you want to do is change your desktop background, there are ways around Windows 7 Starter’s limitations. But if you need some of the other features that only come with higher end versions of the OS, you might want to snag an upgrade license in the next few weeks.
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14 replies on “Upgrade your netbook to Windows Home 7 Premium for $50 starting next week”
Or you could download Snow Leopard off a torrent, and make a tiny Hackintosh netbook. Like I did 😀
Not worth the $50. The most important feature, “XP compatibility/Virtual PC” mode, isn’t available until “Pro” and higher. Until then, all you get are some worthless gizmos and things which will probably only serve to drain your battery even faster.
I mean, if the most important things you do on your PC are change backgrounds, whine about bezels, and watch movies, it might be worth it.
Ubuntu is a great alternative.
When Google Chome OS comes who will shell out this amount?
Oh, well; another waste of my time. I clicked on this ‘news’ article because I thought Microsoft had finally come to their senses and was giving us users of real, supported, problems-fixed-immediately, major-upgrades-every-six-months operating systems $50 to try their offering, to see if we could live without all those benefits, which should be standard fare for an OS costing $100-$200, or more.
On second thought, if they did that, the price for the inferior operating system would still be ‘way too high.
You fail to mention that not all netbooks can handle the upgraded version of Windows 7. Many will bog down on the extra CPU time used for background processes if they upgrade.
How about upgrading from XP to 7 will this work for that as well? I have seen some post which state that you can use the upgrade to do a complete install.
Or you could keep your $50 and install Ubuntu or Jolicloud and get a universe of software FREE. Checkout these simple screenshots for more information:
Find out what you’re missing, get yourself onto GNU/Linux.
Read more at Ubuntu.com, Jolicloud.com, and Linux.com
Cows can be milked…
“do things like personalize their PCs with all the new Windows 7 themes, create a desktop background slideshow of their own photos, switch between open programs more easily with Taskbar Previews, and enjoy Remote Media Streaming.”
Only a monopolist can do this…
OR you could just give the _free_ and _open-source_ Linux system a test run and save the MS upgrade money.
Unlike the costly and heavy MS windows versions targetting desktop machines, there are Linux “distributions” that are both light-weight and optimized for netbooks’ smaller screens.
Because MS has most hardware manufacturers under restrictive bulk licencing schemes (keeping competition from being preloaded) sometimes latest models of netbooks may have components or setups that aren’t fully supported by the Linux distros yet, but it’s worth checking out anyway: just download a “live OS” system (or two, for comparison) for your USB stick and boot. Or google for the name and model of your netbook together with popular Linux distros for netbooks and laptops, such as:
Jolicloud, Moblin (now known as Meego, by Intel and Nokia), Ubuntu Netbook Remix or perhaps Chrome OS or Android by Google.
They’re as light or lighter than windows XP but up to date like Mac OS X or windows 7, and more secure too.
In fact MS is only giving this “discount” for upgrading from the silly windows “starter edition” to a more (or perhaps too) functional desktop OS because enough people have already chose to use Linux instead.
Btw. Netbook-centric sites like this one would do well to increase their coverage and reviews of non-MS alternatives (specifically aimed at these lower-end systems no less) as a useful and informative service to your readers, but it’s your call is you want to concentrate on listing bog-standard specifications (+ “windows starter of course) with the odd screenshot. 🙂
$50 sounds pretty steep to me considering it’s possible to get a legit full copy, not upgrade, of 7 Pro for $19 or 7 ultimate $25 if you know how to use a search engine.
not worth it could just spend 50$ more on a netbook and get one with windows 7 home premium….god even a cheap laptop worth a dvd drive more ram….this really is not worth it to anyone don’t get it!
God i”m a Microsoft fan…no i really i”m
Lots of people bought Windows 7 Starter because it just made sense for them at the time. You make it seem like no one has a Windows 7 Starter netbook when there are millions of them out there.
I’ll have to read up on the differences between Starter and Home Premium but $50 doesn’t sound like a bad deal to upgrade your OS. I don’t think it’s been that cheap since you could go to XP from Windows 98 or Me.
