Windows 7 Professional

[Bahumat]

Anyone know the cheapest place to buy a copy of Windows 7 Professional?

I'd need the full version, not OEM or Upgrade. So far I have checked overclockers, ebuyer, amazon and play but they are all about the same price. Wondered if you guys knew anywhere else to try?

 

[Bahumat]

Oh the reason I wanted Professional over Home, was for the 'Run as Windows XP' mode. Can't see why the Home edition does not have this.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare/default.aspx

 

[Ch3tan]

What's wrong with an OEM copy?

 

[nath]

You're not planning on using the XP mode for games are you? I pre-ordered Pro at the cheap price just for that but I've never found a use for it.

 

[Bahumat]

What's wrong with an OEM copy?

What I would like to do is play around with VMware. I've never used it before, but a few screenshots I've seen showed the operating system being installed, along with an activation key being entered.
I thought that with an OEM copy, you only get 3 installations? So when the VMware activates the install, would it somehow use up '1' of my '3' OEM installs?

You're not planning on using the XP mode for games are you? I pre-ordered Pro at the cheap price just for that but I've never found a use for it.

It did cross my mind, but thought it may come in handy for other programs. Not that I know what these programs would be, but just on the off chance.

 

[Zenith.UK]

What's wrong with an OEM copy?

Got to go with Ch3tan here. There is nothing different between a retail version and an OEM version apart from less packaging.
I also don't understand what's wrong with an upgrade version. You can pick up a legitimate upgrade version for £38.95.
Windows 7 Professional - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit edition

The only requirement is that you are a school, college or university student, or a parent of a student.

 

[Bahumat]

Got to go with Ch3tan here. There is nothing different between a retail version and an OEM version apart from less packaging.
I also don't understand what's wrong with an upgrade version. You can pick up a legitimate upgrade version for £38.95.
Windows 7 Professional - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit edition

The only requirement is that you are a school, college or university student, or a parent of a student.

I am none of the above, and my copy of Vista is questionable

 

[PLightstar]

Nothing wrong with the OEM version also this works far better than the windows 'xp mode'

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

If you're planning on having more than 16GB of memory you'll need at least Pro but this probably isn't an issue. Just throwing it out there to look like a smart arse.

I have my own subs to Technet, so don't really tend to use shop-bought, other than OEM licenses which come with laptops.

 

[Bahumat]

Nothing wrong with the OEM version also this works far better than the windows 'xp mode'

cool - but to install the operating system on a virtual machine, don't I have to use an activation code? So would that not use up the 3 installs you get on OEM?

 

[Bodhi]

If you are installing under VMware XP Mode will be all but useless, as MS don;t support nested vm's (i.e a virtual machine in a virtual machine). In order to do that you need VMware Workstation, which will (after v7) let you install ESX 4.0 as a VM. I did this upstairs about 6 months ago, surprisingly easy to set up.

We are VMware Partners at work so I get all the software, only thing you might have to pay for is VMware Workstation (circa £100 iirc), which is one of the most useful applications I have. It will run literally anything. You can use the demo version of vSphere no issues (60 day license, I believe it's 60 days of use rather than installation too).

 

[Bahumat]

Bodhi what I basically wanna do is have my normal desktop pc running a few VM's so that I can network them, then play around etc. I don't think I would run VM's within VM's.

Would I need to authenticate the Windows 7 installations on the VM's? I assumed Yes, so that's what put me off the OEM copies due to the limited installations

 

[TdC]

Bodhi what I basically wanna do is have my normal desktop pc running a few VM's so that I can network them, then play around etc. I don't think I would run VM's within VM's.

Sun's (or Oracle's I should now say) Virtual Box is your free friend. You can set up the networking so that the VM's can see each other but not the outside world, which kind of ensures you won't have to validate/activate. Ofc, if Mickysoft allows that to work...I don't really know.

 

[Bahumat]

Ahh that sounds good, cheers TdC

 

[JingleBells]

Sun's (or Oracle's I should now say) Virtual Box is your free friend. You can set up the networking so that the VM's can see each other but not the outside world, which kind of ensures you won't have to validate/activate. Ofc, if Mickysoft allows that to work...I don't really know.

If you want to go down the VMWare route and you've a completely spare machine you can use VMWare ESXi too I believe