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Going from Vista Business to Vista Ultimate

Ryland

Ryland

Platinum Member
I currently have Vista64 Business installed and want to "upgrade" the machine to Vista Ultimate. As far as I know all I need to do is put in the new key and hit tell it to verify it but is there a way in which I can then invalidate my Business key for use on a different machine?
 
From what I have read, if you buy an upgrade key... when you go to install the upgrade and put the new key it, it will deactivate your old key.

My experience was when trying to upgrade from xp to vista. It gave me a new key but the old key for xp was no good anymore so I couldn't move xp... I opted to get a "full install oem"...
 
Originally posted by: Ryland
I currently have Vista64 Business installed and want to "upgrade" the machine to Vista Ultimate. As far as I know all I need to do is put in the new key and hit tell it to verify it but is there a way in which I can then invalidate my Business key for use on a different machine?
Click to expand...

Uh I don't know what some of the things being discussed here mean, but I think I can
give you two definitive answers:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx...mand_options_explained
slmgr -upk
and it will erase the association of your currently installed product key with the system it is installed on. AFAIK it only does this "locally" on the PC itself. I don't think you can "force" the Microsoft activation servers to "forget" immediately that you have at least in the recent past had that key installed / activated on that system, and by "recent" I mean whenever the last time the system "phoned home" for windows update, et. al. However their activation system is said to "forget" that you've had a key installed on a given system within 60-90 days of that key not being used for activation / update etc. Furthermore even if the key has been very recently used on another system you should still be able to install and activate ANOTHER system using that same key. I think it may just fail to do that SEMI-AUTOMATICALLY ONLINE *IF* you do more than a small number of such new installations onto 'different' PCs within that 60-90 day window; I imagine the first such time you reinstall / switch the key it'll be able to do it fully automatically, just not maybe if you did it on five other systems in a short time. Even if it doesn't activate online you can still use the phone system to get put on hold and generally jerked around for a while at which point they'll read off an activation confirmation code for you that will activate the new system using the telephone activation method. So really there is no need/benefit to "deactivate" a system before migrating the license to another one other than maybe guarding the confidentiality of the key if you just don't want it stored on the old system's configuration files at all.

similarly
slmgr -ipk xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx (where xxxx-.... is your product key to be used)
will install the given product key onto the current system in place of whatever key is already used on that system. I don't know what exactly happens if you're running business and then IPK an Ultimate key over the top of Business. It could refuse saying the key doesn't match the installed software. It could take it and give you no new features. It could take it and unlock all the "ultimate" features.

There's the "anytime upgrade" option too, and I don't know if there's another use case of that which I am unfamiliar with. AFAIK the typical use of that is to take you to a web page where you can purchase the upgrade from microsoft and they'll (currently) MAIL you an install disc for the version you bought. You certainly don't want to do the purchase bit, though I suppose you could still follow the upgrade INSTRUCTIONS they give you about how to USE the upgrade disc to in-place upgrade your Business to Ultimate. Maybe that involves just installing the product key, maybe it involves booting Ultimate from DVD and doing an "Upgrade" based install which will basically be much more destructive/drastic/slow than you probably want to do.

 
My Vista business license is from last years Free Office/Vista Business promo and the Ultimate License is coming from this years promo. I have a HD tuner installed in my machine and need Ulitimate installed to use it properly (at least that is what I have been told).

Well I will see what happens 🙂
 
Actually I'm in the same boat. I've got Business and Home Premium running and will switch one or both to Ultimate soon.

http://www.microsoft.com/windo...nytimeupgrade/faq.mspx
There's how Microsoft describes their Anytime Upgrade process; it is less than clear
about what the "Windows Anytime Upgrade disc" is.

To my thinking it would be SILLY if it is (in most cases) anything DIFFERENT than a regular full Vista Install disc version which contains Home Basic + Home Premium + Business + Ultimate for a given 32 bit or 64 bit set of those. In which case it is probably pretty redundant
in some cases for them to mail you the disc that may be the same as what you already have.

They also send you a key and instructions. Now the real question is if you already have an install disc for Ultimate, and an Ultimate Key, what INSTRUCTIONS exist to do the upgrade? It isn't clear (thanks, Microsoft). Generally it seems to suggest you just boot from the DVD and tell it to do an "Upgrade" type installation. I'm sure this is the "simplest" most general answer (not relying on having an existing disc or fully working previous system) . But one wonders if there is a SIMPLER way that just involves switching keys and maybe installing a few possibly missing individual components from the install DVD ala-carte.

 
Originally posted by: badnewcastle
From what I have read, if you buy an upgrade key... when you go to install the upgrade and put the new key it, it will deactivate your old key.

My experience was when trying to upgrade from xp to vista. It gave me a new key but the old key for xp was no good anymore so I couldn't move xp... I opted to get a "full install oem"...
Click to expand...


Well if you purchase an "anytime upgrade" it probably will deactivate your old key, but MERELY *performing* an "upgrade" when you already HAVE a new key from some other source and aren't purchasing it online as an "Anytime Upgrade" SHOULD NOT invalidate your old key.

For instance you might have a full retail Ultimate key (not an upgrade one), so there'd be zero logic or justification in invalidating the key of the OS you were running when you install such an "upgrade" since the new key doesn't even require "upgrading" anything at all.

