Windows Vista Question

Reeves
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Joined: Mon 08 May, 2006 19.59

We understand the stupidly strict nature of Microsoft with Vista, however I have a bit of an awkward situation on using my Vista software more then once as apparently it can only be used on one machine...

1) Vista was installed on my computer and was activated but I reverted back to XP because it was getting on my tits
2) Vista is being installed on a computer that I am sorting out to give to my brother soon (I won't be setting up any Internet connection as he has no access to it)
3) I soon plan to build a new computer and install Vista on it

I'm assuming doing this will turn out to be a problem, so I was hoping if somebody can give me some advice? (That isn't "buy another copy")

Many thanks.
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Sput
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Reeves wrote:I was hoping if somebody can give me some advice? (That isn't "buy another copy")
Steal another copy.
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Reeves
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Joined: Mon 08 May, 2006 19.59

Thanks Mark. However it says I have 30 days to activate or else Vista won't work. I can either use t'internet or use an automated phone system. Wouldn't they recognise that the same software has been registered about three times?

And i'll bare that in mind, Sput. ;)
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Gavin Scott
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Theres a set of tools out there (search for Votek) which, in conjunction with an OEM version of vista, fools your machine into thinking it is a specific OEM build which doesn't need to be activated.

It doesn't seem to work in any configuration I've encountered (for test purposes, of course) and so needs to be constantly reinstalled.

I'm curious if there is a more up to date resolution of this problem.

For test purposes, of course.
Neil Jones
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Joined: Thu 11 Sep, 2003 20.03
Location: West Midlands

Reeves wrote:We understand the stupidly strict nature of Microsoft with Vista, however I have a bit of an awkward situation on using my Vista software more then once as apparently it can only be used on one machine...

1) Vista was installed on my computer and was activated but I reverted back to XP because it was getting on my tits
2) Vista is being installed on a computer that I am sorting out to give to my brother soon (I won't be setting up any Internet connection as he has no access to it)
3) I soon plan to build a new computer and install Vista on it

I'm assuming doing this will turn out to be a problem, so I was hoping if somebody can give me some advice? (That isn't "buy another copy")

Many thanks.
Legally, if the Vista licence came with the computer, it dies with that computer.
Any other OEM copy of Vista, again it lives and dies with the machine it meets first.
Retail licences are transferable as many times as you like providing its only on one machine at a time.
Each computer has to have its own licence, one per computer.

In the real world, however, I wouldn't worry about it. There is nothing to stop you using the same key on more than one computer, you'll just have to activate by telephone and claim its the first activation and that its not installed on more than one computer (like anybody's going to phone up Microsoft and say "yes, I've installed it on 16 computers" :roll: ) If the one machine isn't going on the internet, then that solves that problem as even if your key gets blacklisted, the system will never know anyway.
Stuart*
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Gavin Scott wrote:Theres a set of tools out there (search for Votek) which, in conjunction with an OEM version of vista, fools your machine into thinking it is a specific OEM build which doesn't need to be activated.
I'm intruiged Gavin. Why are yo always so sensible? Grrrrr.......... :shock:
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Jenny
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Reeves wrote:Thanks Mark. However it says I have 30 days to activate or else Vista won't work.
And you just blithely accept this as the way it is? Get an open source OS and have everyone involved with Microsoft killed. It doesn't matter which you do first, but do both.
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Pete
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surely the activation system will be like XP and will only start to flag up problems once the key starts appearing more than a few hundred times?

My retail copy of XP (woo @ that fab pirate discount scheme) is currently installed on about 4 computers and has never complained.
"He has to be larger than bacon"
cwathen
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Thanks Mark. However it says I have 30 days to activate or else Vista won't work. I can either use t'internet or use an automated phone system. Wouldn't they recognise that the same software has been registered about three times?

And i'll bare that in mind, Sput.
Useless suggestion - the activation system only checks the install date to determine the number of days it's been unactivated for at startup. Therefore, if you *never* turn your system off, you will *never* need to activate. I've got an unactivated copy of Vista Basic running in Virtual PC which is 4 months old, and by always using 'save state' rather than shutting the guest OS down, it's never complained about not being activated.

Useful suggestion - although the internet activation system will refuse to work more than once in a short space of time, you are given a phone number to do telephone activation. This is usually an automated service, as long as you enter the right responses to the questions it will rattle off the activation ID for you. Even if it doesn't like your answers, you will still get transferred to a real person who will happily accept any believable story and give you your activation ID.

Once the activation has been done, the system doesn't seem able to identify whether or not that key is being used on more than 1 machine unless Microsoft specifically blacklist the key - I've got the same copy of XP installed on 3 computers, all of which are can connected to the internet and pass the Genuine Advantage check.
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Sput
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I'm surprised it's not been cracked yet. It took, what, 8 days for XP to get WPA killed?
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cwathen
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Sput wrote:I'm surprised it's not been cracked yet. It took, what, 8 days for XP to get WPA killed?
I don't recall that WPA has ever been killed; it was just that you used to be able to get hold of volume licencing keys that bypassed the activation system and that Microsoft didn't have any form of secondary checking so you could easily pirate Windows and apply all patches and updates.

When the Genuine Advantage check was introduced in 2005, it did become much harder to pirate Windows as there was now a secondary form of checking beyond the initial install. It didn't stop you from installing with a volume licence key but it did block any patching or downloading of upgrades from Microsoft so you couldn't keep it up to date or use any developments like Media Player 11 or IE7. Although that infamous 'proof of concept' document appeared to show that this could easily be circumvented, Microsoft quickly patched that loophole and by the time it became common knowledge it no longer worked.

I'd actually say that there probably are more legitimate versions of Windows out there now than there were a few years ago - however the number of illegally installed copies is just as high; people now just divide the cost out amongst a few friends and buy one copy which they will all use because it's easy to activate all of them - patching this will probably be where Microsoft will go next.
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