I have a Dell OEM windows 7 KEY and an Acer netbook with Windows 7 starter on it. My question is can I use the Dell OEM KEY in Anytime Upgrade on the Acer? Will it make the Acer think its a Dell? And if the KEY won't authenticate then what will happen to the netbook? I really don't play around with the OS on a computer, I'm more of a hardware guy.
No, the OEM key is only valid for use with the Dell hardware it was first installed on. Even if you could use the OEM key, it wouldn't do this - no. There should be a seperate utility disk for the Dell tools and other bloatware. Well, assuming you just enter the key (rather than installing from the OEM Windows disk) then it'll just fail to validate your copy of Windows. It won't mess up the laptop at all... you'll just be encouraged to buy another key.
Anytime Upgrade does allow you to just type in any Windows key and upgrade to that version, you must purchase an Anytime Upgrade key, not a normal Windows key to upgrade to the version required. You could try it, dubious whether this is legal (probably not) and would expect to see activation fail. I have seen this happen on a PC with OEM Windows for no apparent reason, but it is easy to fix. On activation failure you get a little notice in the bottom right hand corner of your desktop telling you that the OS may not be genuine, and a 30 day count down appears after which point Windows will restart every hour. To fix right click 'Computer' in the start menu, select 'Properties' scroll to the bottom and activate it again with the original key.
So there is no way to use an OEM KEY in Anytime Upgrade? I will hold on to the KEY and I might use it on another computer. Is there any way to tell id a KEY is for 32bit or 64bit? I never did find out what version it was.
I read that Anytime Upgrade can use at least 3 different KEYs, an Anytime Upgrade KEY, an Upgrade Version KEY and a Full Version KEY.
Is that right? My understanding is that if you have 2 differrent Windows version keys and dvds the only way to switch between them is to do a fresh install (probably another reason why just plugging in a a different versions key will not work). The only way to switch versions without full reinstall is to get an Anytime Upgrade key or use a Windows Upgrade dvd and licence. I would not risk buying a full version license to test this, maybe put your question directly to M$?
It's an OEM key. It lives & dies with the machine it's attached to. You should not put it on another computer
It isn't used on any computer as of yet. Also you are not quite right, if you call Microsoft and get the phone robot then you can just say that you have done a hardware change and get an activation code from them. I've done this before. My extra PC is using a Dell XP OEM from a broken desk top that I found in the trash.
The issue with this that by licence it is not legal. For home use you probably don't care, all you want is Windows Update, which will probably work. For business use i wouldn't try to do this, you could have serious problems due this, as this equals to unlicenced software.
I said you shouldn't not that it doesn't work. You would however be breaking the EULA and therefore have an unlicensed machine.
Ah, I thought you had an unused Dell OEM Windows installation pack with an unactivated key. I did not realise you were trawling wheelie bins and rubbish depots collecting scrotey key stickers or just saving up a stack of OEM keys from OEM PCs you have upgraded. As those above have said once activated the OEM license means that copy of Windows is locked to that PC, no transferring. Certainly your PC will not be licensed under these circumstances, as you yourself said you are kind of having to perform an act of deception on M$ robot hotline. I would say this practice is fairly pointless and any advice you get to circumvent this policy in this or any forum may be deeply flawed and leave you on questionable legal ground.
Well the Dell XP KEY that I did have on the PC in my room came form that trashed PC and it was for testing use only and was only reused for a matter of weeks to see if the PC was working right, its a log story but I was rebuilding part of the mother board and I needed a copy of windows to test me work out with. I not good at using Umbuntu so that is why I use that Trashed Dell XP KEY. Its dual booting as XP (my old copy, not OEM) and a hackintosh now anyways, again just for testing and playing around. As for the the Dell Windows 7 KEY I'm not sure of the origen as it was not I that found it, it was given to me buy an old friend, That is why I don't even know if it is 32bit or 64bit. I have sience given up on using it as it will not do what I want it to do, that was to work in Anytime Upgrade. So thanks for all the imput form every one I found this infomation quite helpful in my quest to learn more about the differnt versions of Windows 7.
