Windows Licencing 1

[pinkpanther56]

I'm a bit scetchy on Windows home licencing these days so i'm wondering if someone can advise.

I've just bought a new PC with Vista home premium on and unfortunatly a couple of items of hardware that i have don't have drivers yet, i've contacted the manufacturer and they're in the pipeline but not soon enough.

I'd like to format the box and install XP untill the issues with Vista are resolved, can i do this legally using the fact that i have a copy of a later version of windows or am i going to have to purchace a copy of XP?

Thanks.

 

[minuteman263]

If you reformat the drive, you will lose the Vista install that you currently have, unless you have a restore disc that came with it. I'm pretty sure that you will have to buy an XP disc. If you have the restore disc and want to go back to Vista in the future, I don't see why you couldn't do that. It may require a call to Microsoft when you reinstall it. Personally, I would go with XP pro and stay with that.

 

[pinkpanther56]

Do you mean buy the XP media?

How would i go about getting a key to install it if i only had the media?

 

[sbrews]

Assuming its a "legit" copy of XP, there should be a key with it. If its not, then yes, you will have to buy the media.

 

[dglienna]

I'm pretty sure that MS will give anyone with Vista that is having problems the permission (if not the license) to install it over Vista

-David
2006 & 2007 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP)
2006 Dell Certified System Professional (CSP)

 

[smah]

This thread is getting a bit confusing, so for the sake of clarification, pinkpanther56 is asking about licensing only. We all know that installing XP will require a format of the hard drive and the appropriate media. The question is wether or not the existing Vista license will allow 'downgrading' to XP.

bought a new PC with Vista home premium on..

The implication is that this is an OEM license which is somewhat different than the retail license. It's even possible (I can't confirm one way or the other) that different OEMs could concieveably have slightly different licenses. I haven't actually read any of the Visto OEM licenses, but generally speaking, OEM agreements state that support will be provided by the OEM, not Microsoft. Now, combined with the idea of 'downgrading', I would say that for this scenario, the OEM would still be responsible for support issues. The next thing to consider is the upgrade (downgrade) path. If this were a retail upgrade scenario, the only way to get to Vista Home Premium would be from XP Home or XP Media Center. So if this is allowed, I would expect that only one of those versions of XP would be allowed.

With retail & VLK licenses of past OS's, MS has allowed downgrading. Your situation is potentially complicated by the fact that it's an OEM version. You will probably need to get in touch with both MS & the OEM to get a definitive answer. And unfortunately, I doubt if the OEM will be very helpful in this pursuit.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you were to simply buy a full retail version of XP and use that. If at some point you decide to return this machine to it's Vista state, you can use that full retail XP license somewhere else.

 

[pinkpanther56]

Nice one smah thanks to all, looks like i'll be contacting the vendor.

 

[Element74]

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...cbd-699b0c164182/royaltyoemreferencesheet.pdf

Here is a PDF from Microsoft detailing licensing rights when you have purchased a PC with Vista pre-installed and wish to downgrade to XP. Check out their forum on it as well for answers to your questions.