Can I unactivate and/or transfer my Vista Upgrade ?

[Edward]

Hello,

I currently have a laptop that came installed with windows xp home and i
upgraded to vista home premium via retail upgrade disc when vista came out.

My question is this:

I'm going to sell the laptop.... Can I inactivate my vista upgrade license
on the laptop( reverting the laptop back to xp home) to use the upgrade disk
on another xp home computer i have at home? In other words, can i transfer
the upgrade license to a new computer?

I bought the Vista Home premium upgrade disk at a store last year... It was
just that i dont want to sell my computer with vista- because it is selling
for very low (the laptop) and vista was a $$$ investment on it....

Thank you,

Edward

 

[Alias]

Hello,

I currently have a laptop that came installed with windows xp home and i
upgraded to vista home premium via retail upgrade disc when vista came out.

My question is this:

I'm going to sell the laptop.... Can I inactivate my vista upgrade license
on the laptop( reverting the laptop back to xp home) to use the upgrade disk
on another xp home computer i have at home? In other words, can i transfer
the upgrade license to a new computer?

I bought the Vista Home premium upgrade disk at a store last year... It was
just that i dont want to sell my computer with vista- because it is selling
for very low (the laptop) and vista was a $$$ investment on it....

Thank you,

Edward

You will not breach the EULA if you do what you want to do. You will
probably have to phone activate when you reinstall Vista on the other
computer.

Alias

 

[John Barnett MVP]

This is a little complicated. As far as I am aware when you 'upgrade' from
XP to Vista the two systems are combined and so you loose access to the XP
product key. Therefore, if you re-installed XP onto your laptop you wouldn't
theoretically be able to activate the windows XP copy on your laptop, even
if you subsequently used telephone activation. As far as Microsoft are
concerned that XP product key no longer exists, so cannot be used again. So,
in answer to your question, I would, from my understanding (and someone will
correct me if I'm wrong), say that you would not be able to revert to
installing XP back on your laptop using the same product key; which, in
essence, makes the exercise rather useless.

--
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

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[Mick Murphy]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/933168/en-us

The above link may help you. Info to put it back to XP.

 

[Mick Murphy]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/933168/en-us

John; what about the above procedure?

And, if you did not like Vista, went back to XP via the above way, and XP
crashed; what do you do?
You can't just say: "bad luck"!

And an upgrade disk should not be tied to one machine(by your way of
reckoning), when an OEM disk is 1/2 the price.
Why would anyone in their right mind buy an upgrade disk if that is the case?

 

[John Barnett MVP]

As far as I can see nowhere in the procedure you indicate (unless I've
missed it) does it ask for the product key. In this case you are simply
rolling back the upgrade. If, however, you were to disregard the rollback
option and, instead, simply do a clean install, you would be required to
enter an XP product key code which, although you would be able to install XP
gain, as far as I am aware, it you couldn't be able to activate the copy.

If, as you say, XP crashed during this procedure then there isn't a lot
anyone can do, unfortunately. I don't make the rules, Microsoft does.

As for OEM and/or upgrades, personally, I would buy neither. A full retail
copy gives you more scope should you decide to change our PC and then
install Vista on that machine (assuming it didn't already come with the
version of Vista you previously purchased). Buying an OEM does give you some
lee way, but doesn't offer any Microsoft support. Remember OEM copies are
meant for system builders and, as such, the system builder is responsible
for all support, not Microsoft.

--
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Jane C]

Hi John,

The original XP key in question is able to be used again to activate.
Although it technically gets subsumed by the upgrade Vista licence, there is
nothing to prevent someone from "un-upgrading" and reverting back to their
original install. The XP keys do not get killed off.

After all, if someone were having massive problems and had to reinstall from
scratch the correct way, they would first have to reinstall XP and
reactivate, then do the upgrade to Vista. If the XP keys were killed off,
they would not be able to follow correct procedure ;-)

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Thanks for the update, Jane. Things are a little clearer now.

--
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..