I just upgraded 9 computers in my store from XP to Windows 7 Pro using the download from Digital River Content.
What is the most cost effective way for me to license these? I've called the Microsoft Volume Licensing center and they quoted me $113 but told me I would have to re-install on all the computers. I can't take the store down for that long again but the guy on the phone didn't speak English clearly enough to help me find alternatives.
What other options do I have?
Are the systems just running the trial of Windows 7 right now, or are they already licensed? If they're already licensed, why do you need to switch to Volume Licensing? If they're not licensed already, can you not just type in the VLK that you have (or have you not purchased it yet?)?
If you already have the VLK, and can't just activate the existing installs with the key, and you DO have to reinstall with VLK-compatible media... then that's what you'll have to do.
Are the systems all the same hardware? If so, then this will be extremely easy. You can install the VLK image on a single system, configure it out how you want (i.e. software settings and such), then you can take an image of that install using imaging software such as CloneZilla. Then, on each of the other systems, you can apply that image onto the other systems, pre-configured. The only thing you would have to reconfigure is the computer name for it to connect to your network correctly.
If you had more time, I'd suggest setting up an imaging server with something like FOG (Free Opensource Ghost), then you would be able to deploy images over a network, rather than having to go to each individual machine and apply the images one at a time (unless you had multiple drives to put the source image on).
Those are my suggestions, and IMO are better suited for a business need.
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