I bought Vista Home for my lap top. I'd like to put it on my desk

[Guest]

Hello, I bought Vista Home Premium for my lap top (Toshiba Tecra 9100). The
comatabilities test showed all was well. I installed it (Vista) in my lap
top and it hated it. So, I bought XP Home and installed it and all is well.

I then installed Vista on my desk top computer and now it won't let me
activate Vista. I only ran Vista on my lap top for a couple of days... And
it is NOT on my lap top any longer.

What can I do?

Bryan

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Bryan;
Choose the option to activate by phone.
Call Microsoft at the displayed number, usually done in about 5 - 10
minutes.

 

[Tiberius]

If this is a retail version you can install it on the desktop..

you will activate by phone

 

[Rock]

Hello, I bought Vista Home Premium for my lap top (Toshiba Tecra 9100).
The
comatabilities test showed all was well. I installed it (Vista) in my lap
top and it hated it. So, I bought XP Home and installed it and all is
well.

I then installed Vista on my desk top computer and now it won't let me
activate Vista. I only ran Vista on my lap top for a couple of days...
And
it is NOT on my lap top any longer.

Is the copy of Vista OEM or retail? If OEM by the license it's tied to the
first computer on which it's installed, and can't be put on a different
system. If retail it can be transferred. If that's the case, then do the
phone activation.

 

[DanS]

Is the copy of Vista OEM or retail? If OEM by the license it's tied
to the first computer on which it's installed, and can't be put on a
different system. If retail it can be transferred. If that's the
case, then do the phone activation.

Not that it applies to the OP's PC, but, with an OEM, is it

'it's tied to the first computer on which it's installed...' or is it more
technically correct to say

'it's tied to the first computer on which it's *activated* on......' ?

Another MS gray area ?

 

[JOHN HARRIS]

Just call Microsoft and explain what you did. They are very accommodating,
as has been my experience, in opening licenses up in these cases. Give it a
shot.

 

[ray]

Hello, I bought Vista Home Premium for my lap top (Toshiba Tecra 9100). The
comatabilities test showed all was well. I installed it (Vista) in my lap
top and it hated it. So, I bought XP Home and installed it and all is well.

I then installed Vista on my desk top computer and now it won't let me
activate Vista. I only ran Vista on my lap top for a couple of days... And
it is NOT on my lap top any longer.

What can I do?

Bryan

I can think of a number of solutions:

1) call MS and ask them what to do

2) buy another copy

3) give up with the MS crap and install Linux.

 

[Rock]

Not that it applies to the OP's PC, but, with an OEM, is it

'it's tied to the first computer on which it's installed...' or is it more
technically correct to say

'it's tied to the first computer on which it's *activated* on......' ?

Another MS gray area ?

I would think activation is the key.

 

[GeraldF]

'it's tied to the first computer on which it's *activated* on......' ?

Another MS gray area ?

Is that the CPU, Memory, Power Supply, or the Case?

 

[Rock]

Is that the CPU, Memory, Power Supply, or the Case?

All good questions that have never been delineated. Of course some times
it's obvious, but sometimes not.

 

[R. McCarty]

While not stated explicitly - The "Computer" is generally
considered to be the Motherboard. Since it holds the BIOS
chip, which can be used to automatically "Activate" Windows
for OEMs.

It's a really nebulous description and leaves room for all kinds of
interpretations of what hardware piece(s) constitute the original
( or 1st ) PC.

However in a change from Windows XP, the disk drive is now
the majority vote in triggering a hardware reactivation.

 

[L. D. James]

Microsoft uses points for various components when you activate the computer
to determine later if you're using the same computer. Some components score
higher points than others. If you try to do a reactivation later with the
total points too low, the activation will fail.

Some of the components that set points are the mother board, amount of ram,
video card, and the network card. You can change some of them and still be
able to activate as long as you still have enough of the original points
value. When it fails, you have to try to convince the person answering the
phone what happened (that you didn't actually change the computer).


-- L. James