How many times can I install windows 7 home premium

Mike B, No that is not me, but my Avatar. If you have ever watched "Stargate SG1" that is a picture of Capt/Major/Colonel Samantha Carter, my idol. Even "Old Farts" need someone to look up too. :)

Dubya 7 installed just fine. I never really learned Vista, so now I have two OSs to learn.

Lee said:

The CD/DVD does not know the difference, albeit when you attempt to activate Win 7 the Microsoft activation computer does. You have 30 days from installation to activate your copy, and once it is activated it is tied to that computer through Microsoft's activation system. You can reinstall the the OS, and activate up to three times after that you will be presented with an activation screen and a phone number to call for reactivation. This also goes along with replacement of specific parts (memory, HDD, etc.), again it is the same as the fore mentioned. Hope this helps.

Enjoy and Welcome to the Seven Forums.

On my first install of the OEM, will I have to call MS to get an activation key?

The key is on the label on the outside of the disk box.

For a clean install, check out this tutorial: Clean Install Windows 7

And pay attention of the Automatically Activate Windows check box. Uncheck it. You will not have to call MS.

So, let me get this right. Lets say you have Win 7 pro installed on a mainboard, and your mainboard dies and you can't uninstall it. Then you can't reinstall it on a new rig that you built yourself. Is that correct or not?

Lengo said:

So, let me get this right. Lets say you have Win 7 pro installed on a mainboard, and your mainboard dies and you can't uninstall it. Then you can't reinstall it on a new rig that you built yourself. Is that correct or not?

If you have an OEM version of Windows 7, you may have trouble activating on a new motherboard. If the new motherboard is the same make and model as the old one, you are more likely to have success. You may have to talk to MS on the phone and plead your case. An OEM license is supposedly restricted to the original motherboard, but we repeatedly hear that MS has some leeway on this in case of a motherboard failure.

If you have a non-OEM version of Windows 7, you can install on any replacement motherboard. You don't have to worry about the issue at all.

For both OEM and non-OEM, the general rule is: one license for one system. You can't use the same Product Key on multiple installations simultaneously.

Lee said:

The CD/DVD does not know the difference, albeit when you attempt to activate Win 7 the Microsoft activation computer does. You have 30 days from installation to activate your copy, and once it is activated it is tied to that computer through Microsoft's activation system. You can reinstall the the OS, and activate up to three times after that you will be presented with an activation screen and a phone number to call for reactivation. This also goes along with replacement of specific parts (memory, HDD, etc.), again it is the same as the fore mentioned. Hope this helps.

Enjoy and Welcome to the Seven Forums.

If I install Windows 7 retail on the same PC and motherboard, could I do it as many times as I want with the same product key? It better be, some programs that I've installed keep crashing whenever I attempt to launch them, and right now, I think reinstalling Windows is my best option. I've been having problems since the past few weeks.

I don't know, stuff happens, that's what technology is. What I've been trying to do over the past few weeks is trying to make Windows XP Mode work. I tried many things, uninstalling and reinstalling XP Mode and Virtual PC, installing certain programs step by step, and even perform a clean reinstall of Windows with a lengthy process of reinstalling updates and drivers; and so far, it's still not working. I've checked that Virtualization is on, meets the hardware requirements, and this silly message keeps popping up at the end of a 10-minute first-time setup saying that it has failed in doing so. Guess I'll have to wait the 3 months or so and try again by that time to see what happens.

did you enable virtual pc and xp mode in your Programs and Features? i have xp mode on my dell that does work but not blazingly fast. also xp mode support will stop along with xp os
jim