Windows 7 is free for now , and works extremely well on netbooks. That said, installing the OS on these tiny laptops—especially low-end models—can be daunting. Here’s how to do it, the easy way:
Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 Available Right Now
It’s been rumored, it’s been confirmed, and now it’s here. Windows 7 Release Candidate, valid for a
If the Release Candidate is any indication (and it should be), then Windows 7 will be a nice upgrade for any Windows user. The new OS, however, is a huge step up for netbook users. Vista is notoriously poorly suited to netbooks; a buggy resource hog that subjects its users to incessant dialog boxes and requires far too many clicks to perform basic tasks, it’s kind of a nightmare to use on a 9-inch laptop with a 1.5-inch trackpad.
Windows 7 Release Candidate 1’s Best Surprise New Features
A hot official copy of Windows 7 RC1 is on our desktop and we’re poking around. But here are the…
Windows XP has been given a boost by netbooks, as its system requirements—more-or-less decided in 2001—are more in line with the specs hardware like the Eee PC and Mini 9. But let’s face it: XP is nearly a decade old. Its user experience is trumped by free alternatives like Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Linpus, and it’s not at all optimized for solid-state drives—especially cheap ones. This means that on low-end, SSD-based netbooks, it borders on unusable.
Hence, Windows 7. It’s noticeably faster than Vista on low-spec machines, properly optimized for netbook hardware, and, most importantly, free (for now). Thing is, installation isn’t quite as easy as it is on a regular PC —in fact, it can be a pain in the ass: netbooks don’t have DVD drives, which means you’ve either got to get your hands on an external drive or boot from a USB stick for a clean install. Furthermore, smaller SSDs, like the 8GB units in popular versions of the Dell Mini 9 and Acer Aspire One, make a default installation impossible, or at least impractically tight. Luckily, there are simple methods to deal with both of these problems. Let’s get started.
By David Murphy
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Netbooks are universally regarded for their portability, but no two netbook models are exactly alike, and each seems to come with different trade-offs. A netbook with a superior battery might have a horrible keyboard arrangement; a netbook with a solid-state drive might slip out of your price range; a netbook with a killer list of specs might be missing 802.11n connectivity. These are all common problems–and you won’t find common solutions.
Due to their diversity, netbooks don’t share common upgrade paths as typical desktop PCs do. Each model is unique in what you can do to it, and the exact procedures for modifying your device are as varied as the netbooks themselves. If you want to upgrade your machine, we recommend that you hunt down the instruction manual or, in the case of trickier upgrades, a community of users who can walk you through the process of modifying and hacking new functionality into your extremely portable PC.
That said, you can make a wealth of netbook customizations, and they range in difficulty from 5-minute routines to soldering-gun-based surgeries. We’ll take you through some customizations for a Dell Mini 9, as it’s one of the more tweakable netbooks we’ve come across. While your mileage (and procedures) will vary with your own netbook model, this guide will give you a good idea of the kinds of upgrades that could be possible for your machine and skill level.
Easy Upgrades
Insert a Better Battery
Finding the right high-capacity battery for your netbook can be tricky, but installing it couldn’t be easier. In our testing the Dell Mini 9’s battery lasted around 3 hours, 34 minutes. That’s not too shabby for a four-cell battery, but you can do better. Though you may find a few guides online that teach you how to create a laptop battery using a number of aftermarket batteries all wired together, that’s a recipe for disaster. Instead, look to eBay: There you can pick up a 77-watt-hour, eight-cell battery that’s entirely compatible with the existing connections (and size) of your Dell Mini 9. You’ll double the longevity of your netbook–provided you aren’t bothered by the unruly mass sticking out from underneath your system. To replace the battery, flip your netbook upside-down and move the two switches from the locked icon to the unlocked icon, and push up on the battery tray.
Upgrade the Operating System
Since netbooks don’t come with built-in optical drives, you’ll need a USB drive to perform an OS upgrade. If you want to install a new operating system onto your netbook, you certainly can: Just pop the CD in any external USB optical drive and install away.
