Vista Upgrade Requirement

[bearatone12]

Hi. I bought a computer in a silent auction at work. I thought the version of
Vista was legit but found out it has an enterprise license. I would like to
purchase and install Vista Home Premium but since I have a licensed copy of
XP Home, I am wondering if a) I'm entitled to use an upgrade license of
Vista, and b) can I install Vista Home Premium over top of the existing
enterprise edition and reference the XP license keys when prompted?

Thanks.

 

[Gary Mount]

You will not be prompted for keys from a previous installation, instead you
will need either Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista already
installed on the computer in order to install an upgrade version of Vista.
If you have a legit license of a previous qualifying OS, then you can just
install your Home Premium as long as one of the operating systems I mention
are already installed.
You will have to do a fresh install if you have Vista Enterprise, Business
or Ultimate already installed, or Windows 2000.
XP Home can be upgraded in place.
Note this applies to 32 bit versions only, 64bit is a different story.

 

[bearatone12]

Gary,

Bummer on having to reformat the drive, install XP, upgrade to Vista Home
Premium, and re-install apps.

If I wanted to avoid all that and were willing to pay the additional $$$ to
purchase a full Vista Home Premium license, could THAT be installed over top
of Vista Enterprise, or am I in a no win/no win situation?

Thanks!

 

[Pete Stavrakoglou]

What exactly is the policy with a Vista Ultimate Enterprise version? I know
the enterprise version of XP would not pass WGA. To clarify, two of the
developers in our company attended a Microsoft conference and were given
full copies of Server 2008 and Vista Ultimate, both of them being enterprise
versions according to the MS rep. One of them has installed both and is now
running them at home. Does the enterprise version of Vista Ultimate fail
WGA?

 

[bearatone12]

Pete, I can't speak for MS's policy, but I know that my copy of Enterprise
Vista doesn't activate on the web but against a local KMS. Since I'm not on
the domain, it won't activate, which is why I need to get a legit copy on my
PC.

 

[Pete Stavrakoglou]

My thinking is that an enterprise version of Vista won't pass WGA just like
an enterprise version of XP. I mentioned to the developer that he needs to
attempt to update using "Windows Update" and see if he can do it. I
wouldn't want a version of Windows I couldn't update, regardless of whether
or not it was free and the developer feels the same way. We'll purchase
some licenses for company use anyway so one will go to him to use at home
since he has to develop some apps to be used on client Vista systems.