Question about OEM vista.

LW07

Golden Member
Feb 16, 2006
1,537
2
81
Alright, about the OEM windows vistas on newegg, such as:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116488

Now, here's the question:
If I was to get that version and then later on down the road had to reformat the PC and reinstall the OS, would i be able to do it with the same OEM copy, or would i have to fork over another $100+?

 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,889
2,208
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Originally posted by: GeekDrew
You'd reinstall from the same OEM disc / license plate.

Geek is right. A lot of people, including me, had read stuff about the severe activation limits for VISTA. I had purchased the OEM VISTA-x64 version.

Five months into running the system with a 2-drive RAID0, one of the drives went south, and I chose to replace both of them. That, in turn, would affect the hash-code of hardware information gathered by MS, and force a reactivation.

It certainly did that, but I didn't have to use the telephone. No problem.
 

Cardio

Senior member
Jun 11, 2003
903
0
76
Lots folks are concerned about this but I know of no one who was ever actually turned down on activation if you confirm that the OEM OS is only installed on one computer.

I have had hardware failures and reinstalled the OEM OS on new builds and when activation fails just call and explain the situation and have always had no problem. They do ask if it will only be on one comuter. They, MS, are actually very nice about it.
 
Aug 23, 2000
15,509
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There is a difference between activation and illegally using the software.
As long as your OEM copy is only on nee PC at a time then you are good to go.

I've used the same copy on multiple machines and never had a problem.