Want to dual-boot your netbook? Grab the GParted utility, by downloading the .iso file for its LiveCD and burning the file onto a disc. Insert that disc into the external optical drive, restart your netbook, and jump into the BIOS to change the boot settings for your machine. Boot off of the optical drive first, and GParted will load. Right-click on the primary partition and select Resize/Move. Microsoft recommends at least 16GB of space for Windows 7; if you were hoping to use that OS but your netbook doesn’t have that much room, your experiment ends here. For any OS, if your netbook does have space for it, enter a new partition size of your choosing. Click Resize, and you’ll see the newly unallocated space sitting to the right of your primary partition in GParted’s graphic. Right-click on this area and select New. Enter zeros for the ‘Free Space Proceeding’ and ‘Following’ selections, select Primary Partition under ‘Create as’, and click the add button.
If you prefer not to use an external optical drive, you can follow these steps for using GParted and installing the new OS with a simple USB thumb drive.
Rearrange the Keyboard
Do you accidentally bump the keys near your touchpad? Pop them out and remap the keyboard to suit your typing style. Is the default layout of your netbook’s keyboard conflicting with the muscle memory you’ve built for desktop keyboard layouts? Pop an offending key off of your netbook by wedging a tiny screwdriver under the key and gently applying upward pressure. As long as the keys you’re swapping around are of the same size, you’ll be able to interchange them as you please. Once you’ve made the physical transformations, use the Sharp Keys utility to reassign how your operating system interprets the keystrokes. If you don’t mind a bit of visual confusion, you could leave the physical keys exactly where they are and simply redefine their purpose with this helpful application.
Posted on July 31, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Microsoft is giving netbook makers a choice of pre-loading Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Starter Edition on low price netbooks. My guess is that most computer makers will stick with Windows 7 Starter, which will be much cheaper, unless there’s huge demand for a more powerful operating system.
But where does that leave netbook owners who don’t want a crippled OS? Well, you could wipe the hard drive and install a Linux distribution like Ubuntu for free. Or you could spend $80 to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. Microsoft unveiled the price of the “anytime upgrade” today.
The funny part of the announcement is that it suggests users who pick up a netbook for limited use may eventually decide they’re using it “as their primary every-day PC.” This, despite the fact that Intel and Microsoft have been spending a lot of time talking about how people are buying netbooks as secondary machines, not as desktop or laptop replacements.
$80 normally wouldn’t seem like a lot of money to pay for the operating system upgrade, but if you only pay $299 or so for the computer, it’s a lot of money. What added features would you get with Windows 7 Home Premium that are missing in Windows 7 Start? Remote media streaming, advanced taskbar functions including taskbar previews, the Aero Peek desktop effect, and the ability to change your desktop background.
What do you think? Are those features worth $80 to you?
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20 replies on “It’ll cost $80 to upgrade a netbook from Windows 7 Starter to Home Premium”
i guess its downgrade to xp or hack it to get mac os x or install linux on it for FREE.
microsoft is all junk, throw it out !
I agree with 100 percent, my wife bought a netbook and I am mad that I didn’t do my research about Windows 7 Starter, it is so crippled, it’s not even funny. I had to do a registry hack just to change the wallpaper, most people would never be able to figure out how to do that. I’m still trying to figure out if I can somehow enable Aero Peek but it looks like we have to pay $80 to do that.
Want a real OS for your netbook? Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) is $29 from Apple. It runs rings around XP on netbooks.
FYI, background changing is a standard feature.
Wow… Can’t change desktop background. Lame… Windows XP is perfect for my netbook.
I can see a quick hack program that overlays the desktop and overrides any command to go to the desktop by showing your own picture instead. Still, its just plain stupid for Microsoft to do this in the face of competitors such as Google Chrome OS. Perhaps history will show this as being the deciding factor in Microsofts fall from dominance as the biggest OS.
I used a BestBuy $20 reward certificate to pre-order W7 Home Premium during the 1/2 price promo, for a total investment on my part of $30. It looks like it will be a decent upgrade, but if it sucks at least it won’t hurt so bad!
Instead of paying Microsoft TITAN LEV is a solution that works faster and cost much less (). It is Linux operating system designed for Windows users. Same look and feel, includes 150 applications for all relevant use, runs Windows applications, includes migration tools from Windows and synchronization of files, calendars, contacts and notes. It is the best solution for Netbooks
Can only be started 16 times unless registered? What’s that about?
I don’t see any source disks mentioned on the site?
