digitalsoft Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 I know theres probably many threads talking about OEM versions of vista but i dont have time to check... Let me get this right... Vista OEM's can only be installed on 1 computer, and you cant change hard drive or CPU as it counts as a new computer or something... whats stops you from installing vista on a new computer? activation key? my reason for asking is that i want to buy vista for my desktop machine but i want to upgrade my PC in a few months so i dont want to have to buy 2 copies of vista, if you get what i mean... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hulkachopblocker Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 I know theres probably many threads talking about OEM versions of vista but i dont have time to check...Let me get this right... Vista OEM's can only be installed on 1 computer, and you cant change hard drive or CPU as it counts as a new computer or something... whats stops you from installing vista on a new computer? activation key? my reason for asking is that i want to buy vista for my desktop machine but i want to upgrade my PC in a few months so i dont want to have to buy 2 copies of vista, if you get what i mean... I bought XP pro OEM. I changed cpu's and hard drives. What ends up happening is it can only be activated so many times. After that you have to call MS and tell them whats going on. What they did with me is reset how many times it could be activated again. So at the very worst you have to call them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Pocius 406 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 You can change the HDD and the cpu, It's the motherboard it's "SUPPOSED" to be tied to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hulkachopblocker Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 You can change the HDD and the cpu, It's the motherboard it's "SUPPOSED" to be tied to. Nah, I changed mother boards to. My copy of XP is 5 years old. I have made a ton of upgrades since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J2733 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 think vistas different though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Pocius 406 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Nah, I changed mother boards to. My copy of XP is 5 years old. I have made a ton of upgrades since then. Try it with Vista and get back to me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardsim7 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Just tell them you sent your PC for a factory repair :p et voila!! :D -Rich- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpu121 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Nah, I changed mother boards to. My copy of XP is 5 years old. I have made a ton of upgrades since then. XP OEM is not comparable. Microsoft have tightened up the rules on OEM copies of Vista such as restricting them to Authorised System Builders only and only to be sold to consumers as part of a ocmplete system. Whether they actually enforce these rules we won't find out until it's released and somebody tries - until then you shouldn't assume because XP OEM allowed you to upgrade, that Vista OEM will also allow you to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFD07 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Vista seems to be much more restrictive. There was a post last night from somebody who installed a final (non-OEM) Business copy, reformatted and re-installed it onto the same system only to have it tell him that his license has already been used. Microsoft was able to reset it but I'm worried that they might not be as kind with the OEM version. I often like to reformat to get a "fresh" install (on the same system) once things start to get bogged down a year or two after use. I highly doubt you'll be able to install it on a 2nd PC - I'm worried that if something happens to my OEM install I won't be able to re-install it on the SAME machine :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Pocius 406 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Vista seems to be much more restrictive. There was a post last night from somebody who installed a final (non-OEM) Business copy, reformatted and re-installed it onto the same system only to have it tell him that his license has already been used. Microsoft was able to reset it but I'm worried that they might not be as kind with the OEM version. I often like to reformat to get a "fresh" install (on the same system) once things start to get bogged down a year or two after use.I highly doubt you'll be able to install it on a 2nd PC - I'm worried that if something happens to my OEM install I won't be able to re-install it on the SAME machine :( Well, I just image my machine and up in running in no time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagamer34 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 XP OEM is not comparable. Microsoft have tightened up the rules on OEM copies of Vista such as restricting them to Authorised System Builders only and only to be sold to consumers as part of a ocmplete system. Whether they actually enforce these rules we won't find out until it's released and somebody tries - until then you shouldn't assume because XP OEM allowed you to upgrade, that Vista OEM will also allow you to. They are certainly doing that buy selling OEM copies of Vista on Newegg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
profets Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 i'm curious about this too, and found this interesting article from the other day: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2087792,00.asp "In addition, users should still be subject to the same familiar re-activation restrictions as users of a retail Vista license and Windows XP, a spokeswoman said. Users can alter the PC's hardware substantially, but they will be forced to reactivate ? not repurchase the OEM software ? if they do, she said. " i'm not sure exactly what theyre saying, specifically mentioning that retail vista users are forced to reactivate, but not repurchase the OEM software.. did they mean that oem vista users are forced to reactivate if they make a change, but do not have to repurchase the oem software? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mezoko Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 It'll be interesting to see what happens has I don't want to pay for a full version especially considering I manly will only use it for learning how vista works, etc... Due to the fact I got my own little business going and its hard to repair vista computer without any vista experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theyarecomingforyou Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 What I most want to know is if I buy Vista 32bit OEM will I be able to run the 64bit version if I was to get a copy of the disk, or is the licence specifically limited to 32bit? I know they only ship the 32bit version in the package but is the lack of a 64bit version a deliberate omission or a limitation? Vista Ultimate OEM is only ?112 (and Home Premium ?66), so it's a lot better price than I was expecting - I really want to get it but I don't want to buy the 32bit version and find out that I will not be able to run the 64bit version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midway40 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 They are certainly doing that buy selling OEM copies of Vista on Newegg! I got Vista HP OEM ordered through NewEgg. The last time I purchased OEM was WinXP Home and they made you buy a piece of hardware also. At that time I bought a IDE cable for $1, lol. I was surprised that didn't happen this time. I plan to keep this computer for a while so I will get my money's worth out of it anyway and do not plan to upgrade either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kemistry Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 So how does this work with Dell OEM Vista versions? In the past I could install Dell XP Pro OEM on as many Dell machines has i needed without activation.. Will the same still apply for Vista? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djDaemon Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 i'm not sure exactly what theyre saying, specifically mentioning that retail vista users are forced to reactivate, but not repurchase the OEM software.. did they mean that oem vista users are forced to reactivate if they make a change, but do not have to repurchase the oem software? If you change the MB, you won't be able to activate Vista online. You will, however, be able to call MS and activate that way, provided Vista is only installed on one machine at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Septimus Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 And if they ask, just say you replaced everything bar the motherboard (or just cpu/gfx) and they won't give you any hassle over that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djDaemon Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 And if they ask, just say you replaced everything bar the motherboard (or just cpu/gfx) and they won't give you any hassle over that. Or you could just tell them that you replaced a fried motherboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Pocius 406 Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 If you change the MB, you won't be able to activate Vista online. You will, however, be able to call MS and activate that way, provided Vista is only installed on one machine at a time. By what meands do you know this? Before I buy my OEM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raa Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 I've done this a lot of times. It works, guaranteed :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crs Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Is it more strict than before in XP? I used to replace the processor, memory, and slave hard drives all of the time. Graphics cards you name it. I only kept the same MB and OEM xp worked fine. Is this the same in Vista? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djDaemon Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 By what meands do you know this? Before I buy my OEM. On Friday, I read an article in which the author installed Vista thrice on three completely different (unique MB, CPU, video card, etc) systems. The online activation failed him, at which point he had to call and was forced to talk with customer support. They gave him the info he needed, and he was able to activate on the "new" hardware. He did this re-activation for each system. I cannot remember where it was that I read this, however. If I find it, I'll be sure to provide a link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raa Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 From what we know so far, yes. In fact more so, you should be able to change more components without triggering an activation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TogaForComfort Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 I'm sure it will be similar to XP no matter what the License says. I remember when XP came out, everyone thought the license was very restrictive, however MS do not seem to be too strict on the rules. Yesterday I used my OEM XP disk that was on my PC (which is now running Vista) and installed it on my grandfathers PC, activation failed. I rang the activation line answered a few questions (which were automated) and I was given the activation code. All you have to do is inform MS that the OS is not installed on any other machines. As Daemon has mentioned, this seems to be the case with Vista Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts