I don't understand licensing for Windows upgrades

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robbi · #1 Post by **robbi** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:08 am

I've ordered a T60p, which will come with an OEM license for Windows XP. With any luck, I will be upgrading to Vista a year from now.

What is the upgrade path from the OEM license? Will Lenovo offer an OEM Vista upgrade? Or do you buy the retail upgrade?

I need to know this now because I do not want to get caught out on a limb. If the OEM version is upgradable, naturally I prefer that. If not, I prefer to install retail XP right off the bat.

snife · #2 Post by **snife** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:20 am

Microsoft licensing is designed so no-one really understands it IMHO.

Lenovo will not provide an upgrade path for Vista for machines purchased now but there should be no problem (based on previous experience from 98/2000-XP) using the retail upgrade; i would always personally recommend a clean install of a new OS though for the greatest stability.

christopher_wolf · #3 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:32 am

If you can, I would recommend waiting until Vista actually ships with the approval of IBM/Lenovo on the Thinkpads; now that is probably a long time off, but it will result in the greatest stability and amount of utilities provided.

irfan · #4 Post by **irfan** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 5:11 am

I installed vista beta2 on a desktop machine. Really nice features. And all the aero stuff works on my low end graphics card: geforce 5700 le (128 mb vid. memory). It even automatically installed all the drivers, including my avermedia tv-tuner .

#5 Post by **jdhurst** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:05 am

OEM licenses live and die with the machine. They cannot be removed and used elsewhere; they cannot be transferred to a new machine; and so far as I know, they are not upgradeable.
... JD Hurst

JHEM · #6 Post by **JHEM** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:01 am

jdhurst wrote:so far as I know, they are not upgradeable.
... JD Hurst

Yes, they are John.

OEM versions of Windows are fully upgradeable with retail purchased upgrade CDs.

IBM even had complete upgrade instructions posted on their website for most of their machines, e.g. upgrading to W2K from W98 on 600s and 570s, upgrading to XP from W2K on early T, A and X series machines, etc.

Vista will be no different than prior offerings and, and as long as you have a legitimate licensed copy of XP regardless of whether it's a retail or OEM version, will allow you to upgrade your OS.

Regards,

James

#7 Post by **jdhurst** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:13 am

That is good to know - thanks. ... JDH

davidspalding · #8 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 5:17 pm

My own opinion: never upgrade to a version 1.0 of Windows OS. Wait for SP1 to come out, *then* buy and upgrade.

True, you can make a cleaner install of Windows, even an upgrade version, if you wipe the drive and use the upgrade disc. Sometimes these discs require that you insert your original install disc in for verification (in which the owner of a TP with Windows pre-installed is screwed), other versions have simply looked for the presence of a c:\winnt folder (lousy validation, that). Do you know what Vista Upgrade discs will require? Not until you try it.

Unless you have an install disc for an older version qualifying for an upgrade, I would NOT wipe the disc and install -- unless you bought a new full install copy of Vista (versus a "Vista Upgrade" package). The headache you prevent could be your own.

I don't understand licensing for Windows upgrades

I don't understand licensing for Windows upgrades

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