Those screenshots look like the return of “Look and Feel” lawsuits.
if i have to pay 80$, i’ll upgrade to… linux
bye bye microsoft
Starter edition upgrade path will be hacked in 3…2..1…
How? You’d expect the update to be pushed through Windows Update, took people years to crack the XP-era validation for the service. With them desperate to make Windows 7 a financial success you can expect it to be beefed up once again.
To be honest I’ve just preordered Home Premium E for £50 to go on my desktop and will probably grab another copy when I upgrade to an Ion netbook too. Whatever machine you run it on that’s a fabulous price for a fully featured OS.
From what I understand, there will only be one distribution image for all versions of 7. What you have access to is determined by what you have paid for. If you want to upgrade you buy a code to unlock more features. Someone will figure out how the codes are determined and that will be the end of it.
after screwing users with vista, you’d think they’d do a bit of groveling. if changing the desktop background (which i LOVE to do) has to be an extra feature-i’ll just buy my netbook right now with XP.
$80 is an awful lot if Ubuntu does the job better
So, now changing a desktop background is considered an advanced feature?
I have just bought a Samsung N145-JP02 netbook which has Windows 7 Starter installed on it. As this is a very basic edition of the operating system without full functionality i was wondering if i could install Windows 7 Ultimate Edition on to it?
I have a disk Windows 7 Ultimate Edition on it and know that i can update the OS but i have a couple of questions. Can the install be completed without any issues and also will this make the netbook run alot slower. The netbook has 320Gb hard drive and 2Gb of memory.
If i dont install this OS i was thinking of downgrading to XP. What would be my best plan?
Your help with this is greatly appreciatted.
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I have just bought a Samsung N145-JP02 netbook which has Windows 7 Starter installed on it. As this is a very basic edition of the operating system without full functionality i was wondering if i could install Windows 7 Ultimate Edition on to it?
I have a disk Windows 7 Ultimate Edition on it and know that i can update the OS but i have a couple of questions. Can the install be completed without any issues and also will this make the netbook run alot slower. The netbook has 320Gb hard drive and 2Gb of memory.
If i dont install this OS i was thinking of downgrading to XP. What would be my best plan?
See the other replies you’ve gotten, and let me add the following:
1. The difference between editions of Windows 7 has to do with what features it contains, *not* with the speed at which it runs. So upgrading should not make it any slower.
2. How fast a computer runs depends on what applications you run on it, but for what most people run, 2GB is about the minimum for acceptable performance of Windows 7. So don’t expect great performance.
3. You can *not* downgrade to Windows XP. If you want to run Windows XP, you would have to clean install it. But be aware that if the netbook came with Windows 7 pre-installed, there’s a good chance that Windows XP drivers for some of its components don’t exist, and running XP may not be a real choice for you.
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Yes, you can upgrade it to Windows 7 Ultimate using the Windows 7 Ultimate product key and Anytime Upgrade in Windows 7 Starter.
If the license for Windows 7 Ultimate you have access to is either a retail upgrade or full version, you can use the product key and Anytime Upgrade to move from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 UltimateFirst, make sure the edition of Windows 7 you are upgrading from is already activated (if its not you will run into complications and you might have start all over by doing a clean install). Click Start, type Anytime Upgrade, click the option to enter a key, enter the Windows 7 Professional key when requested, click Next, wait while the key is verified, accept the license agreement, click upgrade, wait while the software upgrades, (it might take 10 minutes or more depending on if updates are needed), your computer will automatically restart, after restarting, Windows 7 will notifiy you its updating the computer, the computer will restart one more time automatically and the upgrade will be completed, a windows will pop up notifying the upgrade was successful and your computer is ready to use, click close, you should be upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate your files, programs and settings preserved.
If Anytime Upgrade fails, Windows Anytime Upgrade Fail:
Shutdown and start your computer again.
Make sure the latest Windows Updates have been installed.
Download the hotfix containing a tool called CheckSUR, this tool will look into the servicing and package folders and fix any corrupted data the tool is listed under kb947821 it can be found at the following link
If Anytime Upgrade still fails, disable User Account Control:
1. Go to User Accounts in Control Panel
2. Change User Account Control Settings
3. Pull the Slider down to lowest level possible
4. Reboot the PC
5. Go through the “Anytime Upgrade” as normal
Try the following:
1. Disable any security software before attempting to upgrade
2. Make sure your computer is updated (devices and applications)
3. Disconnect any external devices before installing.
4. Check your hard disk for any errors:
Type: CMD, from the results, right click CMD
Click ‘Run as Administrator’
At the Command Prompt, type: chkdsk /r /f
When you restart your system, your computer will be scanned for errors and attempts will be made to correct them.
1. Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
User Account Control permission
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.
3. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box.
4. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.
6. When you are prompted, click Restart.
7. After the computer starts, check whether the problem is resolved.
Also run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor:
Who should I contact if I’m having trouble installing and / or activating my Product Key Card?
Please contact customer support at:
If all the above fails, install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 then attempt the Anytime Upgrade again:
Learn how to install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
If your key is invalid and you need to change the keys you may have to open regedit and deleting the ProductKey value in the following registry key first:
The good news is that upgrading to Windows 7 is going to be cheaper than previous Windows releases —but before you buy, you better check your situation and plan the right move, money-wise.
Windows 7: Cheaper Than Vista (and Every Other Windows OS)
It turns out, even if you don’t weigh in all the slightly confusing Windows 7 upgrade deals,…
You may have a few questions: Am I eligible for a cheap upgrade? How about a free upgrade? What’s this about family packs? Should I be shopping for a new computer? Not to worry, Prof. Dealzmodo will help clear things up. First, let’s start with the basics.
Is Your PC Ready?
If you have your heart set on upgrading to Windows 7, you need to meet minimum system requirements . For most of us, that ain’t no thang:
If Your Computer Doesn’t Meet Windows 7’s Final Minimum System Requirements, I Feel Bad for .
With the Windows 7 release candidate now out in the open—partly, anyway—Microsoft has released the…
• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
If you can’t hit these minimum numbers, I feel for you. It also means you will have to factor new hardware into the total upgrade cost.
To be honest, it’s probably in your best interest to exceed these requirements moving forward. The good news is that there are many PCs out there that would more than satisfy your hardware needs for $500 or less.
The 64-bit Question
Every Windows 7 box, upgrade or full, comes with both a 32-bit and a 64-bit version of the OS, so you have a choice. You should probably brush up on the details of this transition , but in the meantime, just know that it mostly comes down to RAM: If you have 3GB or less, you can run 32-bit, but if you have 4GB or more, you’ll need 64-bit to get the most out of your system.
Why You Should Go 64-Bit With Windows 7
You might’ve skipped the Vista train, thinking it was like Under Siege 2, minus Steve Seagal. Or…
We recommend the latter, for future coverage, and fortunately, RAM upgrades are damn cheap these days. In fact, you can get 4GB of DDR2 memory for less than $70 pretty easily. And if you are already running a Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better, you don’t need to upgrade the chipset to enjoy the benefits of 64-bit computing. Either way, getting caught up on the CPU won’t run you much more than $100 if you shop around. As I pointed out in this must-read column , it pays to upgrade hardware yourself. Only suckers pay manufacturer’s prices.
Why You Should Stop Buying Your Computers Fully Loaded
Hard economic times require that we think more closely about how our money is spent. When it comes…
Windows 7 Pricing
Standard:
• Windows 7 Home Premium: $120 for upgrade; $200 for full version
• Windows 7 Professional: $200 for upgrade; $300 for full version
• Windows 7 Ultimate: $220 for upgrade; $320 for full version
• Family Pack : $149
Windows 7 Family Pack Pricing Confirmed at $149
In case you’re interested in upgrading to Win 7 (you should be, BTW), and want to get the rest of…
Anytime Upgrades:
• Windows 7 Starter Edition ( you do not want this ) to Home Premium: $80
• Home Premium to Professional: $90
• Professional to Ultimate: $140
Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 Starter Won’t Have 3-App Limit, But It Still Sucks
Microsoft confirms that the 3-apps-at-a-time limit has been indeed been removed from Windows 7…
Free Upgrades:
If you purchase a qualifying PC with Vista installed between now and January 31st you are eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade. However, this only applies to participating manufacturers and products. Check out Microsoft’s upgrade page for a list of these manufacturers. This also applies to anyone who purchases Vista retail packaged products .
Which Version of Windows 7 Should I Get?
