How long before Vista can be installed on a second machine?

E

Eyeball Kid

Gawd
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Jan 31, 2002
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I'm going to pick up Vista in the next few days and will be upgrading my system around December/January too. I don't really want to have Vista permanently locked to my current system which I'll be ditching (This 286 is just too slow :) ), so I was wondering if Vista is like XP in that you can install and activate it on a completely new system after 120 days? I've seen the procedure for extending the grace period for activation to 120 days for Vista, but I'm talking about a fully activated copy - activation nags drive me crazy. Thanks.
 
Assuming you buy the retail version, you can move it at anytime to a new system. You may have to call it in, but that only takes 5 mins or less. If you buy the OEM license, there's no guarantee that it would reactivate on a second machine, considering that violates the EULA.
 
If you build your own system and use an OEM 'System Builder pack' to install and activate Vista, then need to replace your motherboard because the original one 'blew up', the Activation Call Center staff will NOT make you wait 120 days before you can activate your OEM installation again ;)
 
Guess I need the retail version. Is there a procedure for de-activating it on an old system when you switch to a new system, or does activating it on a new system automatically de-activate it on the old system?
 
There's no de-activation process. That will happen once you activate the new computer.
 
Actually.. even if you don't un-install it fromthe old system, it will still be activated on the old system even if it is activated on the new system.

It is just the way it works.... nothing on Microsoft's end keeps the specific machine information of activated licences. The actual activation file is on your end. The Microsoft update, etc just checks for a valid activation on your end.

Just an FYI.
 
DeaconFrost said:
There's no de-activation process.
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There's no '120 day waiting period', either. My comment above was a tad fecetious, perhaps.


Irrespective of whether you have OEM or Retail Windows, if you need to reactivate after making changes you can do so AT ANY TIME WHATSOEVER!

Sure, automatic activation might fail, but that's what the telephone activation service is there for. The 'myth' that there is soemehow a waiting period stems from the fact that the activation-related 'hardware hash' code will be reset every so often. The topic poster has no problems whatsoever confronting him, other than the possibility he might need to activate over the telephone.


The lack of a 'deactivation' process, by the way, is a big part of the reason why, when validation fails, you often see a "Key already in use" error message ;)
 
cyclone3d said:
Actually.. even if you don't un-install it fromthe old system, it will still be activated on the old system even if it is activated on the new system.
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I believe this is what WPA checks for. You won't be able to run both machines and be able to get all new updates and such. This would also break the EULA, and if you go by the rules of these forums....
 
Trawling around, and found this:

http://www.news.com/Microsoft-backtracks-on-Vista-transfer-limits/2100-1016_3-6131900.html

But... its still doesn't clarify if the whole "10 reactivations then you have to call" crap still applies, or what constitutes a reactivation. Say you reformat and reinstall with the same hardware, then activate - if MS sees that you have the same system, does it consider this a new activation and not factor it into your 10 activations? It's annoying that I had to hunt around for so long to actually find a semi-definitve answer. It seems par for the course now that it's legit users of software that are the ones being shafted.
 
DeaconFrost said:
I believe this is what WPA checks for. You won't be able to run both machines and be able to get all new updates and such. This would also break the EULA, and if you go by the rules of these forums....
Click to expand...

WPA checks for a valid activation on the computer... MS isn't allowed to automatically gather system info from your computer.

In any case, I was not condoning "piracy", just explaining how the Windows activation works.

Right now, I have two systems running XP... and I have about 6-8 legal XP licenses.
 
Eyeball Kid said:
..the whole "10 reactivations then you have to call" crap ...
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There has never been any such thing in place!

Every install/activate is a 'reactivation'. If you do too many in too short a space of time automatic activation will fail. If you do one after 'major' hardware surgery automatic activation will fail.

If you trigger an activation failure by conducting too many hardware changes within a certain period of time then automatic activation will fail. (In this circumstance each hardware change will be a 'minor' one which doesn't trigger activation failure, but the cumulative effect over time will turn the upgrading into a 'major' change which does.)


Every six months or thereabouts, if you haven't had to reactivate, the hardware hash is reset even IF you've made small changes. The is no 'ten strikes and you're out!' counter. :p
 
Catweazle said:
There has never been any such thing in place!

Every install/activate is a 'reactivation'. If you do too many in too short a space of time automatic activation will fail. If you do one after 'major' hardware surgery automatic activation will fail.

If you trigger an activation failure by conducting too many hardware changes within a certain period of time then automatic activation will fail. (In this circumstance each hardware change will be a 'minor' one which doesn't trigger activation failure, but the cumulative effect over time will turn the upgrading into a 'major' change which does.)


Every six months or thereabouts, if you haven't had to reactivate, the hardware hash is reset even IF you've made small changes. The is no 'ten strikes and you're out!' counter. :p
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There is!

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/10/26/Microsoft_clarifies_Vista_activation_to_bit-tech/

I'd probably reinstall maybe twice a year, so if that's correct re: the hash reset I should be ok. The info I can't find for sure though is about the hash reset - with XP it was 120 days, but I can't seem to find anything about it for Vista.
 
That'd be all good and well, Eyeball kid, if it was an article worth reading. But it isn't. It's a waffle piece from back when MS was playing with the idea of allowing only one 'migrate' for the OS. Before, in other words, they decided to drop the proposal and basically follow the same model as they already had been.

In the few months prior to Vista's retail release MS played around with a few ideas related to licensing and activation restrictions. They ditched them and basically moved forward with the only changes being a 'one time only license transfer' for Anytime Upgrade' licenses, and a relaxed approach to OEM System Builder Pack reactivations.
 
That's the problem, there seem to be no good, concise articles laying out their policies for their various editions of Vista. You'd think with a major product like that it would be all laid out clearly, but I guess it benefits them to keep people a bit in the dark. The funny thing is, I've been calling around and I can't even find a retail copy of Home Premium! (I live in Barbados, it only takes about 10 minutes to call every computer shop in the country)
 
That's the problem, there seem to be no good, concise articles laying out their policies for their various editions of Vista.
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That's because there is no good, concise information available upon which to write such articles.

Microsoft was very forthcoming with the situation regarding Windows XP, back in the day. They published quite detailed information about how the hardware hash was calculated, and what changes would have differing impacts. They were forthcoming too when they made changes to the system, to accomodate the 'reset after six months' addition.

This time around they've stuffed up. Tried to make changes and botched it. Quite a few people have had activation fail after even very minor hardware changes. But Microsoft has been quite clear that they have no intention of undily inconveniencing genuine customers. Effectivey, if you ring the activation centre you'll get it reactivated, as long as you're not stupid enough to tell them you have it installed on more than one PC.

You'd think with a major product like that it would be all laid out clearly, but I guess it benefits them to keep people a bit in the dark.
Click to expand...

I suspect the only thing they're really trying to 'keep people in the dark' about is how much of a ballsup they've made of it!
 
keep it on 1 pc and you're fine. I swap hardware like the plague and have yet to trigger an activation. I suspect the key parts are the install hd and the mobo as I've tweaked all but those items before without an activation issue.

I did have a fluke with xp the other day swapping a cd drive and a dvd drive on another pc. Strangest thing, said I had "significantly" altered the hardware... reactivated online with no issue, but a heads up that flukes "may" occur. I've done a swap of an rma mobo before to an identical mobo with no issue so xp is weird at times...
 
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