OEM Vista Rumours

divine` · 1 Mar 2007 at 01:23

I've been hearing that an OEM Vista license will only install on a specific hardware set up and should you tinker and change something inside your PC you will not only need a reinstall but a whole new license for another £70+ :confused:

Truth in that?

Tute · 1 Mar 2007 at 01:27

Rather than regurgitate information it's probably best if you have a look in a couple of threads.

I have Vista OEM, not installed because of a HDD fault, but when I did have it installed I didn't activate until I was happy and done tinkering with settings.

Even if it fails to activate, as long as you don't change motherboard (in the case of the OEM) - Microsoft are obliged to sort it out for you. It only takes a phone call.

bledd · 1 Mar 2007 at 06:17

thats how xp oem was too, and all windows

one per pc

Burnsy2023 · 1 Mar 2007 at 09:20

Tute said:
Even if it fails to activate, as long as you don't change motherboard (in the case of the OEM) - Microsoft are obliged to sort it out for you. It only takes a phone call.

It doesn't matter what WGA does, as long as you abide by the licence, mS have to activate you.

Burnsy

Meatball · 1 Mar 2007 at 10:21

divine_madness said:
I've been hearing that an OEM Vista license will only install on a specific hardware set up and should you tinker and change something inside your PC you will not only need a reinstall but a whole new license for another £70+

Truth in that?

OEM software is tied to the original PC it was installed upon. You can change other hardware apart from the motherboard and still opide your license

esoteric · 1 Mar 2007 at 11:08

I've just reinstalled Vista on the same machine and everything is okay.

awaybreaktoday · 1 Mar 2007 at 11:29

If cahnging your motherboard say change was due to faulty motherboard and MS will provide with new code.

Gopher_By_Fende · 1 Mar 2007 at 14:47

jesus christ, how many more threads are we gonna have about this?

BubbySoup · 1 Mar 2007 at 14:55

Now that they have found his tomb, hundreds I expect

Greenlizard0 · 1 Mar 2007 at 15:47

BubbySoup said:
Now that they have found his tomb, hundreds I expect

Aye the poor man is going to be inundated...

ossie bacchus · 1 Mar 2007 at 16:21

....errrr! Sooooo if I buy a retail version can I swap motherbrds ect???

:confused:

Meatball · 1 Mar 2007 at 16:23

ossie bacchus said:
....errrr! Sooooo if I buy a retail version can I swap motherbrds ect???

The vista RETAIL license allows you to transfer your license to another PC (ie. as many hardware changes as you want) AS LONG as your copy is only installed on one pc at a time

wormvortex · 1 Mar 2007 at 16:46

ossie bacchus said:
....errrr! Sooooo if I buy a retail version can I swap motherbrds ect???

yeah you can but at 3X as much youre better off buying a new OEM if worst comes to worst. Don't forget theres a chance you can blag it and get a new code for free

Corasik · 1 Mar 2007 at 20:23

MS sometimes reset the online activation when you call them, other times they give you a code to type in... But your still using the same license key, and if you reinstall later 'online' activation should work again (In general).

Even XP/Vista retail editions will fail online activation if you change too much of your hardware spec, although Vista seems totally paranoid about minor changes MS really need to dial the protection down a notch, but according the their CEO they are planning to dial it up further.

Main difference with the Retail editions is 1) they reset the activation database every 120 days, so you get a free reinstall every 3 months, and secondly they are supposed to ask a lot less questions when you do a telephone reactivation of Retail.

Still is Retail worth 3x the price of OEM.. Thats up to you.

csmager · 1 Mar 2007 at 20:39

Corasik said:
Even XP/Vista retail editions will fail online activation if you change too much of your hardware spec, although Vista seems totally paranoid about minor changes MS really need to dial the protection down a notch, but according the their CEO they are planning to dial it up further.

As far as I've heard, they've turned the threshold level up in Vista, not down. i.e. the same hardware change that causes a re-activation in XP would not cause one in Vista.

Corasik · 1 Mar 2007 at 21:03

csmager said:
As far as I've heard, they've turned the threshold level up in Vista, not down. i.e. the same hardware change that causes a re-activation in XP would not cause one in Vista.

Never seen a bios update reset an XP activation, but it seems to reset Vista's activation, not to mention Vista deactivating itself because it takes a dislike to your software (Ok rootkits are bad, but deactivating your OS because you got something unwanted installed whats the deal there?).

No, seems like Vista is a lot more 'sensitive' to change than XP ever was.

TC1 · 2 Mar 2007 at 15:24

My mate wants to know what he has to type into search to see how long he has before he has to activate his copy?

killer_uk · 2 Mar 2007 at 15:28

You can check my going to Control Panel -> System. Tells you at the bottom. Is that what you mean?

modo77 · 2 Mar 2007 at 15:32

csmager said:
As far as I've heard, they've turned the threshold level up in Vista, not down. i.e. the same hardware change that causes a re-activation in XP would not cause one in Vista.

They have.

TC1 · 2 Mar 2007 at 16:01

killer_uk said:
You can check my going to Control Panel -> System. Tells you at the bottom. Is that what you mean?

No. I know about that. I am sure there ia another way to check too.