Anytime Upgrade Clean Install

[kf_man]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but since I was curious I had to find the answer: Can an Anytime Upgrade key be used to perform a clean install?

Well, the answer is now clear: You can't.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930375

I'm definitely not surprised by this, but I figured other people might be interested in this information.

[BadAndy]

That's no surprise since something I read stated that the upgrade is nothing more than a key that unlocks the features for the version you're upgrading to.

[kf_man]

Yeah, I wasn't surprised either, but I'm a clean install whore and was not surprised, but slightly disappointed. A clean install on my ThinkPad could now entail installing Windows XP, Windows Vista Business, and finally an upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate.

As far as the key just unlocking new features, this is true but they need to be installed from the original Vista disk. That means that it is in fact an upgrade and not just unlocking something that dormant.