Hi
I recently bought a new laptop that is covered under the windows 7 upgrade program. Does anyone know if this can be installed on another PC instead? The other PC is Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit.
Cheers
Dara
You're gonna get an OEM upgrade so it won't. It's tide to the laptop you just bought.
Well technically...
I don't believe that there is a Windows 7 Upgrade OEM. The upgrade disk that your OEM sends you will probably be a retail upgrade disk. And really, Microsoft's only requirement for an upgrade is that the prior OS is Genuine and has a COA (certificate of Authenticity) from a licensing standpoint.
So... I assume your OEM is giving you a retail upgrade disk, and unless they make a custom build OEM upgrade disk that checks your machine to see if it is in fact an OEM machine (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc...) I don't see how they can regulate it. I am not even sure that it would fall outside of their end user agreement. Yes they are sending you an upgrade free for purchasing their hardware now, but not sure that upgrade is force to be on that hardware over any other Genuine Windows System.
All purely speculation though, you would have to read the OEM's upgrade policy when applying for the upgrade.
BTW, what OEM?
Last edited by 7echno7im; 19 Jul 2009 at 17:33.
OEM can mean two different things
I'm thinking the upgrade is an OEM version ...
In that once installed in a computer .. It can never be moved to another.
I upgraded my Vista Computer to an OEM XP MCE.
All this means is that it was cheaper and now cannot be moved because it's only licensed on the computer it was originally installed in.
If the upgrade is sent by M$ .. It may not install the OEM supplied applications already in Your computer.
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components which are purchased by a second company and retailed under the second company's brand name. It is a form of outsourcing.
Confusingly, OEM may also refer to a company that purchases a component made by a second company for use in its own product, or sells the product of the second company under its own brand name. Companies who follow these practices are better termed value added resellers or resellers, respectively.
via Wikipedia
Anybody can buy an OEM copy of Windows ...
Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 SP2B for System Builders - Operating Systems
This means the same as if it came from an OEM ...
It cannot be moved to another computer once installed.
The W7 "Upgrades" will be the same .. Once installed they cannot be moved ..
but forever belong to the computer it was originally installed in.
Notice that these are listed as Full or Upgrade versions.
Newegg.com - windows7
Maybe.
There are two types of OEM activation. The first works like a full retail key, but only once; this is the key that comes on the COA sticker, and is a single computer activation which activates online with microsoft, and ties that key to the hardware fingerprint of that computer.
The second is a PAK (pre activated key); the OEM makes a custom disc with their PAK appropriate to that version, and a digital certificate specific to that OEM, and it checks it has a flag in the bios that matches the digital certificate. If any of the three are missing, it won't automatically activate.
So if you get an OEM disc as part of the upgrade offer, you won't be able to use it on the 2nd computer with the PAK built in, as your BIOS won't match. However, you should still be able to use the OEM key that comes with it on the COA sticker on your 2nd computer. As long as you only use it one of the two computers, you'll be fine.
There is a gotcha though. Some OEMs don't provide a windows disc at all, but rather a customised restore disc; this uses ghost or the like to clone a disc image onto the hard-drive, rather than doing an actual windows 7 install, and also has all the drivers, and additional software like the trial version of norton. These usually have additional checks as part of the clone, so will only install on the original hardware.
So have a look at what you got with your vista home pc; did you get a windows vista install disc and oem sticker, or did you get some custom restore disc that you may have had to burn yourself from files on the hard-drive?
If it's the latter, that's what they may supply for the windows 7 upgrade, and it probably won't work on anything other than the computer it's meant for.
That said, you should still get an OEM COA sticker with a key, so you might be able to use that key with a vanilla 7 home premium you acquire by other means.
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