If you are running something other than a Windows OS or an OS that pre-dates Windows XP that means you will have to buy the full retail copy—you’re not eligible for the upgrade that pretty much everyone else is eligible for. If you fall into this slim category, there is a good chance you’ll have to upgrade hardware as well. In that case, strongly consider putting your money into a new PC with Windows 7 already installed—there’s no reason to pay $200 to $300 for the OS alone, when decent computers cost $500.
You can pretty much skip Microsoft’s handy-but-convoluted upgrade chart when determining which path is right for you, though you may want to consult Ed Bott’s easier-to-follow version , originally published on ZDNet:
Official Windows 7 Upgrade Chart is Officially Confusing
Not sure how this whole Windows 7 upgrade thing will work for you? Well, this official Microsoft…
There are really only three decisions most people will make: Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate, as the other versions are not offered to retail buyers. Most people will get Home Premium—if you are shopping for Professional or Ultimate, even you probably don’t need the upgrade chart, because you know what you’re looking for.
Whatever you do, try to avoid the Anytime Upgrade, the convenient but costly way to jump from, say, Home Premium to Ultimate. If, for example, there is even a slight chance that you might upgrade from Professional to Ultimate, it makes sense to just go for Ultimate right off the bat. An outright upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate costs $220, but upgrading to Professional then deciding later on to go to Ultimate will cost you $340 total.
What About Netbooks?
In the vast majority of cases, upgrading to Windows 7 from a netbook doesn’t make sound financial sense. If you look at the prices, upgrades can cost more than half what you paid for the netbook in the first place. My recommendation here is to wait on purchasing a netbook until an optimized build of Windows 7 is pre-installed.
How To Install Windows 7 On Almost Any Netbook
Windows 7 is free for now, and works extremely well on netbooks. That said, installing the OS on…
Furthermore, if you aren’t prepared to deal with the Starter Edition, don’t buy a netbook running it—go right for Home Premium if possible. The Anytime Upgrade to Home Premium will run you $80—which is probably still a chunk of change when compared to the price of the netbook itself. Seriously, I think that Starter Edition’s sole purpose is to screw netbook users. And if you keep your wallet in a back pocket—yes. they’re screwing you from behind. As far as I’m concerned, the only way it might make some financial sense to purchase an OS upgrade for a netbook is if you run Windows on multiple computers and you decide to purchase a Family Pack license—and you are comfortable dealing with different kinds of OS installations. That will at least allow you to run Home Premium on three machines for about $50 a pop.
I have 2 netbooks: Samsung N150 and a Packard Bell DOT S both running Windows 7 Starter.
I want to upgrade to Windows 10
Neither machine has been given the free upgrade download prompt.
Tried to upgrade via Anytime Upgrade but told this is no longer supported in my region
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Does the hardware meet the minimum requirements? Are they on win 7 SP-1? Are they activated?
If all three are yes you may be able to simply download the ISO and install from USB
1 GHz or faster processorQ
1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
Your processor (CPU) must support the following extensions: SSE2, NX, PAE
The Official Final Windows 10 download is now available
Use the download tool to create ISO media to update your windows.
Use Download Tool Now (32bit version)
Use Download Tool Now (64bit version)
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Today’s Best Tech Deals
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Jinadasa Katulanda has a netbook computer running Windows 7 Starter. He asked about upgrading it to the Home Premium edition.
The Windows 7 Starter edition is the cheapest, least-powerful version of Windows 7. It was never sold retail, and is only available pre-installed on inexpensive, low-power netbooks.
But here’s the funny thing: Starter isn’t significantly faster than other editions of 32-bit Windows 7. They all have the same minimum hardware requirements.
[Have a tech question? Ask PCWorld Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector. Send your query to answ[email protected].]
To justify the low price, Microsoft removed a lot of features that can be found in other Windows 7 editions. It lacks Aero Glass (which has since been discontinued in Windows 8), multiple monitor support, and Windows Media Center. And if you don’t like the desktop background (what used to be called wallpaper), you’re out of luck. You can’t change it.
If you upgrade to another 32-bit edition of Windows 7 (the 64-bit ones won’t work), you’re unlikely to see any performance hit. PC World Lab tests from 2009 showed no significant difference. (The tests were for this article, although Starter results didn’t end up in the final copy.) The Lab ran its WorldBench tests on the same PC running Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium. Starter won, but in a statistical dead heat of 31 to 30. You’d need a stopwatch and quick reflexes to notice that difference.
