Formatting a friends computer

[dmd3x]

If I use my Vista Ultimate disc to install Windows on my friends computer, and I use his Home Premium license key that's on the side of his computer, will it work as a Home Premium installation? He can't find his original disc.

[StevoJD]

It will, you'll have to ring MS to activate it though (If it's an OEM Key). I've done it several times and it's worked.

[dmd3x]

Cool. Does this require a phone call or can the activation be done over the internet?

[StevoJD]

It requires a phone call. The number will be presented to you when it asks to activate over phone, the automated phone system won't work, so you'll have to be transferred to an Indian tech support guy and dictate the key to him so he can activate it, it works though.

[jesseinsf]

Your disk also needs to be an OEM disk. Did your Vista disk come from a computer you bought? If so, then the Ultimate disk is an OEM disk. Now MS integrated all versions on the type of disk you have. Retail, OEM, Volume License, Student and MSDN are the different types of disks. OEM Keys will only work with an OEM disk, Retail key will only work with the retail disk and so forth. He should not have to call MS to activate if the hardware has not changed. You should be able to Activate over the internet :) If for some reason you have to call MS to activate then remove a piece of hardware like the sound card, reformat again, call Microsoft again to activate, then reinstall the sound card....you then will have to reactivate for the last time which can now be done over the internet. From Now on you will be able to reactivate online as well as never have to call MS again unless you change hardware during a reformat. Usually if you change hardware within the same installation you will have to then re-activate which can be done online.

Edited July 4, 2008 by jesseinsf

[Aasum]

Your disk also needs to be an OEM disk. Did your Vista disk come from a computer you bought? If so, then the Ultimate key is an OEM key. Now MS integrated all versions on the type of disk you have. Retail, OEM, Volume License, Student and MSDN are the different types of disks. OEM Keys will only work with an OEM disk, Retail key will only work with the retail disk and so forth. He should not have to call MS to Activate if the hardware has not changed. You should be able to Activate over the internet :)

That was true for XP but not Vista thank god :)

[jesseinsf]

That was true for XP but not Vista thank god :)

MS integrates all version onto one disk which XP didn't...BUT serial numbers are different on each type of disk. The types of disks are Retail, OEM, Volume License, Student, MSDN and "Upgrade" disks. If I'm wrong then please show me the link that clearly explains everything. Thank you:)

[Gotenks98]

MS integrates all version onto one disk which XP didn't...BUT serial numbers are different on each type of disk. The types of disks are Retail, OEM, Volume License, Student, MSDN and "Upgrade" disks. If I'm wrong then please show me the link that clearly explains everything. Thank you:)

There is no retial, upgrade or oem disk unless you mean royalty oem disk like say dell, gateway hp. All versions of vista except enterprise are on the same disk. So you can use any disk to install if you are using the key on the side of the pc. Now if you are using the royalty oem disk it usually forces you into what it is labeled as unless you alter the files on the disk then you get to choose your version. As for as how the upgrade works it also doesnt matter what disk it is unless it is royalty oem. It is the key you enter that determines if it is an upgrade or not, just as the key will determine if you can use ultimate, business, or ultimate. They have drastically changed how vista installs with different keys compared to xp where the media and the key had to match. They did that so that upgrading to a higher version would be easier. All for the money I suppose. :devil:

[dmd3x]

So if you had a Vista Home Premium disk, you use that and enter a Business key, it would install the Business version without having to download a bunch of crap?

[portauthority]

So if you had a Vista Home Premium disk, you use that and enter a Business key, it would install the Business version without having to download a bunch of crap?

Yes. If you delete SOURCES\PID.TXT off the CD (by reburning it of course) it will actually ask you to select the edition to install and prompt for key.

Everything except ENTERPRISE is on the same DVD.