BleepingComputer.com: will installing windows 7 void my warranty?

On my 8 month old laptop I have Windows Vista Home Premium. My friend has a copy of Windows 7 that I can use on mine.

I got the 2 year warranty with the laptop but I wonder if installing Windows 7 over my Windows Vista will void my laptop's warranty? Would dual-booting be able to prevent it if it will void the warranty?

I would rather not dual boot because I would have to keep the 10GB or so of Vista files as well; I would rather just do an Upgrade install and take all my files from the Windows.old folder and drag them onto my Windows 7 account.

Hope someone can help me... If I needed to make a rescue disk for Vista I could do that as well if it's easier, then just reinstall from the disk in case something goes wrong with the warranty?

Computer: HP dv6-1030us 64-bit Intel Core2Duo processor, 4 GB RAM

ETA: The laptop does have a recovery partition on it

This post has been edited by simpsonman3000: 09 February 2010 - 08:46 PM

What are the terms of the warranty? Read the fine print. Is the warranty from HP or from a retailer? Do you have a copy of the warranty?

Is your friend's copy of Win 7 unused? While it shouldn't violate your warranty, Windows 7 can only be installed on one machine; if it is already installed on your friend's machine, then you would be stealing it. And when you tried to validate, it would come up as an invalid installation.

I'm not sure if that is the case here, but I thought I would mention it.

The HP warranty says it "does not warrant software products, including any software products or the operating system preinstalled by HP" (I have an OEM copy)

I'm looking at my extended warranty (Office Depot) and it says it does not cover "repairs related to software, viruses or computer hardware that is added after the original purchase."

I wonder if this means that it won't cover any repairs related to Windows 7 itself, but it will still warrant any hardware issues?

ETA;

groovicus, on Feb 9 2010, 05:53 PM, said:

I'm not sure... if it turned out that it was and I didn't find out until after I tried to install it, would my warranty holder be able to know that I tried to install it and could void my warranty?

This post has been edited by simpsonman3000: 09 February 2010 - 09:03 PM

No, but when you go to validate the installation, it will not validate, and it will become inactive after 30 days. It may invalidate your friend's installation also. By any chance are you a college student?

EDIT: Your warranty just states that Office Depot is not responsible for anything software related that happens after the point of purchase. That includes things like Windows updates, etc. Their warranty covers hardware only. And no, your warranty holder wouldn't know, nor would they care.

No I'm not a college student.. I don't know much about the Windows 7 copy he has... I just asked him and he said that it's on a blank DVD. Is this bad?

I guess if my warranty holder doesn't care then I shouldn't worry

If Windows 7 is not on a holographic type disc, it may have been copied from an actual disk and therefore already registered. I would be dubious about it's authenticity.

looks like i'm going with taking an image of the vista drive and storing it on my external drive and just reinstalling that if something goes wrong and i need my warranty (because i;ve heard that HP might need the original installed OS to give support... don't ask me why)

if i have to reinstall this vista image over the windows 7 install at a later date, will it just delete the windows 7 install, or will it put all those documents back into a windows.old folder?

I'm just a dummy but I think this subject just might be getting into what is legal and what is not. This dog is walking side cross wise. Old Billy Gates is not going to allow folds to buy one of his systems and pass it around the neighbor hood. Booting with two systems, many do. Both systems must be legal. If you don't know don't do it.

Do you have a LEGAL key for Windows 7? One that has NEVER been used?

Or will you attempt to use one you have obtained elsewhere or from someone else? This is where you get into validation issues and as mentioned, theft issues.

I agree with what others have said. If you don't have your own valid never used before license key, don't install using your friends disk.

I just had a thought. When Vista was first released, computers which had XP were still being sold.
Some computer manufacturers were offering an upgrade to Vista. My mom was eligible for the upgrade from XP to Vista, but declined the offer.

I don't know if the same deal applies to Vista machines sold just before the release of Windows 7.

But it is something you could check out to see if it is offered, and if it is find out if you are eligible for the upgrade.

They did have free upgrade offers like that, but I'm pretty sure those have expired by now. I bought mine right before they started with the free upgrades (Summer 2009), but fortunately was able to get Windows 7 for free from my college's MSDN AA account.

As for the original poster's dilemma, you need to know if your friend's copy of Windows 7 is a valid, legal, unused copy obtained from Microsoft and not a hacked version (use the link Animal gave to determine if it is). I would be wary of anything other than a manufacturer's disk will all the anti-piracy stuff on it (i.e. don't use it if it is on a plain DVD regardless of what your friend tries to tell you).

The warranty on the physical computer itself is irrelevant. People install new operating systems all the time. It won't void the warranty. What matters is whether or not you have access to a valid, legal, unused copy of Windows 7.

thanks for the replies guys

i missed out on the free windows 7 upgrade offer by TWO WEEKS. i bought my laptop like june 14 and the offer started like june 28.

i asked my friend and he told me it is a regular copy of windows 7 that his cousin who works at a computer place got him. i have always wondered about those illegal copies floating around though... is microsoft able to catch you if you have those illegal copies? some friends of mine have told me they use them and its impossible for microsoft to disable them (something about always being able to reinstall a legal serial number...)

i think at this point what i'm going to go with is i'm just going to take a hard drive image of my laptop with the vista install, save it to an external HD, and install windows 7.