How many installs on vista ultimate?

[Guest]

Hi,
I have recently upgraded to vista home premium on my asus aj6 and I am
loving it. Aside from afew gliches that were fixed. After seeing the benifits
of vista Ultimate I have decided to upgrade to it. I was wondering how many
installation or activations you can have on the upgrade version of vista
ultimate as I would like to install it onto my desktop computer running XP.
Thanking you in advance,
Sam

 

[Richard G. Harper]

One copy, one computer, same as always.

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[Bruce Chambers]

Hi,
I have recently upgraded to vista home premium on my asus aj6 and I am
loving it. Aside from afew gliches that were fixed. After seeing the benifits
of vista Ultimate I have decided to upgrade to it. I was wondering how many
installation or activations you can have on the upgrade version of vista
ultimate as I would like to install it onto my desktop computer running XP.
Thanking you in advance,
Sam

You need to purchase a separate Vista license for each computer on
which you install it.

Just as it has *always* been with *all* Microsoft operating
systems, it's necessary (to be in compliance with both the EULA and U.S.
copyright law http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/117.html), if not
technically) to purchase one Vista license for each computer on which it
is installed. (Consult an attorney versed in copyright law to determine
final applicability in your locale.) The only way in which Vista
licensing differs from that of earlier versions of Windows (up until
WinXP, that is) is that Microsoft has added a copy protection and
anti-theft mechanism, Product Activation, to prevent (or at least make
more difficult) multiple installations using a single license.

With Vista Ultimate, it's sometimes possible to qualify for additional
licenses, at a reduced cost:

Windows Vista: Windows Vista Family Discount
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/familydiscount.mspx


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Bruce Chambers

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[Guest]

So does this mean I can do as many clean installs as I like on my machine?

What about hardware configuration. If I have to replace my motherboard or
hard-drive, will Vista consider that a 'new' computer? Where is that line
drawn?

 

[Paul Randall]

So does this mean I can do as many clean installs as I like on my machine?

What about hardware configuration. If I have to replace my motherboard or
hard-drive, will Vista consider that a 'new' computer? Where is that line
drawn?

If you pretend you are M$ when you read the EULA, you might believe that
changing the case or monitor or mouse is all it takes to be a 'new'
computer. You might even think that multibooting between four separate
installations of Vista on a single hard drive is violating the EULA, even
though only one installation can be used at any one time. Most of us have
no problem with making a duplicate of the installation CD/DVD. That is
probably covered under the fair-use laws. Most of us have no problem
imaging the hard drive and saving one or more copies of that image (you are
not really backed up until your backup is backed up). That dormant image
should be no more legal than a dormant bootable partition. Yes, it is kind
of a fuzzy line and you have to decide where the line is and what side of it
you want to be on. Microsoft purposely worded the fuzziness into the EULA.

Yes, on multiple occasions you can do clean installs on the same computer.
If you activate every time, the system may flag 'too many installs' and
require phone activation, but M$ does understand that people can have good
reason to install multiple times. I would try to avoid this by not
activating until absolutely necessary, after the 30 to 120 day trial period.

 

[Paul Riemerman]

As long as you're using a retail version of Vista and not an OEM version you
should be able to replace any bits and bobs you need to for upgrading or
repairing your machine and legally reinstall Vista (there's a good chance
your existing installation won't run with upgrading/repair changes made).
You might have to call in to reactivate. A full retail version can also be
uninstalled from one computer, and installed on another machine legally.
Paul Riemerman