Windows Vista Upgrade Disc Question

[Dutt1113]

I'm doing some work on my uncle's laptop. It's basically running like crap so i'm opting to restore it. He gave me all the cd's he could find for it and it had with it a windows vista upgrade cd. It says "Windows Anytime Upgrade" on the case and disc. I'm not too familiar with the upgrade disc so...

my question is does the vista upgrade cd have full windows vista on it. The bottom of the laptop has a Windows Vista Home Premium OEM act cd key. The cd key itself has no oem in the key. Can I use this key to reinstall vista? I can get all the drivers and stuff off the acer website.

 

[Joe Average]

Product Keys don't have "OEM in them, but Product IDs do. You need the Product Key (25 digits made up of 5 groups of 5 digits each separated by a hypen like JMKTK-MFFC9-244TC-TYPHW-2CK8H for example). A Product ID is what you see on the System Properties window and looks like 76558-653-0245526-50138 but if it's an OEM installation that would be more like 76558-OEM-0245526-50138.

The Product Key is used in conjunction with a mathematical algorithm that uses data garnered from PCI device IDs and thrown into a mix that creates the Product ID - that's the unique "serial number" of any given PC with any given installation of Windows on it. Theoretically it's unique and identifies that specific machine and that specific hardware configuration - change one component and it should theoretically cause the Product ID to change.

Anyway, all Vista DVDs have the "full" version of each edition of Vista on them. What "unlocks" a given edition for installation is the Product Key. When you input the Product Key during the early stages of a Vista installation, that key - which is tied to the specific edition listed on the COA sticker - "unlocks" the installer and tells it to install that specific edition of Vista and no other. The problem with the Anytime Express Upgrade disc is that it's designed to only install the given edition of Vista - as tied to the Product Key - when the installer detects a previous OS on the drive that is considered to be an eligible upgrade product, like 2K, XP, etc - even a "lower" edition of Vista being upgraded to something better (Home Basic to Home Premium, Home Premium to Ultimate, that sort of thing).

There is a method to install an "upgrade" version, even the Anytime Express Upgrade versions, without needing to install the original OS first on the drive. There's the popular dual installation method which is the default: requires you to install the old OS first, then install Vista on top of that as the "upgrade" edition is supposed to be used. But there's another method that can be done with a single install and then typing a few commands in an Administrative Command Prompt. I had a post here from early 2007 about doing that, just 3 commands done in succession and that's that, but I can't even find that post now with a search, go figure. There's a really good chance that post was totally lost in one of the "forum rollbacks" this place has experienced over the past two years, and if that's the case, it's gone forever.

You can get a similar method that makes things a bit easier on installing the "upgrade" edition as though it were the full retail edition here:

http://www.windowssecrets.com/comp/070201

Scroll down the page a bit to get past the bullshit at the top to the "Get Vista upgrade, never pay full price" section and read it for all the actual info.

Good luck...