Vista - Licensing Question

My new Dell Latitude came with Vista Ultimate. I made a ghost image of the
hard drive before it was ever booted in case I needed to go back to day one.

I have two extra hard drives. I will have Flight Sim X on one and also use
it for testing, and I will probably use the other for XP or Linux.

I question is can I use my Vista Ultimate on more than one drive? I will
only be using it on ONE computer.

I guess the question is two fold.

1. Is it possible

2. Is it legal

I have Microsoft Action Pack and can load Vista Business on the other drive,
but it's easier just to ghost it back. I also hate to waste the extra
licenses if not needed.

G-Man

The Windows Vista license only permits one single (1) installation
on one single (1) computer.


"G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1C05BD88-ACE5-4FD5-9365-90D311F309A1@microsoft.com...
> My new Dell Latitude came with Vista Ultimate. I made a ghost image of
> the
> hard drive before it was ever booted in case I needed to go back to day
> one.
>
> I have two extra hard drives. I will have Flight Sim X on one and also
> use
> it for testing, and I will probably use the other for XP or Linux.
>
> I question is can I use my Vista Ultimate on more than one drive? I will
> only be using it on ONE computer.
>
> I guess the question is two fold.
>
> 1. Is it possible
>
> 2. Is it legal
>
> I have Microsoft Action Pack and can load Vista Business on the other
> drive,
> but it's easier just to ghost it back. I also hate to waste the extra
> licenses if not needed.
>
> G-Man

It is not possible, I'm not going to bother addressing the "is it legal"
since that doesn't matter anyway.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] rgharper@gmail.com
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1C05BD88-ACE5-4FD5-9365-90D311F309A1@microsoft.com...
> My new Dell Latitude came with Vista Ultimate. I made a ghost image of
> the
> hard drive before it was ever booted in case I needed to go back to day
> one.
>
> I have two extra hard drives. I will have Flight Sim X on one and also
> use
> it for testing, and I will probably use the other for XP or Linux.
>
> I question is can I use my Vista Ultimate on more than one drive? I will
> only be using it on ONE computer.
>
> I guess the question is two fold.
>
> 1. Is it possible
>
> 2. Is it legal
>
> I have Microsoft Action Pack and can load Vista Business on the other
> drive,
> but it's easier just to ghost it back. I also hate to waste the extra
> licenses if not needed.
>
> G-Man

"G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1C05BD88-ACE5-4FD5-9365-90D311F309A1@microsoft.com...
> My new Dell Latitude came with Vista Ultimate. I made a ghost image of
> the
> hard drive before it was ever booted in case I needed to go back to day
> one.
>
> I have two extra hard drives. I will have Flight Sim X on one and also
> use
> it for testing, and I will probably use the other for XP or Linux.
>
> I question is can I use my Vista Ultimate on more than one drive? I will
> only be using it on ONE computer.
>
> I guess the question is two fold.
>
> 1. Is it possible
>
> 2. Is it legal
>
> I have Microsoft Action Pack and can load Vista Business on the other
> drive,
> but it's easier just to ghost it back. I also hate to waste the extra
> licenses if not needed.

Of course it is possible. You could install a mobile rack and have 10 trays
containing hard drives with copies of your 'out of the box' ghost image, and
each one would boot up just fine without requiring activation. Dell may
have included some ways to trip you up, but I've only found one such barrier
with my Compaq desktop system - it is a minor inconvenience. The legality
depends on the license agreement, which of course is always trumped by the
governmental laws pertaining to your location. No one can give you a
definitive answer on the legality unless they study those laws.

I'm happy to see that someone else has had the foresight to create an 'out
of the box' image of their hard drive. That makes it so easy to figure out
problems with various hardware or software packages that are not as Vista
compatible as they claim. I've tried Compaq's process using the recovery
partition to restore the system to 'out of the box' conditions. It is
close, but definitely not identical to what I get from my Ghost image.

Note that the DOS version of Ghost may not properly restore the Vista Master
Boot Record. Mine doesn't. I used a DOS freeware named MbrWizD.exe to save
and restore the MBR.

-Paul Randall

"G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1C05BD88-ACE5-4FD5-9365-90D311F309A1@microsoft.com...
> My new Dell Latitude came with Vista Ultimate. I made a ghost image of
> the
> hard drive before it was ever booted in case I needed to go back to day
> one.
>
> I have two extra hard drives. I will have Flight Sim X on one and also
> use
> it for testing, and I will probably use the other for XP or Linux.
>
> I question is can I use my Vista Ultimate on more than one drive? I will
> only be using it on ONE computer.
>
> I guess the question is two fold.
>
> 1. Is it possible
>
> 2. Is it legal
>
> I have Microsoft Action Pack and can load Vista Business on the other
> drive,
> but it's easier just to ghost it back. I also hate to waste the extra
> licenses if not needed.
>
> G-Man
>
Possible but not legal. If you go online and want updates MS will require
activation for a reload, what they see as second computer. If you never
update?????

