Vista OEM Transfer

[Guest]

I bought a Laptop from Dell which came with Windows Vista Home OEM.

As I intended to use another Operating System, I did not agree to the EULA
and formated the hard drive.

Can I transfer the license to another laptop?

thank you
S.

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

No, its the License Agreement is tied to system and cannot be transfered or
activated on another system.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

No.
If do not agree, your option is to return the laptop with the windows
license.
Read the license for details.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]>

I bought a Laptop from Dell which came with Windows Vista Home OEM.

As I intended to use another Operating System, I did not agree to the EULA
and formated the hard drive.

Can I transfer the license to another laptop?

Arguably yes, in my opinion ethically, yes. Technically, odds are it
will work, although I've not tried it in Vista.

I'd suspect that if asked, Microsoft's official answer would be no.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

No. The Dell OEM license is non-transferrable.
It is BIOS-locked to the Dell motherboard BIOS.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

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

I bought a Laptop from Dell which came with Windows Vista Home OEM.

As I intended to use another Operating System, I did not agree to the EULA
and formated the hard drive.

Can I transfer the license to another laptop?

thank you
S.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your answers.


I knew that if you had been using a pc and then got a new one, that you
couldn't transfer.

I just thought it might have been different if the OS wasn't used.

I'll give MS a call just to confirm.

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

No, once its an OEM license, its tied to the machine its sold with and
installed on.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> "Andre Da

No, its the License Agreement is tied to system and cannot be transfered or
activated on another system.

Sure, but at what point? I'd argue that it's not tied to anything until
I agree to the license.

I'd hazard a guess that it depends on the wording of the license.

For a large OEM (Dell, etc) who can write up their own license, I'm not
really sure, but in small generic OEM sales, I'd suggest that the
license IS transferable until the end user installs, activates, or
clicks the "I agree" button.

Just my opinion.

 

[dennis@home]

I bought a Laptop from Dell which came with Windows Vista Home OEM.

As I intended to use another Operating System, I did not agree to the EULA
and formated the hard drive.

Can I transfer the license to another laptop?

Not legally and if you didn't backup the restore partition before you
formatted the drive you probably can't install it on the Dell without paying
cash to Dell for recovery disks.

 

[Rick Rogers]

A generic OEM is not tied until activated as it is not sold with a system. A
large OEM such as Dell is tied before being sold and is not transferable.
The license only applies to the system it is sold with. The OP should have
ordered a system without a preinstalled OS.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[mayayana]

It's very unlikely that you can do much, unless you
want to put the work into building a test case. These
links might be interesting:

http://www.netcraft.com.au/geoffrey/toshiba.html
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7040

Microsoft makes a significant portion of their revenue
by creating a situation that forces people to buy
redundant licenses. A few years ago they even started
to threaten system builders, telling them that selling
a bare PC is tantamount to "piracy". Their logic was that
virtually everyone uses Windows, so a bare PC would
have to end up getting an illegal second install put onto
it. That despite the fact that MS sells a Full Version license
that can be legally transferred.

(Microsoft was going to make even the Full
Version license non-transferable with Vista, but last I
heard they had yielded to general outrage on that point.)

You have every right to buy a PC without Vista,
but if Dell won't sell it that way there's not much you
can do. Even if Dell will sell it that way, they may
actually charge more for it. Dell can't afford to not
do what MS tells them to do, and MS works very hard
to define Windows as a hardware-licensed product.

These questions often get a response in this group of
"Take it back if you don't agree with the EULA". But that's
really a deeply disingenuous thing to say. Unless you have
a Win9x or Win2000 CD that predates product activation,
and you also build your own PCs (and laptops, in your case),
there's not much you can do, and you're likely to end up
buying rednundant licenses sooner or later. The average
person is stuck with whatever the OEMs give them. That's
why pre-installed Windows is referred to as the "Windows tax".

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

"A few years ago they even started to threaten system builders..."
Please post a reference for this statement.

"there's not much you can do"
FALSE, Local shops is one good option where you can get a computer
exactly how you want.

"if Dell won't sell it that way there's not much you can do"
Irrelevant and probably FUD since Dell and others will sell computers
without Windows.

 

[mayayana]

"A few years ago they even started to threaten system builders..."

Please post a reference for this statement.

You could have looked yourself if you really wanted
to know the facts, rather than just accuse others of "FUD".

------------------
On MS threats about "naked" PCs:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/11/23/ms_how_pcs_shipped_without/

Multiple related links here:

http://www.aaxnet.com/news/M010425.html

----------------------
On the difficulty of getting a PC with no OS:

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39286228,00.htm

______________________________

FALSE, Local shops is one good option where you can get a computer
exactly how you want.

Those are the sort of comments I was referring to
as disingenuous. I live in Boston, MA and even here
in the city there are few, if any, "local shop" system
builders left. I have to go online to get parts.

"if Dell won't sell it that way there's not much you can do"
Irrelevant and probably FUD since Dell and others will sell computers
without Windows.

"probably FUD" ? Again, perhaps you could take the
trouble to think about it and look into it yourself before
just attacking with dismissals of "FUD".

Maybe it's possible to get a bare Dell laptop today for
$80 less than the cost with Windows (or whatever the cost
of OEM Windows is to Dell). But if you read the ZDNet article
linked above you'll see that an attempt to do that was
confusing at best.

I'm not Microsoft-bashing with what I said. I just posted
the facts. I think it's important for people to have access
to those facts, and to be aware of the potential hidden
expenses that come with Product Activation and Microsoft's
licensing schemes in general.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

"Microsoft is asking its OEMs"
That is a very long way from forcing and the article makes no
reference to "threats", that is your own spin.
It sounds more like a warning, in fact "warn" it the word used in the
article.
Whether the warning is to strong or should even be there at all can be
debated by many at length, but it is still not a threat.

"On the difficulty of getting a PC with no OS"
Computers are available with the operating system of choice or none at
all.
That article is referring mostly about 5 large OEMs, there are other
sources for computers other than that narrow group.
For those that narrow their vision to few options, they can expect the
few options of their narrow view.

"few, if any"
Then there are few people that want such a service or no one
recognizes the need.
I never meant to suggest computers the way you want are available
virtually everywhere.
If they are truly not available where you live and want one, ask and
let the shops know there is a demand.
Business people respond to customers since the customers have other
options such as driving a little further or mail order.
Those that do not respond are willing to take the loss.

Expand your search beyond Dell and others who do not provide what you
want.
Newbie computer users are least likely to purchase a computer without
an operating system.
The more experienced are more likely to know exactly what they want
and also have the ability to find it.

Finding computers the way you want is about as easy as it was for you
to find those links you posted.