Activating Vista

[Robert Katz]

I bought a standard manufacturer's PC with Vista Ultimate. I activated
Windows, installed lots of stuff, created lots of documents, and
cloned my boot drive. I had some complications with the PC so I
returned it and decided to build my own. I assume my backup disk will
no longer be activated. I'm willing to buy my own copy of Vista, but
will I be able to activate it without installing it? I don't want to
wipe out my disk.

Thank you,

---Robert

 

[Richard Urban]

You made an image of an OEM version of Vista. It usually can not be
installed/activated on other than the hardware that was present when the
image was created.

Of course, there is nothing to stop you from trying. At the worst you will
have to perform a clean install of Vista on the new computer.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Robert Katz]

I bought a standard manufacturer's PC with Vista Ultimate. I activated
Windows, installed lots of stuff, created lots of documents, and cloned
my boot drive. I had some complications with the PC so I returned it
and decided to build my own. I assume my backup disk will no longer be
activated. I'm willing to buy my own copy of Vista, but will I be able
to activate it without installing it? I don't want to wipe out my disk.

Thank you,

---Robert

I guess the equivalent questions are
o) Can I do an upgrade in-place from a full copy of Vista, or do I
need the upgrade copy?
o) Can I do the upgrade in-place of the same exact version of Vista?

 

[Robert Katz]

Thanks Richard,

Actually I made an image of the upgrade kit (non-OEm) they sold me,
which I also returned.

It sure would be the worst to perform a clean install. Before I saw
your message, I added another note. I'll paste it in here to keep the
trend. Let me know if you have ideas on this one.


I guess the equivalent questions are
o) Can I do an upgrade in-place from a full copy of Vista, or do I
need the upgrade copy?
o) Can I do the upgrade in-place of the same exact version of Vista?

In addition, can all this be done with an OEM version?

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Robert

You have a lot of different issues with this

When you bought the original PC with Vista pre-installed, this purchase
included the license for that OEM version of Vista. When you then returned
that PC, you also returned that OEM Vista license and this includes the
license for any other software that was included as part of that system.

The cloned backup that you made is tied to the PC that you returned, since
this was an OEM version of Vista. The cloned backup will also include all of
the hardware settings, drivers, and information for that PC. Depending on
the manufacturer of the original PC, this could even be a BIOS locked
installation, which means that it will not work with a different
motherboard.

If your goal here is to simply avoid the need to re-install all of the
software/programs that you already own and installed on that PC, I think you
will be much better off to bite the bullet and perform a clean install with
the new Vista license you purchase and re-install everything fresh. Any
other way you do this is going to be full of pitfalls.

 

[Robert Katz]

Thanks Ronnie

Here's something I left out. While I still had the machine, I bought a
Vista Upgrade version from the vendor. I then did a complete new
install and then reactivated Windows. The vendor didn't realize the
implications of going from 32 bit to 64 bit, that's why the return. I
did the cloned backup after that upgrade. I returned the upgrade DVDs
also.

If I buy my own version of vista and do a new install, can I save my
data? and can I save it whether I do the install from a full version
or from an OEM version?

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Robert

This is a real gnarly situation.

If your main goal is to recover the cloned backup, you should buy the same
version and type (ie: OEM or Retail) that the clone was made with. The OEM
and Retail product keys are not interchangeable.

I would try to restore the cloned backup first. If this works and there are
no problems with recognizing the new hardware, then you can simply use the
new product key to re-activate and your good to go. If there is a problem
with the cloned backup recognizing the hardware, then you should be able to
perform an upgrade install with the new disk. This upgrade would not effect
the data and programs from the cloned backup.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[John Barnes]

What did you use to make your backup. Many backup programs will allow you
to extract individual files from the backup and restore them to your new
system.