Free Vista Upgrade Recieved, can I Upgrade Any Comp?

[BillyBatson]

A Gateway Laptop was puchased back in Janaury which came with a voucher for a free Widnows Vista Home Premium 32bit upgrade. I FINALLY recieved the upgrade disk last week. It comes with a key and everything but I was wondering will it only work on the gateway laptop or can i use it to upgrade a windows XP desktop computer???

 

[nerp]

Depends on the key. If the key is a straight up OEM key, it would probably work on a desktop.

 

[BillyBatson]

Originally posted by: nerp
Depends on the key. If the key is a straight up OEM key, it would probably work on a desktop.

how do i find out what kind of key it is?

 

[DrGreen2007]

is it a hologram type Microsoft DVD, or a gateway one...

 

[BillyBatson]

Originally posted by: DrGreen2007
is it a hologram type Microsoft DVD, or a gateway one...

it is not a hologram thena agin my windows XP pro cd is a gray dell one and it works lol cuz of the key

 

[BillyBatson]

???

 

[BillyBatson]

still seeking help

 

[John]

Yes, it will work on any pc, but I was under the impression that it was tied to the original pc since since you submitted your current XP key during the express upgrade offer. It's technically an OEM upgrade.

 

[BillyBatson]

Originally posted by: John
Yes, it will work on any pc, but I was under the impression that it was tied to the original pc since since you submitted your current XP key during the express upgrade offer. It's technically an OEM upgrade.

it's been so long since i submitted the info however i don't remember giving them the XP ley during the upgrade offer. I know i gave them the make, model, and the serial number of the PC and the code on the receipt but i do not remember giving them the windows XP key. Even then the only way for the 2 to match is if after installation the Vista key is registered online where gateway somehow checks that the vista key given matches the XP key used but with Vista upgrade you don't even need XP installed on the system, i would be doing a clean install not one over XP.

 

[John]

If you don't care about legalities then go ahead and use it on a different pc.

 

[Raduque]

WTH happened to my post?

I coulda swore I posted the following:

"Does the COA say "Gateway" on it?

Usually big-name OEMs say Dell, HP, Gateway somewhere on the COA"

If it doesn't say that on the COA, it's likely that you'll be able to use it on any computer.

 

[BillyBatson]

Originally posted by: Raduque
WTH happened to my post?

I coulda swore I posted the following:

"Does the COA say "Gateway" on it?

Usually big-name OEMs say Dell, HP, Gateway somewhere on the COA"

If it doesn't say that on the COA, it's likely that you'll be able to use it on any computer.

it does say gateway.
"Windows Vista Home Premium
GATEWAY"
at the top of the COA

 

[John]

The Vista Express Business Upgrade should state the following:

Licensed device This Windows Vista software replaces the Microsoft Windows XP software that is eligible for the upgrade to this software. You may install and use this software only on the device on which you acquired the Windows XP software.

 

[Raduque]

It's a Gateway-only key then, Billy. It's one of the ones that won't activate over the internet, but you can do phone activation. If you install it to a Gateway PC it won't need activation at all.

 

[BillyBatson]

Originally posted by: Raduque
It's a Gateway-only key then, Billy. It's one of the ones that won't activate over the internet, but you can do phone activation. If you install it to a Gateway PC it won't need activation at all.

so i might as well throw it away? =\