I bought a new laptop that came with Winodws Vsita preinstalled. I have the installation disk for windows vista and wanted to use it on my other computers in my house, does anyone know how many times and how many computers can i use the windows vista key that came with the laptop?
2007-03-13 11:59:57 · 5 answers · asked by DB 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
One - the laptop, it will be an OEM key and licensed only for the machine that it came with.
Unless you've explicitly bought a bulk license, any Windows license will apply to one machine only.
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/default.mspx
2007-03-13 12:03:27 · answer #1 · answered by David D 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it came preinstalled on your laptop then it's an OEM license and it can be only used on that laptop! If your laptop gets damaged or even worse change a component or simply replace one you'll need to reactivate windows!
Now there are two other types of licenses. The retail type which enables you to install on any computer you prefer (depending on how many licenses you receive with it) and corporate (it's ment for companies which use the same product key for all their computers... it's easier to maintain this way).
Don't be fouled in trying to install Vista on another PC with the OEM license. Even if you manage to fake vista in making it believe it's running on the same computer, Microsoft can and will deactivate your license key (making it an illegal product!). It's called DRM licensing and it's a new feature in Vista.
2007-03-13 12:14:50 · answer #2 · answered by agent-X 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can only use it once. Consider adding one of the free operating systems.
My favorite is UBUNTU (or XUBUNTU if your computer has less than 256MB of RAM).
It's a free, reliable and up to date operating system.
You can explore it from the "LIVE CD".
It's easy to install and use. You can dual boot it with other operating systems.
Once you have it installed, you gain access to thousands of free programs created by the open source community. There is excellent support - see the WIKI starter guide, and the Linux forums.
Always back up your data before making changes to your computer.
2007-03-13 12:04:55 · answer #3 · answered by hitechsleuth 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no, you'll want the biggest that got here with the disk. or attempt to google a key from the internet. Edward, you are able to instal it greater then one laptop. Vista is the single that may not help you place in it on greater then one laptop.
2016-12-18 12:55:22 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
1 key 1 computer
2007-03-13 12:03:23 · answer #5 · answered by bsmith13421 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