News No more clean installs for Vista upgraders

Wouldn't install need to go online for that to work?

 

Bloody born-again Ossians...

 

well that's true

could it not go online after its installed, if it doesn't verify, your locked out ? (well to the point you can click "buy vista")

And even then, these days (i think) a lot of people have Internet via Ethernet, and windows should be able to get the Internet at installation, i know Server 2003 would detect if there was another server on the domain with the same Name, so why cant vista ?

 

That is what I was thinking: When Vista goes to activate it would first check the XP key then, if that passes, check the Vista key.

 

Here's a workaround - if no one else has already posted it

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932

A bit long winded really...

1) Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.

2) When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click "Next" and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial.

3) When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased and continue with setup.

4) Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista.

5) This time, type in your product key when prompted.

6) When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install, choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this means that you will have to install Vista for a second time.

7) Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old directory which contains information from the first Vista install.

 

Vista has actually got a clean up method to remove old installations of Windows, it removed 50GB from my old XP install!

 

But this is a Vista install that remains, not an XP...

And I don't know, it seems like circumventing the whole update thing, as you never have to enter the previous key (from the XP license)

 

I haven't tested it on a Vista old install yet, but it's called "Clean previous Windows installations" so I'm assuming it'll work on Vista

 

hmmmm it is going to be interesting, I guess the only way to see if it works is when it comes to upgrading?! What happens if you flash the bios and replace the CPU? or at least, what is supposed to happen? I don't mind paying £130 every couple of years when I do full upgrades but if I have to change a mobo because it dies, would that mean you would have to get a new version of it? I assume this is the benifit of having the retail version, this problem doesn't exist?

 

you can re-activate vista up to 10 times, so that's 10 changes of hardware
Lame TBH, because why should there be any limit at all, it can still only be on 1 PC so why shouldn't it be unlimited - just asking for it to be hacked