MS - "OEM Vista on home built PCs is UNLICENSED"

Burnsy2023 said:
Why buy a copy if you don't care about being legal? By doing all of the things you suggest you may as well pirate, it'll be just as legal.

Burnsy
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I would struggle to activate it. It is not worth pirating OSes, it's worth the money to pay for an OS.

If however i decide to change components in my PC, i will do so and i will be happy knowing i paid for my OS, i won't submit to what is a farsical restriction.
 
V3g3tto said:
If however i decide to change components in my PC, i will do so and i will be happy knowing i paid for my OS, i won't submit to what is a farsical restriction.
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Hello V3g3tto, if you are someone that updates their system (Changes their motherboard) on quite a regular basis, then you would be far better of purchasing the Retail license. :)
 
Fire Wizard said:
Hello V3g3tto, I'm afraid we are not, certainly not in regards to the legal aspect side of things.



There is a difference between what you can do physically and what you can legally do
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Yes, but everyone claims i am wrong. Saying i can't do this or that, it's impossible.

A simple answer to my posts would have been:

"Yes, it's against the EULA and would be frowned upon, like the majority of things we all do, but you can do it if you wish to overlook the legal aspects"

Rather than along the lines of:

"You are wrong, don't spread lies, you can't do that, it's tied to the motherboard, you need to spend another £200 on a new OS"
 
V3g3tto said:
Telling people you physically can't do it is incorrect.
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Anything other then legal activities are not to be discussed on the forums and that's why it's phrased as it is.

I suggest you stop advocating breaking the law, this thread will not last a lot longer if you continue.

Burnsy
 
Fire Wizard said:
Hello V3g3tto, if you are someone that updates their system (Changes their motherboard) on quite a regular basis, then you would be far better of purchasing the Retail license. :)
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I recently built my PC and will keep this motherboard for a long time. It's the princple i'm arguing with. Like i said in previous posts, i'm no pirate, i am not doing any of the above, my license is legit and above board and well within the EULA, has been isntalled once and ocne only, on this unmodified PC.

However, i'm stating that it can, physically, be done.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
Anything other then legal activities are not to be discussed on the forums and that's why it's phrased as it is.

I suggest you stop advocating breaking the law, this thread will not last a lot longer if you continue.

Burnsy
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It is against the law to install music from a music CD, purchased legally, onto your PC. This matter cannot be discussed.
 
V3g3tto said:
It is against the law to install music from a music CD, purchased legally, onto your PC. This matter cannot be discussed.
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That's a little different as that clause in the Designs, Copyright and patents act is being reviewed and is likely to be repealed in the near future due to it being out of date.

Burnsy
 
But the idea is the same. Legitimately backing up music you purchased onto your PC as a means of storage, as CD's get damaged is seen as acceptable.

On the contrary, re-installing Vista on the same PC as motherboards get damage isn't.

I know why it's tied to the motherboard, 9/10 a new motherboard is usually a new system, but morally, innocently upgrading a PC component is surely acceptable reason to re-install?

They both are the same. They are both against the law. But one of them is done by just about everyone on this forum at the risk of misjudging people.

Edit: Giving people technical advice isn't wrong. Telling people a gun will kill people isn't wrong. Using the gun to kill people is, but telling people what you can do with it isn't. That's all i'm doing and not advocating it (though i may sound like that as i find new information). Sharing what information i've spent weeks painstakingly researching. Unsurprisngly, Microsoft also have a hard time getting the facts across with many representatives giving compelte opposite tales.

As i said, i'm completely legal right now and have stated there's no excuse to pirate OS's in any way as they are worth the money for what they provide.
 
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Oh, and back to my original reply to the OP, here is the guide to make a bootable DVD of Vista 64-bit if you have yet to order it.

And incase anyones worried, the downlaod is supported by microsoft as legal:

Microsoft provides genuine users who purchase license and product key online to download the setup package directly from its content delivery partner’s digitalrivercontent.net server. In fact, anybody use the direct download links to download the Vista installer directly from Microsoft to ensure the copy is clean, unmodified and untampered with.

Make a bootable Vista DVD
 
V3g3tto said:
But the idea is the same. Legitimately backing up music you purchased onto your PC as a means of storage, as CD's get damaged is seen as acceptable.

On the contrary, re-installing Vista on the same PC as motherboards get damage isn't.

...snip...
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erm ... from the numerous threads on this on the forum if your motherboard is damaged, i.e. has broken and you have had to RMA it, then you can use the OEM copy against the replacement.

You cannot use it against the motherboard if its a non-RMA replacement, i.e. an upgrade.
 
