Laptop with RTM

[Alan]

I am a MSDN subscriber and loaded Vista Ultimate RTM on to my Dell Laptop to
test it out. It does work fine. If I get a OEM copy of Vista Ultimate can I
simply change the product key on the RTM version using the OEM key and
activate again rather than deleting the RTM and reloading the OEM version on
my desktop? Apologies if this has been asked before only I did track back
and could not find any questions about this sort of scenario.
Thanks for you help.
Alan

 

[John Whitworth]

I am a MSDN subscriber and loaded Vista Ultimate RTM on to my Dell Laptop
to test it out. It does work fine. If I get a OEM copy of Vista Ultimate
can I simply change the product key on the RTM version using the OEM key
and activate again rather than deleting the RTM and reloading the OEM
version on my desktop? Apologies if this has been asked before only I did
track back and could not find any questions about this sort of scenario.
Thanks for you help.
Alan

Technically, not sure. But according to the license terms, no. An OEM
license should only be sold with new equipment.

JW

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

MSDN installation media are retail versions and thus
will not accept an OEM product key. You'll have to
install Vista using the OEM Vista DVD.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

I am a MSDN subscriber and loaded Vista Ultimate RTM on to my Dell Laptop to
test it out. It does work fine. If I get a OEM copy of Vista Ultimate can I
simply change the product key on the RTM version using the OEM key and
activate again rather than deleting the RTM and reloading the OEM version on
my desktop? Apologies if this has been asked before only I did track back
and could not find any questions about this sort of scenario.
Thanks for you help.
Alan

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

No. OEM and Retail keys are not interchangeable. You already have an OS on
your laptop so you should not be installing an OEM copy of Vista on it
anyway. OEM copies are only for installation on a new computer that has not
had an OS previously installed on it.

You can change the product key on your MSDN Vista to a retail full edition
Vista Ultimate product key by purchasing the retail sku. A reinstallation
is not required. Since MSDN images are full retail images, you cannot
change the pk to a Vista Ultimate upgrade edition pk. It must be full
edition. Any edition other than Ultimate will require reinstallation.

As an MSDN subcriber I am surprised that you are not familiar with these
terms, but perhaps you are a very new subscriber. The final authority is
the MSDN subscriber website.

Colin Barnhorst
MVP Virtual Machine.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for the helpful advice. I will revert back to the original hard drive
which has XP on it and keep that until I upgrade the laptop in the next year
or two.
Thanks again.
Alan

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You're welcome.