Windows Vista Licensing Questions

[FinalHavoc]

Sorry for making an entirely new thread xD, But I figured that it would get a faster response this way. Not only that, but it would be much easier for other users who wish to know the same thing to find it. Here goes (again xD):

1: Is there a limited amount of times you are able to License vista?
2: If so, how many times can Vista be licensed?
3: Are you able to use one copy of vista on multiple computers? (Legally I mean)

And most importantly....

4: Is there a licensing difference between the Vista upgrade version, and the full version?

 

[mechBgon]

1. if you mean "is there a limit to how many times I can install one license," then

a) for OEM licenses, you'd be entitled to reinstall it any number of times on the system you've originally installed it on. But it's not intended to be "portable" to new systems with a new motherboard.

b) for Retail licenses, you'd be entitled to remove it from the original system and reinstall it on a different system, or reinstall it on the same system, but you can only have each license installed on one system at a time.


2) if the question is "how many times can I reinstall," the answer is "as many times as you want, within the limits mentioned above, but you may have to call in for activation over the phone if you do it too frequently."

3) each computer needs to have its own license if you want to be legit.

4) yeah, the Upgrade version requires that you have a legit license to use the version you want to upgrade from. So if you have a legit WinXP Pro license, that's a valid basis for using a Vista Business Upgrade to move up to Vista. The full versions don't have that prerequisite.

 

[FinalHavoc]

Currently I'm roaming about on an unlicensed version of XP >.< It's legal, but they won't let me use the key anymore (because I used it on multiple pcs).

You saved me the trouble of wasting my cash on the upgrade. Sucks though xD was hoping I could get it for 2x less.

Thanks 🙂