Navigating Microsoft licensing can be painful.
The other day I bought a new netbook with Windows 7 Starter pre-installed. I used it briefly, noted that an Anytime Upgrade to Home Premium was available for A$119 but thought I didn't need that because I already had a DVD with a full copy of Home Premium (not an OEM version). Mistakenly I thought that, like Office and a lot of other software, the licence would be good for one desktop and one lap-top. So, I blithely followed these instructions from Microsoft on how to copy a DVD to a USB key, booted the netbook from the USB and installed Windows Home Premium.
It all seemed to go smoothly, the installed happily accepted my product key and I busily started setting everything up the way I like it, installing all of my applications (in the process using up 70% of my monthly downloads with my ISP one week into the month!).
A few days later, a message popped up saying my copy of windows could not be activated. A bit of googling revealed that I could not, in fact, use that product key on two machines. One of my options was to enter a new product key, so I thought I should bit the bullet and spend the A$119 for the upgrade. Not so easy! All I could find online was a home premium upgrade for A$199. Of course, I still had the CD that came with the netbook, so at this point, I could have wiped the netbook clean, reinstall Windows 7 Starter and upgrade from there, but I was very reluctant to do so given the time it would take to set everything up again, not to mention the fact that I have very little data left for the month with my ISP.
So, instead I called Microsoft, figuring that they would be able to sell me a product key. Apparently not. Initially I was told that there was nothing I could do, but then I got onto a superviser who recommended going to a retail store, buying an upgrade to Home Premium and using the product key from that. Today I tried that: JB HiFI sell the upgrades for A$135. At this point, I wasn't worried too much about the extra A$15, I just wanted it all fixed.
I paid my money, entered the key and tried to activate. No go! The error this time said that the key could only be used for an upgrade not a clean install. Given that this was what Microsoft had told me to to, I was not happy and having just forked out A$135, I was not about to spend another A$299 to buy another full copy of Windows Home Premium, thereby spending A$434 (more than the netbook) on what I felt I should not have to pay more than A$119 for.
So, I called Microsoft again as well as exchanging tweets with @Windows7AU but made no progress. As far as I am concerned, I have paid for Windows 7 Starter and I have paid for an upgrade to Windows Home Premium, so Microsoft should be able to find a way to give me a product key to make it all work. I won't hold my breath.
As I am writing this, the CD that came with the netbook is copying onto a USB key and I suspect that I will have to bite the bullet and flush away what I've done and start again from scratch.
UPDATE: posted the resolution to this saga here.