hello,
Ok so here's the situation. I purchased a toshiba notebook about a year ago that came with a free upgrade to windows vista (xp was installed).
The computer is a bit slow as it is, and considering vista is a resource hog (and at the time of purchase wasn't very stable), I never installed the upgrade.
I currently have the upgrade CD just sitting there collecting dust, and don't want to install it in my notebook. Would it violate the agreement if I decide to upgrade my desktop instead of my notebook? My desktop has XP sp2, and is capable of far greater performance which is why I'd like to install vista on there instead...
Did the upgrade disc come with a separate product key, or is there a sticker attached to the laptop with the Vista product key? If you have a separate product key (not attached to the laptop) then you're free to upgrade any computer as long as it has a qualifying OS. In your case your current computer already has Windows XP, so it would qualify to be upgraded to Vista.
you can use vista on another computer as long if it isnt activated on another with the key u use. else, to use it on another computer u need to deactivate it. try google for that im not sure how is that done
He's never used it before, so that's not a problem. He'll have no problem with it working, but he wants to know if it's going to be legal according to Microsoft's EULA. As long as the he doesn't have a product key for the Vista license physically attached to the laptop, then he'll be able to legally install it on a different computer. If he doesn't care about the EULA, then he can install it either way since it hasn't already been activated.
lol thanks guys, I contacted microsoft anyway just to be sure... According to them the upgrade was sold specifically by toshiba as a toshiba laptop oem upgrade and should be used with the laptop... He didn't specify whether it would officially violate EULA or not, however the sales guy told me that since it hasn't been activated I can still install it as an upgrade on another computer without future problems from microsoft in terms of the product key/updates etc...
so in a nutshell, just like u guys said, I'm good to go for the install which is sweet as hell cuz that just saved me 100+ dollars!
PS: Its an older vista CD from when it was released so I can install vista, and reinstall it as a legit copy so as to do a "clean" install right?? I read this somewhere, but haven't tried it yet... I just built this computer, and decided not to install XP yet until I got these answers!
Yes, you can use the upgrade disc to perform a clean install. If you're doing a clean install, you'll install it the first time and you won't enter a product key. This will basically give you a 30 day trial version. Once you have Vista installed, you can then reinstall Vista on top of itself, which is actually performing an upgrade. Since you're upgrading from a version of Windows, you'll now be able to enter the product key and it will be accepted.
Also make sure that all of the hardware on your computer has Vista drivers before you start the process. It would be really bad to find out that you don't have any sound or video drivers after you go through the process of installing Vista.
everything I bought is really new so I can't imagine drivers for vista being any issue (I opened a new thread for HTPC and I listed my system specs there), but thanks for the tips and the quick "how to" guide for installing vista... I'll have it completed tomorrow!
