Box Shots of Retail Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade

Anytime Upgrade, anytime that you're at the shop.

Earlier this week we were able to confirm with Microsoft that it will be offering Windows 7 Anytime Upgrades at retail, not just through an online authentication process.

Now that we know all about the retail packaging for the disc-based installs, it’s time to take a look at what the Anytime Upgrade boxes will look like. AeroXperience snapped a few pictures of the upgrade boxes for Ultimate and Professional.

As Microsoft told us earlier, the Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade retail boxes will not come packed with any media inside, but rather only hold a product key for buyers to punch into their Windows 7 installs to initiate the upgrade.

• Consumers will have the opportunity to purchase a Media-Less Key (MLK) at Retail.
• When they return to their PC, the customer will use the same WAU Tool to manually enter the Product Key printed on the MLK.
• Once the key is entered, the WAU Tool will initiate the upgrade process (EULA acceptance, feature unlock, etc.)

Why such elaborate packing is required just for a few slips of paper is beyond us, but at least it’ll be identifiable as a Microsoft Windows product when sitting on the store shelves.