Win 7 on new hardware

[cramreipan]

I read this article from Maximum PC: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/windows_7_upgrade_guide_all_your_questions_answered?page=0%2C0

In it it talks about the fact that you will no longer be able to call MS and re-activate Windows if you change major hardware. Is this true? What will happen if I change out my motherboard let's say and need to re-activate either the Win 7 upgrade from XP or a full version of Win 7? What if I buy a new hard drive and want to put Win 7 on it?

I'm a gamer and change out hardware quite often as I need to upgrade hardware often to keep up with the latest games and hardware. Am I going to have to buy a new copy of Win 7 everytime I upgrade my computer? My machines have at most a one year lifespan. And in that one year I will usualy swap out at least one video card. A video card swap does not require OS reinstall. But one year is the outside, most of my machines only last about 6-8 months before upgrading.


Will I have to buy a volume license or something that will allow me to install over and over?

No one seems to have an aswer for this!!

 

[pominator]

In only concern oem version as far as I know, you don't have this restriction with retail box version. I may be wrong though.

 

[pestbest]

I am not 100% sure. When they say call MS and Reactivate, I think it only refers to calling MS to reactivate. On the box of Windows 7 that you buy, there will probably be a product key for your Windows 7 that you can use everytime you want to upgrade your computer or install on another system. This product key can be used as many times as you want and you can reinstall as many times as you want as long as the product key is used for the maximum amount of times its allowed.

Maybe you may have to do a reinstall from scratch but I don't think you have to totally buy a new Windows 7 Volume License. Contact Microsoft Support if you want to confirm your query or wait for other Seven Forum Users to post their views.

Also, unless you buy this from an OEM such as HP or Dell, I don't think this applies to you. If you buy the Retail Box, you should be ok. On an OEM machine, you should use the product key they give you if anything happens. It's usually on the OEM Machine itself.

Thanks,
Pestbest

 

[Brink]

Hello Cranreipan,

Yes, you will still be able to call Microsoft to phone activate your retail Windows 7. If you have a OEM Windows 7 that came preinstalled on your store bought computer, then you will need to call the OEM instead for a phone activation. OEM versions can only be activated on the exact same computer that they were originally first installed on. That is why if you made a major hardware change (ex: motherboard) on a OEM computer, you will have to call the OEM to re-activate.

That's all. It's pretty much the same as with Vista.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[cramreipan]

Hello Cranreipan,

Yes, you will still be able to call Microsoft to phone activate your retail Windows 7. If you have a OEM Windows 7 that came preinstalled on your store bought computer, then you will need to call the OEM instead for a phone activation. OEM versions can only be activated on the exact same computer that they were originally first installed on. That is why if you made a major hardware change (ex: motherboard) on a OEM computer, you will have to call the OEM to re-activate.

That's all. It's pretty much the same as with Vista.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

I build all my machines from scratch. I bought 1 OEM machine, it was my first computer in 1990.

cr

 

[Brink]

As long as you buy a retail version instead of a OEM version of Windows 7, you will not have any problems activating it then on your computer.

 

[7echno7im]

Even with OEM licenses, if you stick to the same model motherboard (or really close) it will be fine. I have had an Xforce motherboard go out on a Vista OEM license and they RMA's me a higher model and even after a clean install, it still thought it was the same one. I never had any issues to this day of reactivating it. Essentially its the same machine. I built it myself.

 

[sevsman]

I always buy OEM OS's.

If i replace my mobo i just call and say it's a re-install. It always works.

Or say it's a mobo replacement due to a hardware fault.

Honestly, it never fails to be activated

 

[DJG]

Even with OEM licenses, if you stick to the same model motherboard (or really close) it will be fine. I have had an Xforce motherboard go out on a Vista OEM license and they RMA's me a higher model and even after a clean install, it still thought it was the same one. I never had any issues to this day of reactivating it. Essentially its the same machine. I built it myself.

You may have to call. I actvated my OEM XP x64 without the mobo's RAID function because I had no floppy handy, and figured I'd just do it as a new driver install from the OS once up & running. No can do - it couldn't see the RAID device so it wouldn't install the driver. If I did turn on the RAID, I couldn't boot into the new installation, because, DOH! no RAID device!

So I had to rig a floppy and re-install XP this time with the RAID device enabled. Whan I tried to activate, it wouldn't let me. Sorry, different hardware! WTF???! Same everything, just enabled the RAID. So I had to call & explain, and had no real problem getting the phone activation. But it's pretty twitchy sometimes.

 

[cramreipan]

Read this thread: Carey Frisch did not answer this yet my thread was closed!