--
Ian

Paul,

FYI, Ghost will work. After you restore an image, you need to boot the
Vista DVD and choose Repair. It fixes a minor thingy in the boot file and
works just fine. I have made two hard drives and been switching between
both. As far as Microsoft is concerned, the machine is the same, same
hardware, same OS and key, Same MAC address, etc. etc.

If my software is licensed to one computer (as I read in my EULA), I AM
using it only on one computer.

G-Man




"Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message
news:uKUwKdr1HHA.5164@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> "G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1C05BD88-ACE5-4FD5-9365-90D311F309A1@microsoft.com...
>> My new Dell Latitude came with Vista Ultimate. I made a ghost image of
>> the
>> hard drive before it was ever booted in case I needed to go back to day
>> one.
>>
>> I have two extra hard drives. I will have Flight Sim X on one and also
>> use
>> it for testing, and I will probably use the other for XP or Linux.
>>
>> I question is can I use my Vista Ultimate on more than one drive? I will
>> only be using it on ONE computer.
>>
>> I guess the question is two fold.
>>
>> 1. Is it possible
>>
>> 2. Is it legal
>>
>> I have Microsoft Action Pack and can load Vista Business on the other
>> drive,
>> but it's easier just to ghost it back. I also hate to waste the extra
>> licenses if not needed.
>
> Of course it is possible. You could install a mobile rack and have 10
> trays containing hard drives with copies of your 'out of the box' ghost
> image, and each one would boot up just fine without requiring activation.
> Dell may have included some ways to trip you up, but I've only found one
> such barrier with my Compaq desktop system - it is a minor inconvenience.
> The legality depends on the license agreement, which of course is always
> trumped by the governmental laws pertaining to your location. No one can
> give you a definitive answer on the legality unless they study those laws.
>
> I'm happy to see that someone else has had the foresight to create an 'out
> of the box' image of their hard drive. That makes it so easy to figure
> out problems with various hardware or software packages that are not as
> Vista compatible as they claim. I've tried Compaq's process using the
> recovery partition to restore the system to 'out of the box' conditions.
> It is close, but definitely not identical to what I get from my Ghost
> image.
>
> Note that the DOS version of Ghost may not properly restore the Vista
> Master Boot Record. Mine doesn't. I used a DOS freeware named
> MbrWizD.exe to save and restore the MBR.
>
> -Paul Randall
>

Read your Eula a little closer. Doesn't it say something about the hard
drive it is loaded on? A different hard drive making it a different
computer or some weasel words to that effect?

I've seen WXP CDs shipped with Dell computers that would install without
requiring activation on much older Dell computers. It is possible that your
preactivation may be broken by being on a hard drive with a different serial
number, or at some later date by some update. Many people have complained
in this newsgroup about updates breaking their activation, or its becoming
broken for no apparent reason. There are a lot of similar complaints about
many other things in Vista breaking for no apparent reason too. You are in
a good position to experiment and see what can be done without breaking your
system and what things actually do break your system.