And even if you were installing an "Ultimate Upgrade" key, there'd still be no justification in it invalidating a Vista Business license since maybe you don't WANT to 'use' the upgrade license from Vista Business to satisfy the 'Ultimate Upgrade' criteria; it is probable you'd rather satisfy that via discontinuing the use of an old copy of XP you may have sitting in the closet since you're also allowed to upgrade "from" XP to Vista Ultimate for instance. It can't be permitted to use an assumption to make that choice for you. I'd certainly rather upgrade from say XP than Vista since I'd rather keep my Vista license and use it elsewhere rather than keep using my old XP license. What you're actually RUNNING when you do the upgrade should/must have no relationship to the license upgrade requirements aspect of the key/upgrade, only how it will go about INSTALLING the upgrade.

The confusing thing are the two uses of the word "upgrade"

1) you're "in fact" trying to in-place sort of non-destructively upgrade from one OS to another. Whether this works shouldn't depend at all on the license of the new/old OS, only whether the new OS has the "feature" to be able to do such an upgrade.

2) if you install an "upgrade" license OS, you're supposed to stop using an older OS license during the time you use the "upgrade" OS. There's no sensible requirement that you actually be RUNNING the OS you're "upgrading in place of the license of" at the time you install the "upgrade" licensed OS. You might as well be doing a clean install or "upgrading" an unrelated system.

If they mess this stuff up they owe you a new key if they invalidate one you didn't intend to lose or didn't deserve to lose.

 
As far as licensing, any Windows UPGRADE software requires that the "old" version's license stay with the upgraded computer. For instance, if you've used Upgrade versions of Windows to go from 3.1 to Windows 95 to 98 to XP to Vista Business to Vista Ultimate, then all those previous licenses should remain with your current computer.

There are three types of Windows software: OEM, Upgrade Retail, and Full Retail. Their order of cost is normally: OEM<Upgrade Retail<Full Retail

OEM - Full versions intended for PCs with no operating system installed. The OEM EULA says you can't move the OS license to a different PC

Upgrade Retail - Requires a valid license for a previous version of Windows. The previous version license remains associated with the upgraded PC and should not be used on another PC. The license can be MOVED to another PC.

Full Retail - Full version license that is stand-alone and can be MOVED to another PC.

Windows Vista Ultimate EULA, which includes mention of "Anytime Upgrade" version:

"Windows Anytime Upgrade Software. You may transfer the software directly to a third
party only with the licensed device. You may not keep any copies of the software or any earlier version."

To do a Vista "Anytime Upgrade", you'll need an "Anytime Upgrade" DVD, which contains the Upgrade versions of Vista. Additionally, the Anytime Upgrade disk must match YOUR CURRENT VERSION of Vista in terms of 64- or 32-bit versions.

Windows Vista Anytime Upgrade FAQ
 
I mostly agree, though the "old" version is not necessarily equal to the installed version BEING upgraded.

i.e.
1) in closet = XP home.
2) on PC = Vista Business retail.
3) Want to run = Vista Ultimate Upgrade

I could "upgrade" either (1) or (2) with (3) in terms of licensing requirements, my choice, NOT Microsoft's.

In terms of functional upgrade ACTION, clearly I'd ACTUALLY upgrade FROM what I'm running at the MOMENT, (2) to what I intend to run (3). This is wholly unrelated to the fact that *for licensing purposes* I may consider that I want to upgrade from (1) to (2), and thus when I install (3) it BETTER NOT invalidate the activated license of (2) since I'm fully within my rights to sell (2) or use it on another PC or whatever.

Other scenarios are of course possible. Either way, it better not auto-replace/invalidate your old license.

Not to mention the fact that it's still your right as a consumer to NOT use a product and not lose one's preexisting goods simply for having PREVIOUSLY used something else for a time. So if I Upgrade from XP to Vista Upgrade I can't use XP on a different PC while I run Vista. If, later, I find that Vista has horrible support for some piece of my hardware / software / whatever, I'm certainly within my rights to discontinue using Vista Upgrade and switch back to XP (which it upgraded 'from') since at such a time no use of any Upgrade at all is in place and I'm not bound by its EULA. If at some future date compatibility of Vista with my system / needs improves, of course, I'd be entitled to give the Upgrade another try.



Originally posted by: RebateMonger
As far as licensing, any Windows UPGRADE software requires that the "old" version's license stay with the upgraded computer. For instance, if you've used Upgrade versions of Windows to go from 3.1 to Windows 95 to 98 to XP to Vista Business to Vista Ultimate, then all those previous licenses should remain with your current computer.

There are three types of Windows software: OEM, Upgrade Retail, and Full Retail. Their order of cost is normally: OEM<Upgrade Retail<Full Retail

OEM - Full versions intended for PCs with no operating system installed. The OEM EULA says you can't move the OS license to a different PC

Upgrade Retail - Requires a valid license for a previous version of Windows. The previous version license remains associated with the upgraded PC and should not be used on another PC. The license can be MOVED to another PC.

Full Retail - Full version license that is stand-alone and can be MOVED to another PC.
Click to expand...

 
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