Which Vista OEM,DSP,Upgrade

adsl3g

adsl3g

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Hi, there seems to be some confusion (with me at least) as to what type of 'distro' of Vista to get a hold of - meaning OEM, DSP or Upgrade. I understand that a DSP version will only allow so many (5) activations before it will refuse to activate.
I had this prob with a Win XP Home on my laptop(OEM) - I obviously activated it when I got the Laptop and again when the laptop was reloaded due to some junk I installed. THis happened again after a dodgy new anti-virus install, I like buggering around with 'funnies', and the 3rd time XP Home would not activate - told me something along the lines of it has been activated before.

Now I understand that a DSP package does the same - it will only allow x number of activations before it expires.

What is the situation re an upgrade? Is it also going to 'expire' after x number of activations? After a few years and loading tons of junk on the PC I like to clean it off now and again by re-installing. I know that an upgrade requires a previous version to be installed on the PC before it will install.

Can't seem to find M$'s explanation on this.
 
Last edited:
What would happen if directly after activating it you ghosted the drive and simply re-used that copy?
 
bwana said:
What would happen if directly after activating it you ghosted the drive and simply re-used that copy?
Click to expand...

Sounds like an option. my prob is I dont want to spend R1000+ on Vista to only be left with a plastic disk after 3 installs. I have heard you can contact M$ if this happens and they will give you another valid key for activation but its a hassle.
If after buying the thing I also don't want to have to revert to using an activation crack to be able to use the software properly.
 
It should actually only moan if you have changed the hardware, but anyway, the DSP is nice and cheap.

Even if it says its been activated too much when you try to use the internet method, the phone method can still work, you can even eventually speak to a life operator and explain, "im just reinstalling on the same machine"
 
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