There’s not too many ways of scoring a copy of Windows 7 on the cheap, but students do have one useful option: an upgrade to the Home Premium or Professional release for $49.95.
To be eligible for the special, you need to have a valid university or TAFE email address; Microsoft will validate it and send you a link (which suggests a download rather than a delivery; given the size of the Windows installer, make sure you’re on a high-speed campus link before you start installation). Once you’ve scored your copy, check out our exhaustive guide to Windows 7.Thanks Geoffrey!
Myles
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 1:15 PMI’d like to add. If you purchase the physical copy (which is a $14 top-up from that $49.95), you can do a clean install with that copy rather than just an upgrade offered by the download. So in a sense.. You’re buying the full version of Windows 7 for $63.95 (but I could be wrong)
Myles
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 2:16 PMMy bad. Went to do a bit more research and you have to have a full copy of Windows XP/Vista to do the clean install. Durh!
cammo
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 1:39 PMYou can turn the upgrade into a full version really easily by extracting the files and making it into a bootable iso with the free microsoft program oscdimg.
I did it yesterday and clean installed it with no other operating system installed.
google for guides
nandos
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 10:08 PM@cammo
i got vista ultimate x64 installed currently on my laptop. planning to buy/dl student upgrade windows 7 Pro x64 offer.
I am bit of noob, so could you please let me know how to do the clean install using upgrade student dl??
Do I just need to :
1. purchase and dl windows from microsfot site
2. make an iso from it
3. burn the iso to dvd (BTW how big the iso will be?? normal 4.7 GB DVD enough??)
4. boot the PC from the DVD
5. format the harddisk from there
6. continue with Windows 7 Installation
Could you please tell me if those steps are correct? I am scared screwing up my PC..
Thanks heaps in advance.
Mitch
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 2:31 PMJust bought the Professional upgrade.
For an additional ~$14 you can have a DVD shipped to you.
scott
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 3:52 PMbought it. couple of things i didn’t like:
1) my laptop has only 1GB of memory and it’s not enough to support all my software. that’s on me.
2) many software packages fail to install. tortoisesvn, quicktime. they just fail.
3) permissions – i hate, hate, hate mac for not letting me delete my own files. now windows has adopted the same policies. and without the unix prompt to remedy the situation. e.g. eraser couldn’t erase my files because it needed administrator access; um, i’m the administrator?
4) portable apps – couldn’t install under Program Files or on C: and save settings.
now, maybe some of these have solutions, or will have solutions. didn’t find anything immediately obvious on the web. i’ll wait until they fix these things, if ever.
for now, i’m happy enough to go back to xp pro. thanks, anyways, microsoft.
JB
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 5:33 PMIf you pay an extra $14 you can get a DVD version delivered. It gives you the option when you go through the checkout process.
Kaushik Chemburkar
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 9:43 PMThe picture on LH shows the Professional version but the one on offer is Home Premium Upgrade.
Myles
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 1:18 AMAfter you’ve registered your student ID to get the confirmation blablabla, you get the option to choose Windows 7 Home Premium or the Pro edition.
Rich
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 11:50 PM@scott
you can right click on eraser and ‘open as administrator’. Hopefully that solves your problem.
Ghery
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 12:56 PMis there a FULL installer or DVD for the student version of the Windows 7?
scott
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 5:28 AM@Rich – thanks! i’ll try it again when i reinstall.
as for the bootable dvd/usb drive…
to create an iso image:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/10/23/how-to-create-and-make-bootable-windows-7-iso-from-exe-plus-setup1-box-and-setup2-box-files/
to install from a dvd drive instead:
http://www.askvg.com/create-windows-7-bootable-usb-drive-or-dvd-using-official-windows-7-usbdvd-download-tool-from-microsoft/
my usb drive was just under 4gb, so once i made it bootable, i just copied the files over (from the first link).
installed first time, no problems. prob’ly picked up my copy of xp when i ran the install program?
LintHart
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 5:45 PMDo there download options or delivered option include 64-bit pro?
Bryan
Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 11:49 PMThe license u bought include 32bit and 64bit. But u have to choose 32bit or 64bit of dvd to be delivered or downloaded.
Bill Donald
Monday, November 2, 2009 at 12:29 PMActual charge is $51.45 & $14.42 total $65.87. An overcharge of $1.92 multiplied by however many sold?
calibrate
Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 2:09 AMJust installed my student version. When I try to enter the key windows gave me it errors saying this key can only be used in an upgrade..?
What can I do?
Thanks.
Luke
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 1:35 PMI have the same problem calibrate, and it appears you can either get your money back (possibly) or buy XP. Either way I’m not happy and I’ll never buy a Microsoft software product again (this was my first time).
It’s ironic that copy protection only screws over those who attempt to do the right thing, and getting a burnt version has none of the hassles associated with this upgrade version.
w.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 9:43 AMHi guys,
Apparantly my friend got windows 7 ULTIMATE for $50. He said it wasn’t advertised and he had to search for a long time for it and it’s only for students. He won’t tell me where he got it from!! Anyone have any ideas??
Doctor Allen
Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 5:14 AMThe terms of the license state that a Microsoft representative might contact you to verify enrollment as a student, and if you’re not a student you owe Microsoft the difference between what you paid and the full price of the retail version(s).
Anyone know if they’re following through on that?