Vista re-activation concerns

What has enthusiasts concerned are language changes to the retail license for Vista that restrict the number of times you may transfer Vista from one device to another. The license reads: "The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device one time.

If you reassign the license, that other device becomes the 'licensed device. To make matters more confusing, reports circulated last week claiming that Microsoft's official policy allows for 10 re-activations stemming from hardware changes. We decided to contact Microsoft to get to the facts. A Microsoft spokesperson told Ars Technica that "the hardware tolerance of product activation for Windows Vista has been improved and is more flexible than that for Windows XP," indicating that re-activations caused by minor changes to a PC should be less common.

Microsoft told Ars Technica that SPP monitors the system and measures changes against the original hardware configuration of the PC in an attempt to determine if the software has been moved to a new device. SPP uses an undisclosed algorithm to to track changes, and it remains unclear how the algorithm assesses different hardware changes.

The spokesperson reiterated the company's view that Vista's hardware tolerance is more flexible than before. As to the issue of multiple re-activations, Microsoft is standing behind the language of its licenses. Asked specifically about the rumors that Vista would permit 10 such re-activations instead of only one, Microsoft indicated that the company had no further comments.

The company's official policy remains fixed on one device transfer. Sign in. United States English. Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Answered by:. Archived Forums. Sign in to vote. Friday, March 21, PM. The FAQ that Carey has linked to is poorly written and misleading. I tried reentering the product key but they both report as their product keys in use, which isn't currently true. I tried contacting Dell for help with the OptiPlex machine, but just be nagged about Vista no longer being supported, etc.

By the way, the OptiPlex machine is dual-booted with Windows 10 and Vista. For all your information, I use Vista for the enthusiast reasons and for a sense of nostalgia. I paid for the Vista license and the other PC came with it, why should I be subjected to not having a license product? I really don't want to resort into having pirating Windows and such, just to use Windows Vista with no interruption. Which is why I'm writing here for.

You have to go through them, but lately a lot of posters have been referred back to here by them when using phone activation. Was this reply helpful?