Change Product Key from retail to OEM ?

[Guest]

Greetings,

Here's my situation. I grew weary of waiting for the free HP "EXPRESS"
upgrade to Vista and bought a retail upgrade and installed it on my laptop.
Home premium, runs great. Someday soon I hope to get my "express" upgrade
which I'm sure is OEM.

Can I simply change my product key on my laptop, freeing up the retail
version for installation on another machine? Or will I have to do a new
install with the OEM disc.

Thanks for any advice. If my profile looks messed up it's due to a server
error when attempting to modify it.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Vista is still relatively new and I have not heard if anyone has tried it.
However with Windows XP that was not possible since retail and OEM Product
Keys are not compatible with each others media.

Since you already have Windows Vista installed, try to change the Product
Key and see if it takes.
Also prepare for a Clean installation in case it is necessary.

 

[Guest]

As a follow up-

It worked! I recieved my "express" upgrade, changed the product key in my
laptop running the retail to the product key on the OEM COA, installed the
retail copy, then, on my daughter's desktop and all is well. Activated
successfully and I didn't have to re-do my machine that had been massaged and
tweaked for two months.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]>

As a follow up-

It worked! I recieved my "express" upgrade, changed the product key in my
laptop running the retail to the product key on the OEM COA, installed the
retail copy, then, on my daughter's desktop and all is well. Activated
successfully and I didn't have to re-do my machine that had been massaged and
tweaked for two months.

Very interesting -- Thanks for the follow-up!

 

[Joe Guidera]

If you've already activated the retail copy then the key is used. Even if
you switched keys it wouldn't physically free the key on the Msft end. If
you needed to re-use that key you would need to call MSFT when you attempted
to use the key (unless you're re-installing on the same machine). You won't
have a problem getting an override key.

J