Some interesting stuff in here and one person posts a white paper about licensing for Vista. Possibly Win 7 licensing will be the same.

cr

 

[DJG]

Well, the 3-day activation limit is true as far back as XP. I did an old XP x64 OEM image restore over a different MB and after clicking on the gazillion New Hardware Found pop-ups, I got the "WTF??? The hardware has changed significantly, you have 3 days to activate."

I didn't pursue it any further as it was just an experiment.

I should also add that as Sevman mentions, I've never had a problem getting re-activated after a phone call if it sounded reasonable. I don't think they're so much worried about some poor bloke upgrading his system, more about somebody cranking out an assembly line with only one license.

 

[cramreipan]

Yeah the phone activation is normally not the problem. What I'm addressing here is the MaxPC article states that phone activation will no longer be available.

See the link I posted for a thread on the TechNet forums in my last post before this one.

cr

 

[YupYup]

Yeah the phone activation is normally not the problem. What I'm addressing here is the MaxPC article states that phone activation will no longer be available.

See the link I posted for a thread on the TechNet forums in my last post before this one.

cr

Nowhere in that article does it state "phone activation will no longer be available".

 

[cramreipan]

Nowhere in that article does it state "phone activation will no longer be available".

It says this: "Some home users coming from XP might be hoping to cheat the system by calling Microsoft for manual activations on additional machines, but I’m afraid it won’t work this time. Windows is constantly checking in with Microsoft for various reasons (most of which you agreed to in the EULA), and as with Vista, multiple activations are often caught, kicking both copies into non genuine mode. Even though this isn’t as serious as it used to be, it’s still not a good idea, and it’s defiantly illegal."

What I take this to mean is that you could be stuck in situation where if you changed hardware your copy would be kicked into non-genuine mode. Internet activation will of course fail because you changed hardware. If you are unable to call and either through the automated system or by talking to a CSR at MS, you wouldn't be able to re-activate.

Why else would he say the first sentance? I can't see how the first sentance can be read any other way. If Windows is constantly checking various things online, why would it not see that you had activted Win 7 on different hardware and bounce your activation to non-genuine? And if you can't call to re-activate what do you do? Your not activating on multiple machines as he said, but as far as the licensing servers at Redmond see your activation, you are. Different hardware even if it is just a motherboard swap will be seen as a different machine.

So to labor the point he says: "Some home users coming from XP might be hoping to cheat the system by calling Microsoft for manual activations on additional machines, but I’m afraid it won’t work this time."

What else can he mean here?

cr

 

[Brink]

Hello CR,

It seems to me that you will still be able to do a phone activation, but not be able to for an illegal installation or for multiple installations with the same product key number. It will just be more of a hassle if Windows 7 and Microsoft think that you installed it on another computer when it is actually is the same computer with new hardware instead.

 

[poin2]

The article doesn't say that phone activations will no longer work.

It just says you won't be able to call in for multiple phone activations on multiple machines using the same key, and that the activation system will catch such misuse.

But if you need to call in once a year or so because you upgrade your motherboard or something that requires re-activation you shouldn't have a big issue.

 

[YupYup]

It has nothing to do with activating after a hardware change, it is about cheating the system and using the same key on more than one machine at a time.

 

[DJG]

"Some home users coming from XP might be hoping to cheat the system by calling Microsoft for manual activations on additional machines, but I’m afraid it won’t work this time."

I think, as Brink points out, the operative word here is "additional". I haven't had a problem yet probably because I normally keep the controllers, peripherals & filesystems the same when I migrate to another motherboard.

 

[YupYup]

"Some home users coming from XP might be hoping to cheat the system by calling Microsoft for manual activations on additional machines, but I’m afraid it won’t work this time."

I think, as Brink points out, the operative word here is "additional". I haven't had a problem yet probably because I normally keep the controllers, peripherals & filesystems the same when I migrate to another motherboard.

Especially if you read the whole question, which is

Since I Get a 32 Bit & 64 Bit CD, Can I Install It On Two Machines?

No. Since you are only given one CD key, you can only activate a single version at a time. The good news here is that your CD Key is interchangeable. This means that you can start out with the 32 bit edition if that’s all you need, knowing that you can easily format and change over to 64 bit later on if your requirements change.
Some home users coming from XP might be hoping to cheat the system by calling Microsoft for manual activations on additional machines, but I’m afraid it won’t work this time. Windows is constantly checking in with Microsoft for various reasons (most of which you agreed to in the EULA), and as with Vista, multiple activations are often caught, kicking both copies into non genuine mode. Even though this isn’t as serious as it used to be, it’s still not a good idea, and it’s defiantly illegal.