If you do the upgrade and notice a performance hit, turn off Aero. It’s the likely culprit.
You might also consider upgrading to Windows 8 (again, 32-bit). It might actually improve performance. But run the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant before you put down any money. It will tell you if your hardware is compatible.
Question
In two months i will buy a Windows 7 home premium (full version) Retail box , to install in my pc. I have a Samsung netbook that came with Windows 7 preinstalled. But when trying to install linux, i did a mistake and deleted the recovery partition. As i wasn’t interested until now in use windows, i didn’t care.
Now i want to install windows 7 home premium in it also. But i don’t know how , or what posibilities i have.
I have too say that i have called to samsung, and i told them what happened, they give me a web where download some isos to burn and use it to recover windows 7 fully activated and also recover the recovery hide partition.
But i don’t need a recovery partition.
So , if the edition that i have in the netbook is the same as the retail box, can i buy a windows anytime upgrade to home premium key , and use it to directly install the retail version in the netbook , or should i first , install the Starter version, and then do a anytime upgrade ?
In this second case, if as my windows 7 Starter is preinstalled (and i understand that will use a certificate and a samsung OEM SLP key) , can i use the retail dvd to create a windows 7 usb installation media , delete the ie.cfg file , and when installing choose the Starter edition, and use the netbook product key from the sticker when is asked by the installer ?
Or i have to use the samsung isos, to recover windows 7 and then do a anytime upgrade.(if i can’t use the anytime key to do the clean install with the retail dvd)
Answers
Based on my understanding, you have to use the Samsung ISO to recover Windows 7 and then do an anytime upgrade. The upgrade key can not be used on Clean Install.
Also, you can contact the Microsoft Support to consult this.
Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ”
- Marked as answer by Juke Chou Monday, March 28, 2011 2:52 AM
All replies
Based on my understanding, you have to use the Samsung ISO to recover Windows 7 and then do an anytime upgrade. The upgrade key can not be used on Clean Install.
Also, you can contact the Microsoft Support to consult this.
Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ”
- Marked as answer by Juke Chou Monday, March 28, 2011 2:52 AM
Today, i have called to samsung, as i had some dudes about the iso i have to download.
It seems that the other day the man who attended me didn’t understood me well , because they have said me today that the only possibilities are either send the netbook to the Technical support to recover the windows by them ( i have to ask for the cost of it), or i could buy a windows 7 home premium to install in the netbook.
There are a few options to install windows 7 in the netbook (also of Technical support):
If the netbook came with windows 7 starter preinstalled, and i have a COA with a product key , i understand i qualify to be able to bough a upgrade edition of the windows 7 home-premium upgrade version retail box , and do a clean install with the hdd wiped.
This would be the more expensive option.
Another one,cheaper, would be buy a OEM Windows 7 home-premium 32 bit, and install it.
(I understand that this can be done , and will not have any problem activating it, and as is a netbook,i will only change the memory to 2 GB not anything more)
3.
And the last and cheapest option is(but not sure if could be done), this:
As i will buy a Windows 7 professional (full version) retail box to amazon uk in a month and a half, to install in my Desktop PC, i can use the 32 bit disk to install windows 7 in the pc, and create using windows a USB installer media,using the 32 bit DVD.
Then edit or delete the ei.cfg to create a unlocked installer, that will let you select what edition install. I would install the Starter one.
Note: I have a COA sticker in the netbook with a product key.
What i don’t know is if you tray to use that product key in the moment is asked by the installer , the installer will accept it , or not.
If not , could i use that COA product key later to activate windows ? (without pasting it when the installer ask it)
I have found this link that says that if the OEM windows activation don’t work (i suppose that a similar case would be a retail installation as has not any oem slp key or cert , so you have to activate it manually) , can be changed the product key to the COE one and activate it calling.
But would microsoft activate my windows ?, i can use the COA key with a retail installation , from a technical and eula viewpoint. I understand that product key is all, so use the retail dvd / usb in the netbook, i could do it,if i have a qualifying license in the netbook,as i have a product key and a COA.