-Paul Randall


"G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8835E3DA-BE10-4CBE-B4DA-A3BCADCCA28F@microsoft.com...
> Paul,
>
> FYI, Ghost will work. After you restore an image, you need to boot the
> Vista DVD and choose Repair. It fixes a minor thingy in the boot file and
> works just fine. I have made two hard drives and been switching between
> both. As far as Microsoft is concerned, the machine is the same, same
> hardware, same OS and key, Same MAC address, etc. etc.
>
> If my software is licensed to one computer (as I read in my EULA), I AM
> using it only on one computer.
>
> G-Man
>
>
>
>
> "Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message
> news:uKUwKdr1HHA.5164@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:1C05BD88-ACE5-4FD5-9365-90D311F309A1@microsoft.com...
>>> My new Dell Latitude came with Vista Ultimate. I made a ghost image of
>>> the
>>> hard drive before it was ever booted in case I needed to go back to day
>>> one.
>>>
>>> I have two extra hard drives. I will have Flight Sim X on one and also
>>> use
>>> it for testing, and I will probably use the other for XP or Linux.
>>>
>>> I question is can I use my Vista Ultimate on more than one drive? I
>>> will
>>> only be using it on ONE computer.
>>>
>>> I guess the question is two fold.
>>>
>>> 1. Is it possible
>>>
>>> 2. Is it legal
>>>
>>> I have Microsoft Action Pack and can load Vista Business on the other
>>> drive,
>>> but it's easier just to ghost it back. I also hate to waste the extra
>>> licenses if not needed.
>>
>> Of course it is possible. You could install a mobile rack and have 10
>> trays containing hard drives with copies of your 'out of the box' ghost
>> image, and each one would boot up just fine without requiring activation.
>> Dell may have included some ways to trip you up, but I've only found one
>> such barrier with my Compaq desktop system - it is a minor inconvenience.
>> The legality depends on the license agreement, which of course is always
>> trumped by the governmental laws pertaining to your location. No one can
>> give you a definitive answer on the legality unless they study those
>> laws.
>>
>> I'm happy to see that someone else has had the foresight to create an
>> 'out of the box' image of their hard drive. That makes it so easy to
>> figure out problems with various hardware or software packages that are
>> not as Vista compatible as they claim. I've tried Compaq's process using
>> the recovery partition to restore the system to 'out of the box'
>> conditions. It is close, but definitely not identical to what I get from
>> my Ghost image.
>>
>> Note that the DOS version of Ghost may not properly restore the Vista
>> Master Boot Record. Mine doesn't. I used a DOS freeware named
>> MbrWizD.exe to save and restore the MBR.
>>
>> -Paul Randall
>>
>

I actually never had to activate my Dell Vista.

One copy of Vista on One Computer, but what constitutes the computer. The
CPU or the Hard Drive.

I will tell you that I have ghosted the 2nd drive back and it works fine.
Updates and all. No re-activation required as the computer is the same, so
no hardware changes to send up a red flag.

G-Man



"Ian Betts" <igb123@talktalk.net> wrote in message
news:eVJ17or1HHA.6128@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
>
> "G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1C05BD88-ACE5-4FD5-9365-90D311F309A1@microsoft.com...
>> My new Dell Latitude came with Vista Ultimate. I made a ghost image of
>> the
>> hard drive before it was ever booted in case I needed to go back to day
>> one.
>>
>> I have two extra hard drives. I will have Flight Sim X on one and also
>> use
>> it for testing, and I will probably use the other for XP or Linux.
>>
>> I question is can I use my Vista Ultimate on more than one drive? I will
>> only be using it on ONE computer.
>>
>> I guess the question is two fold.
>>
>> 1. Is it possible
>>
>> 2. Is it legal
>>
>> I have Microsoft Action Pack and can load Vista Business on the other
>> drive,
>> but it's easier just to ghost it back. I also hate to waste the extra
>> licenses if not needed.
>>
>> G-Man
>>
> Possible but not legal. If you go online and want updates MS will require
> activation for a reload, what they see as second computer. If you never
> update?????
>
> --
> Ian
>

"G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:uPPjfyB2HHA.600@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>I actually never had to activate my Dell Vista.
>
> One copy of Vista on One Computer, but what constitutes the computer. The
> CPU or the Hard Drive.
>
> I will tell you that I have ghosted the 2nd drive back and it works fine.
> Updates and all. No re-activation required as the computer is the same,
> so no hardware changes to send up a red flag.
>
> G-Man
>
>
>
> "Ian Betts" <igb123@talktalk.net> wrote in message
> news:eVJ17or1HHA.6128@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>
>>
>> "G-Man" <g_foreman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:1C05BD88-ACE5-4FD5-9365-90D311F309A1@microsoft.com...
>>> My new Dell Latitude came with Vista Ultimate. I made a ghost image of
>>> the
>>> hard drive before it was ever booted in case I needed to go back to day
>>> one.
>>>
>>> I have two extra hard drives. I will have Flight Sim X on one and also
>>> use
>>> it for testing, and I will probably use the other for XP or Linux.
>>>
>>> I question is can I use my Vista Ultimate on more than one drive? I
>>> will
>>> only be using it on ONE computer.
>>>
>>> I guess the question is two fold.
>>>
>>> 1. Is it possible
>>>
>>> 2. Is it legal
>>>
>>> I have Microsoft Action Pack and can load Vista Business on the other
>>> drive,
>>> but it's easier just to ghost it back. I also hate to waste the extra
>>> licenses if not needed.
>>>
>>> G-Man
>>>
>> Possible but not legal. If you go online and want updates MS will require
>> activation for a reload, what they see as second computer. If you never
>> update?????
>>
>> --
>> Ian
>>
>
Luck was with you that time for sure :-))



--
Ian

With patience there is always a way.

Please Reply to Newsgroup so all can read.
Requests for assistance by email can not and will be deleted.