Yes, but then snip the very next bit that explains that:

I know why it's tied to the motherboard, 9/10 a new motherboard is usually a new system, but morally, innocently upgrading a PC component is surely acceptable reason to re-install?

Oh yeh, i wouldn't put that music of yours on another PC, it's even more illegal, regardless of if your motherboard is damaged. Oh wait, that's different...
 
I've had to phone MS up SO many times for manual activiations of my OEM licence !!

same mobo - just a few memory, graphics card upgrades etc !

but what really ANNOYS me is that changes in your bios - can make windows reactivate !! for instance, enabling/disabling the 2nd Network card controller on your mobo, enabling/disabling on-board 3rd party RAID controllers etc ... these are not hardware changes as such .. but the OS is not clever enough to realise it ....

I've a mind to turn-on then turn-off when not using it my 2nd Network controller on my mobo to drive MS mad ... but I can't be bothered - does anyone else have problems with on-board controllers, changes of bios settings meaning re-activiation etc ?

Are we in our right to continually tweak whats enabled and disabled on our motherboards ? we are not physically changing the hardware
 
V3g3tto said:
Ok, researched this again:

The tied to motherboard thing is directly linked to activation. If it aint activated, you don't have a problem and can reinstall it over and over again, on a different machine if you want.

As i said above, i can install my OEM on my Dad's PC, no trouble, the disk doesn't know, i just couldn't activate it IF i already had before.

Right that's that cleared up.

Just like to point out i'm not going to do the above, but that everywhere stating the Vista is actually tied to your motherboard is wrong. Activation is.

Oh and for the record, yes changing motherboards will cause it to get angry, but erm...drivers? Changing a core component like that, the install settings you chose for Vista would no longer be viable, you'd kinda want to do a fresh isntall anyway.
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simple as this once u clicked on I AGREE, u have accepted the EULA which says it can be only installed on ONE device which means the motherboard.. being activated isn't the same as being licensed..

u really should read the EULA...
 
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Buckster said:
I've had to phone MS up SO many times for manual activiations of my OEM licence !!

same mobo - just a few memory, graphics card upgrades etc !

but what really ANNOYS me is that changes in your bios - can make windows reactivate !! for instance, enabling/disabling the 2nd Network card controller on your mobo, enabling/disabling on-board 3rd party RAID controllers etc ... these are not hardware changes as such .. but the OS is not clever enough to realise it ....

I've a mind to turn-on then turn-off when not using it my 2nd Network controller on my mobo to drive MS mad ... but I can't be bothered - does anyone else have problems with on-board controllers, changes of bios settings meaning re-activiation etc ?

Are we in our right to continually tweak whats enabled and disabled on our motherboards ? we are not physically changing the hardware
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it happened to me when i enabled raid but i can understand that because it doesn't see the drive the same as if raid was off...
 
Rainmaker said:
Hi guys,

I just called MS to ask about paying to upgrade Vista. I paid for OEM Vista Home Premium 32 bit, but wanted to upgrade to 64 bit (hopefully Ultimate). Having read some threads on here, I rang MS with my credit card in hand.

I was asked whether I was a licenced/registered Microsoft System Builder. I said no, I was a home enthusiast who had built a PC and purchased OEM/systembuilder Vista.

The immediate response was that one is NOT ALLOWED to purchase or install OEM software unless one is already registered with MS as a system builder or OEM. The guy then stated that my copy of Vista was unlicensed and that I should uninstall it immediately.

I got a little irritated and asked why, having not been informed of this at the point of sale, and having PAID MS for the licence, I was now being told I had to pay out for a retail version instead. The guy just said again that my copy of Vista is unlicensed and that I needed to buy a retail copy and bin my OEM version as I was breaking the EULA and the law.

He then asked for my home phone number and email address and said I should speak to the supplier who sold me Vista. I stated my incredulity and disdain (politely I add) and told him not to bother as I would shred Vista's install DVD and return to Fedora Linux permanently if that's how MS treat customers. He said that was fine(!).

So there you go. I take a gamble on Vista, actually like it, then MS bend me over and tell me to stick to Linux. Bravo MS. Maybe I should have stuck to pirating operating systems like what seems to be 90% of the world and not paid MS a penny. You try to do it right, you pay out and still get shafted. No refund. Thanks a bunch hey.
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Yeah it's stuff like this that make me glad I just phone up and say yes to everything if they ask and get a new key after an "upgrade" of USB device or adding new hardware that knocks activation out.

They screw you so you screw them, an eye for an eye :)
 
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