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Windows 7, a major release of the Microsoft Windows operating system, has been released in several editions since its original release in 2009. Only Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate were widely available at retailers (including Enterprise for big businesses, companies etc.).[1] The other editions focus on other markets, such as the software development world or enterprise use. All editions support 32-bit IA-32 CPUs and all editions except Starter support 64-bit x64 CPUs. 64-bit installation media are not included in Home-Basic edition packages, but can be obtained separately from Microsoft.
According to Microsoft, the features for all editions of Windows 7 are stored on the machine, regardless of which edition is in use.[2] Users who wish to upgrade to an edition of Windows 7 with more features were able to use Windows Anytime Upgrade to purchase the upgrade and to unlock the features of those editions, until it was discontinued in 2015.[1][2][3] Microsoft announced Windows 7 pricing information for some editions on June 25, 2009, and Windows Anytime Upgrade and Family Pack pricing on July 31, 2009.[1][4][5]
Mainstream support for all Windows 7 editions ended on January 13, 2015, and extended support ended on January 14, 2020. After that, the operating system ceased receiving further support.[6] Professional and Enterprise volume licensed editions had paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) available until at most January 10, 2023.[7] Since October 31, 2013, Windows 7 is no longer available in retail, except for remaining stocks of the preinstalled Professional edition, which was officially discontinued on October 31, 2016.[8]
The main editions also can take the form of one of the following special editions:
In-place upgrade from Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 to Windows 7 is supported if the processor architecture and the language are the same and their editions match (see below).[1][3][21] In-place upgrade is not supported for earlier versions of Windows; moving to Windows 7 on these machines requires a clean installation, i.e. removal of the old operating system, installing Windows 7 and reinstalling all previously installed programs. Windows Easy Transfer can assist in this process.[1][3][22][23] Microsoft made upgrade SKUs of Windows 7 for selected editions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. The difference between these SKUs and full SKUs of Windows 7 is their lower price and proof of license ownership of a qualifying previous version of Windows. Same restrictions on in-place upgrading applies to these SKUs as well.[24] In addition, Windows 7 is available as a Family Pack upgrade edition in certain markets, to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium only. It gives licenses to upgrade three machines from Vista or Windows XP to the Windows 7 Home Premium edition. These are not full versions, so each machine to be upgraded must have one of these qualifying previous versions of Windows for them to work.[25] In the United States, this offer expired in early December 2009.[26] In October 2010, to commemorate the anniversary of Windows 7, Microsoft once again made Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack available for a limited time, while supplies lasted.[27]
There are two possible ways to upgrade to Windows 7 from an earlier version of Windows:
The table below lists which upgrade paths allow for an in-place install. Note that in-place upgrades can only be performed when the previous version of Windows is of the same architecture. If upgrading from a 32-bit installation to a 64-bit installation or downgrading from 64-bit installation to 32-bit installation, a clean install is mandatory regardless of the editions being used.
Version and its specific edition of Windows to upgrade from | Edition of Windows 7 to upgrade to | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Home Basic | Home Premium | Professional | Enterprise | Ultimate | |
Vista Home Basic | In-place | In-place | Clean | Clean | In-place |
Vista Home Premium | Clean | In-place | Clean | Clean | In-place |
Vista Business | Clean | Clean | In-place | In-place | In-place |
Vista Enterprise | Clean | Clean | Clean | In-place | Clean |
Vista Ultimate | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean | In-place |
XP | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean |
2000/Me and earlier | Ineligible | Ineligible | Ineligible | Ineligible | Ineligible |
Microsoft supports in-place upgrades from a lower edition of Windows 7 to a higher one, using the Windows Anytime Upgrade tool.[1] There are currently three retail options available (though it is currently unclear whether they can be used with previous installations of the N versions),[30] however there are no family pack versions of the Anytime Upgrade editions. It was possible to use the Product Key from a Standard upgrade edition to accomplish an in-place upgrade (e.g. Home Premium to Ultimate).[31][32]
1 Available in retail, and at the Microsoft Store
Features | Starter | Home Basic | Home Premium | Professional | Enterprise | Ultimate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Licensing scheme | OEM licensing | Retail and OEM licensing in emerging markets[22] | Retail and OEM licensing | Retail, OEM and volume licensing[42] | Volume licensing[42] | Retail and OEM licensing |
Maximum physical memory (RAM) (32-Bit)[43] | 2 GB | 4 GB | ||||
Maximum physical memory (RAM) (64-Bit)[43] | — | 8 GB | 16 GB | 192 GB | ||
Maximum physical CPUs supported[lower-alpha 1][44] | 1 | 2 | ||||
Desktop Gadgets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Built-in AVCHD support[45] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Multiple monitors (High quality required)[vague] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Fast user switching | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Desktop Window Manager | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Windows Mobility Center | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Printing via the Internet | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Windows Parental Controls[46] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
64-bit edition available? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Windows Aero | No | Partial (desktop composition only) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Built-in DVD (MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital) decoder[3] | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Multi-touch | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Windows Media Center | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Windows Media Player remote media experience[lower-alpha 2] | No | No | Yes[47] | Yes[47] | Yes[47] | Yes[47] |
Premium games included | No | No | Yes | Yes[lower-alpha 3] | Yes[lower-alpha 3] | Yes |
HomeGroup support | Join only | Join only | Create or join | Create or join | Create or join | Create or join |
Back up to network with Backup and Restore Center[49] | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Act as host for Remote Desktop Services | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Dynamic disks[50] | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Encrypting File System | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Location-aware printing | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Presentation mode | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Group Policy[51] | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Offline files and folder redirection[51] | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Windows Server domain joining | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Windows XP Mode[lower-alpha 4] | No | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Software restriction policies | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Remote administration tools | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS)[lower-alpha 5] | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
AppLocker | No | No | No | Create policies, but cannot enforce | Create and enforce policies | Create and enforce policies |
Aero glass remoting[52][53] | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Windows Media Player multimedia redirection[53] | No | No | No | No | Yes[47] | Yes[47] |
Enterprise search scopes[51]: 130 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Federated search[54] | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
BitLocker Drive Encryption | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
BranchCache Distributed Cache | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Subsystem for Unix-based Applications | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Supports Multilingual User Interface packages | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) enhancements[51]: 130 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) licensed[55] | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
VHD booting[lower-alpha 6] | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Switching between any of the 37 available languages[57][58] | No | No | No | No | Yes[58] | Yes[58] |
Features | Starter | Home Basic | Home Premium | Professional | Enterprise | Ultimate |
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