How to Anytime Upgrade Windows 7 using a MSDN Key

 Windows Guides  No Responses »
Oct 192012
 

If you try putting an MSDN key into Anytime Upgrade, it will get started on the upgrade process then eventually fail telling you the key you entered cannot be used for Anytime Upgrade. The trick is to use some other key for the same version. This key, though, does not have to activate. I wanted to upgrade from Home to Professional. Luckily I had my Dell Laptop came with Windows 7 Professional.

  1. Run Anytime Upgrade with any key for the version you want to upgrade to (OEM keys work)
  2. After the computer restarts and updates, run slmgr.vbs /cpky to delete the product key
    slmgr.vbs is available on the internet, on Professional machines, and is probably located somewhere on the install medium
  3. Run slmgr.vbs /ipk XXXX-PRODUCT-KEY-HERE-XXXX
  4. Now slmgr.vbs /ato to activate it

** Each command may take a few minutes to finish even though it looks like it goes through instantly. A dialogue box will open with the results when the command has actually completed.

I highly recommend making a disk image before trying this process in case something breaks in the process. You can use Clonezilla, Acronis, Norton Ghost, among many other programs. There are plenty of guides online

Change Intel storage mode from IDE to RAID without reinstall

 Windows Guides  No Responses »
Feb 202011
 

If you want to setup a RAID array without having to reinstall Windows, all you need to do is install Intel Storage Matrix and update a few registry keys.

  1. Download and install Intel Storage Matrix.
  2. Modify the key named “Start” in each of these locations to 0
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\Msahci
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\iaStorV
    More info is available in the Microsoft KB article
  3. Restart your computer and enable AHCI in the BIOS.
    Your computer should restart without any problems. Once you’ve logged in you should see Windows installing drivers for AHCI.
  4. Open regedit again and change Start to 3
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\iaStorV
  5. Restart your computer and change your BIOS from AHCI to RAID. Windows should load without any problems and install the RAID drivers without having to reinstall.