Install my Vista twice on same machine - allowed?

[Visbak]

it phones home you will get a warning to activate since it will be on a
different drive. You will only be able to use it so long before you must
have the connection. Technically you are also in license violation.

MS gives you the possibility to run Vista 100 days without entering the
product key or activating.
Why should this be a license violation then?
You may be connected to the internet, you can even download updates.

I have Vista Ultimate. On this DVD, you have the choice to install 32bit or
64bit.
Since I like testing, I thought"'why not try 64bit first". I installed it,
without the productkey or activation. I configured it, searched for drivers
and did some testing.
Later, I removed this vista64 and installed the 32bit. Same story, a bit
experimenting with drivers and programs etc.
Then for the 3th time, I made again a clean installation of Vista32 and
after configuring (drivers, programs etc), I entered the serial and did the
activation.

This way is IMHO perfect legal, because:
- You have a valid license
- MS gives you the possibility to do it

 

[John Barnes]

It is not a license violation. He said he thought he would go the clone
route in this string and that is what I was addressing. Not sure where you
get the 100 days, though. Activation is required in 30 and they have
eliminated the ability to do the extension thingy on retail versions

 

[Peter]

It certainly would be nice if it was 100 days...;-)

 

[huwyngr]

Activation is required in 30 and they have 
eliminated the ability to do the extension thingy on retail versions

When did this happen?

 

[John Barnes]

At least for the Home and Home Premium, It appears around March. See below
I know it didn't work on my wife's Home Premium. I haven't tried it on
other versions, but have seen reports that it doesn't work on recent retail
versions. Just the Volume Licensing versions.

Microsoft allows bypass of Vista activation
By Brian Livingston

.. On a copy of the full version of Vista Home Premium that I bought in a
retail store on Mar. 14, SkipRearm had no effect on extending the use of
slmgr -rearm at all. This suggests that Microsoft has slipstreamed a new
version into stores, eliminating the SkipRearm feature in Vista Home. That
could mean that changing the key from 0 to 1 will now work only in the
business editions of Vista - Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate - so
corporations can use the loophole.

 

[Peter]

John,

I do have the full retail Ultimate which I bought at the very beginning of
Vista's release so I should be OK going the no-activation 2nd - imstallation
route for a while at least. Right?

Peter
Toronto, Canada

 

[John Barnes]

Yes. You will have about 30 days before you have shutdown from no
activation.

 

[John Barnes]

Make sure you uncheck the box on one of the screens so it won't
automatically activate.

 

[Peter]

Right - will the "fix" cited here still work?
http://www.windowssecrets.com/comp/070315/#story1

Peter
Toronto, Canada

 

[John Barnes]

As I pointed out above, I don't know. As he points out below, it has been
deactivated in at least the Home and Home Premium. I suggest you try it
when you first install and see if you get the extra time. Once the
activation date passes, you can't use normal mode, but you can get to the
registry in safe mode. I did try all the various tricks on my wife's
computer, but as per the below, nothing works. I have Ultimate due some
time this week to install on her machine, so wanted to not activate Home
Premium so there would be no problem activating it by a friend I am going to
give it to.


On a copy of the full version of Vista Home Premium that I bought in a
retail store on Mar. 14, SkipRearm had no effect on extending the use of
slmgr -rearm at all. This suggests that Microsoft has slipstreamed a new
version into stores, eliminating the SkipRearm feature in Vista Home. That
could mean that changing the key from 0 to 1 will now work only in the
business editions of Vista - Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate - so
corporations can use the loophole.

 

[Peter]

I think I'll either wait, or just risk installing SP1 on my "legal" Vista.
The chances of it causing major problems are slim anyway.

Thanks John.

 

[John Barnes]

I agree. They have made it very difficult to have a working test bed. OTOH
you might want to wait at least a while into the beta and watch the beta
newsgroup to see what problems are developing. Some early beta problems can
be pretty serious.

 

[Peter]

John, do you know if it's a special NG like it was with those of us testing
XP SP2 - private with password etc?

 

[John Barnes]

I'm not sure since I haven't followed it very closely, but you should be
able to find out where you get access to it, such as Connect, MSDN or
TechNet. If you have been invited into the beta program, that would usually
involve private w/password at least for a while. We should know soon when
it is acknowledged that it even exists and when it will be available and
from which venues.

 

[Peter]

Thanks. I didn't get an invite yet...so it look slike I'll be SOL anyway.

 

[John Barnes]

I haven't either. They are still very secretive about when it will be
available. Release date supposedly has been pushed into next year to
accommodate the search changes they recently agreed to include. If you were
active in the prior beta, you will probably be invited into this one. If you
are signed up for Connect probably later, but still relatively early in the
process.

 

[huwyngr]

eliminating the SkipRearm feature in Vista Home.

I'm not sufficiently expert in this to be sure but I read that article
when it appeared and it seems to me that SkipRearm is quite different
to going to the command line and running slmgr -rearm for up to 3 times
to give 120 days unactivated.

SkipRearm is a registry modification, is it not? And in terms of the
terminology SkipRearm means disable having to run rearm whereas slmgr
-rearm is actually running rearm?

See the early reference to this at:

http://www.codinghorror.com:80/blog/archives/000778.html

I really and truly doubt that Microsoft slipped into stores one night
and changed stock <g>

I'm not in VISTA at the moment but I'll run slmgr without any
parameters and see if it's still on my VISTA Ultimate.

I've no way of trying this out again however.

 

[John Barnes]

Try this one http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070315/ includes the paragraph
that I have included and has been updated. As to Microsoft sneaking into
the stores, must be a joke, no? As speculated by Author Livingston they
probably slipstreamed the change into later copies of the product. I know
that neither SkipRearm nor slmgr -rearm have any effect on my wife's Home
Premium. None of the commands in the article work any longer on the Home
series according to the author.

 

[huwyngr]

Try this one http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070315/  includes the paragraph 
that I have included and has been updated.

I did and where it says: << Changing SkipRearm from 0 to 1 allows SLMGR to do
this an indefinite number of times. >> confirms what I was saying about
skiprearm and slmgr -rearm are not the same thing.

Without the SkipRearm you could slmgr -rearm 3 times giving 120 days.

You refer to "amended" story which would be the July 5 article which does not
alter what I said and indeed confirms it:

<< Fortunately, all of the other tricks we've recently printed about Windows
Vista still work just fine:

• Vista Upgrade accepts itself as a qualifying version. Developers within
Microsoft decided that the cheaper, "upgrade" version of Vista would install
over itself, eliminating the need for users to buy the more expensive, "full"
version. I reported this in a Feb. 1 story.

• Use Vista without activation for 120 days. Far from being limited to a 30-
day grace period, the Vista team built into the new operating system a simple
command that anyone can use to push the deadline back to 120 days. I published
the technique in a Feb. 15 article. >>

When your attempt failed it was on a system on which you had not activated
when suggested and with the automatic activation turned off? You can't use
rearm once it's been activated Livingstone makes clear.

 

[John Barnes]

1. You are not using the Home series, but using Ultimate which is not
covered in the articles update
2. You don't say when you got your version. You may have an early version
and even Ultimate may no longer be able to be extended. That I don't know.

I do know that you cannot extend later versions of Home Premium as the
author points out and I have tried without success on my wife's machine.
None of the commands work. Trying it on Ultimate and saying others who have
different circumstances are just not doing it right is plain obtuse.