Can Windows-7 Home Premium 32bit retail full install be used with a Window-7 Home Premium 32bit Upgrade license key?

Question

Can Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit retail full install be used with Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit Upgrade license key?

I bought a Windows-7 32 or 64bit Home Premium Upgrade DVD (upgrade from Vista). I complete the installation upgrade of Windows-7 32 bit Home Premium doing the following:

1. Install Windows 32bit Vista Basic DVD.
2. Use Vista serial product license key/COA
3. Install Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade (using the 32bit DVD, not the 64bit edition DVD, can only use one or the other)
4. Install of Windows 7 Home Premium checks for Vista already present and then once found OK offers the option of complete clean install, i.e. wiping the drive first.
5. Use Windows 7 Home Premium License product serial number license key/COA
6. All OK - valid install upgrade path

But, if I ever need to do this again, for quickness, I'd rather just use a full retail (non-OEM) Windows Home Premium 32bit install DVD from scratch and type in the Windows 7 Home Premium License product serial number license key/COA. Can I do this?

Done some searching already but the results are mixed up with OEM installs so not clear if I can or not, e.g.:

• http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/8fd4ab76-0fdb-4089-98e1-278e378cbba1/
• http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/install-of-windows-7-upgrade-disk-onto-computer/6bde78d0-b236-4a86-9f08-60bbfb585e92
• Install Retail Windows 7 Ultimate disk with Home Premium OEM CD Key

This one is closest, but does it apply to my specific question too:

• Can a valid Windows 7 Ultimate X64 upgrade license key be used to validate a full RTM install?

Answer 1

I just went through this last night on a fresh hard drive, and Windows 7 won't let you install an Upgrade version unless it detects a valid previous Windows install. There's a "workaround" for this by simply installing Windows 7 once (don't enter a product key when prompted), reboot, and then re-install again over the existing install, this time entering the product key. This avoids the "invalid product key" error you'd otherwise get from the first install on a clean drive.