In message <OedCMtnKJHA.456@xxxxxx> Bruce Chambers
<bchambers@xxxxxx> was claimed to have wrote:
Quote:
> That's correct. Product Keys are bound to the specific type of
>DVD/license (OEM, Volume, retail, full, or Upgrade) with which they are
>purchased. For example, a Vista Home OEM Product Key won't work for any
>retail version of Vista Home, or for other any version of Vista, and
>vice versa.
This was true in XP, but is *not* true in Vista.
When you're dealing with recovery type media, it may still be true that
only a valid OEM key will work, but when you're talking about retail
Vista DVDs, you can use any full, upgrade or OEM license, the Vista
installer will act appropriately.
I've personally tested this, I have OEM keys for Vista Ultimate and Home
Premium here, both install just fine with my retail media as well as
Microsoft-branded OEM media (purchased as OEM rather then acquired
through an equipment vendor)
I've also checked that the retail DVDs and OEM DVDs are also byte for
byte identical, and happen to match the non-recovery format OEM DVD
included with Toshiba laptop.