Get Windows Vista: Windows Anytime Upgrade FAQ

In order to upgrade your PC to a higher edition of Windows Vista you need to purchase a Windows Anytime Upgrade Pack through the windowsanytimeupgrade.com website. The pack contains your product key, Windows Anytime Upgrade disc, and upgrade instructions.

Windows Anytime Upgrade automatically takes you to the website where you can purchase the upgrade. When your online order is complete, you will be mailed a Windows Anytime Upgrade Pack which includes your product key, Windows Anytime Upgrade disc, and upgrade instructions.

To initiate the upgrade process you will need to insert your Windows Anytime Upgrade disc. The edition of Windows Vista that you are upgrading to is included on the Windows Anytime Upgrade disc. The product key included with your Windows Anytime Upgrade Pack determines the edition of Windows Vista that you can install from the disc.

Before you upgrade, save all open files and close all open programs. The upgrade setup program will reboot your computer several times, so any unsaved work will be lost.

Upgrading your computer to your new edition of Windows Vista can take between 60 and 90 minutes. You will not have access to your programs and files during this time.

The Windows Anytime Upgrade disc includes the upgrade editions of Windows Vista. The product key included with your Windows Anytime Upgrade Pack determines the edition of Windows Vista that you can install from the disc.

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor can determine whether you have the hardware necessary to use specific features of a particular edition of Windows Vista. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a program that you can download and run on your computer to find out how ready it is for an upgrade. Your computer must be running Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista in order to run the program.

The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor download file is approximately 5 megabytes. The download time for the file is less than three minutes on a broadband connection and approximately 18 minutes on a 56-KB dial-up connection.

Download the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor.

You must purchase an upgrade for each computer on which you want to install a different edition of Windows Vista. You can purchase only one upgrade at a time. Visit windowsanytimeupgrade.com to purchase your additional upgrade.

You can use the same Windows Anytime Upgrade disc to upgrade the operating system on each computer.

You can read the Windows Vista End User License Agreements online from the Microsoft website.

Before you upgrade, close all open programs and save open files. The upgrade setup application will reboot your computer several times, so any unsaved work will be lost.

Except for when upgrading to the Windows Vista N editions, the upgrade process preserves your settings, programs, and saved files. As a standard precaution, we recommend that you back up your computer.

If you have a Windows Vista N edition, Windows Vista will be reinstalled during the upgrade. Your settings will be erased; however, your programs and files will be preserved. You should back up prior to upgrading.

Activation ensures that each Windows product is only installed on the limited number of computers (usually one) that is allowed in the software's end user license agreement (EULA). None of the information collected during product activation will be used to personally identify you. Activation is required.

You have a 30-day grace period in which to activate your Windows product installation. If the grace period expires and you have not completed activation, all features except the product activation feature will stop working.

Your computer will automatically attempt to connect to the Internet to activate. If your computer is not connected to the Internet, you will be prompted to activate by phone.

Yes. Only computers that have been activated have full access to Windows Vista features and can be upgraded with Windows Anytime Upgrade.

Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. Your edition of Windows Vista will be listed under Windows Edition.

Windows Anytime Upgrade is available on Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Home Basic N, and Windows Vista Business N editions.

You can upgrade only computers that are already running Windows Vista. The upgrade does not work for computers that are running earlier versions of Windows.

Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. Your system type will be listed in the System section.

No. Your upgrade disc must match your current system type; 32-bit upgrades are valid only for 32-bit systems, and 64-bit upgrades are valid only for 64-bit systems.

Yes, when purchasing your upgrade you will have an option to select a language that you want to receive your Windows Anytime Upgrade Pack in.

A 32-bit system requires a minimum of 11 gigabytes of temporary storage. A 64-bit system requires a minimum of 18 gigabytes of temporary storage. The temporary storage space is released after the upgrade process is complete.

The upgrade setup program checks your hard disk to ensure that you have enough free disk space. If you do not have enough hard disk space, the upgrade setup program exits, and you should free up the appropriate amount of space. When you're ready to restart the upgrade, insert your Windows Anytime Upgrade disc and click setup.exe if prompted in the Autoplay window.

To check your available hard disk space, click Start, and then click Computer. The free disk space is displayed in the Hard Disk Drives section.

Please reference the e-mail message you received at the time of purchase for the complete information on the return process.

North America: The standard shipping time is between 1 to 3 weeks.

You need administrator access to upgrade Windows Vista. To check your user access level, click Start, click Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety, and then click User Accounts. Your level of access is indicated underneath your user name.

Learn more about the characteristics of a Genuine Windows Anytime Upgrade purchase, visit the Microsoft How to Tell website.

Microsoft is modifying the end user license agreement for full packaged product versions of Windows Vista purchased through a retailer or from Microsoft, and then upgraded using Windows Anytime Upgrade. Under the terms of the modified license agreement, you are now granted the right to uninstall Windows Vista and then reinstall the operating system on a different computer. Provided you uninstall the operating system from your original computing device and do not share the license among multiple devices, you are no longer limited in the number of times that you may reassign the license to different devices. This modification is effective immediately, and will be included within future versions of the end user license agreement. All other terms of the end user license agreement apply to your use of the software.