Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade

**ming** · March 9th, 2007

Hi, I just purchased a new laptop which has XP pre-installed and I'm entitled to a free Vista upgrade on it. However, before I actually go and apply for the free upgrade I've got a query on the validity of the existing XP licence once I've received the upgrade disc.

I'm wanting to take up the upgrade offer before it expires at the end of this month, but I'm not 100% sure whether I want Vista installed on the laptop just yet. So, if I do receive the upgrade disc, but I don't install the upgrade - will my XP licence still be valid?

**Sazar** · March 9th, 2007

Don't see why not.

Check with the vendor to be absolutely sure.

**kcnychief** · March 9th, 2007

I haven't been as on top of news as I'd like of late, so things may have changed - but I'm pretty sure that if you install a Vista upgrade over your XP installation it does void your license for XP.

hansrijf · March 9th, 2007

Originally Posted by kcnychief

I haven't been as on top of news as I'd like of late, so things may have changed - but I'm pretty sure that if you install a Vista upgrade over your XP installation it does void your license for XP.

Yes it does...because it is an upgrade. You loose your XP license.

Therefore: do a fresh install of Vista, but do not enter the code so you are still in try out mode. Once installed, reboot, start Vista, do not activate and from within Vista install/upgrade again. This time Vista thinks it is upgrading, enter the code and activate it after reboot. This way you can install an upgrade version from scratch, like it was the full version.

**ming** · March 9th, 2007

I think you guys are missing the point here... I was asking whether my XP licence will still be valid once I've received my Vista upgrade disc. I haven't said anything about it being valid after installing Vista.

**kcnychief** · March 9th, 2007

Well technically your Vista license would only be valid for that one machine. So, in theory, once you receive that license it would nullify your legal license for XP.

Of course, both of those assumptions will assume you follow the rules. Technically, I would assume you could probably use that method to install Vista on another machine but that would be frowned upon.

**ming** · March 9th, 2007

Originally Posted by kcnychief

Well technically your Vista license would only be valid for that one machine. So, in theory, once you receive that license it would nullify your legal license for XP.

Of course, both of those assumptions will assume you follow the rules. Technically, I would assume you could probably use that method to install Vista on another machine but that would be frowned upon.

Never thought of that, but thanx for the suggestion.. lol

No, I wouldn't have considered getting Vista to use on a different machine. I just don't want to lose out on the free upgrade offer, but at the same time, I'm not ready to move to Vista just yet. Therefore I want to get the upgrade disc, but put it aside for the time being until I'm ready to upgrade it to Vista.

**kcnychief** · March 9th, 2007

That may be a grey area - as Sazar originally suggested you may want to get clarification from your manufacturer.

**rushm001** · March 11th, 2007

From what I gather up until the point that vista is installed the xp licence remains valid which is a good thing with how long Moduslink are taking to deliver the upgrades!

**ming** · March 11th, 2007

Originally Posted by rushm001

From what I gather up until the point that vista is installed the xp licence remains valid which is a good thing with how long Moduslink are taking to deliver the upgrades!

I've applied for the upgrade already... do I have to send/fax a copy of the receipt over to them too?

**rushm001** · March 11th, 2007

Originally Posted by ming

I've applied for the upgrade already... do I have to send/fax a copy of the receipt over to them too?

You do need to send them a copy of the proof of purchase, along with the upgrade voucher which you write the serial number on.
Although I don't know how each individual manufacturer is dealing with the upgrades, mine was a generic OEM version of Media Centre edition purchased at the same time as the parts for my my pc, which came with a free upgrade voucher.

**ming** · March 11th, 2007

Originally Posted by rushm001

You do need to send them a copy of the proof of purchase, along with the upgrade voucher which you write the serial number on.
Although I don't know how each individual manufacturer is dealing with the upgrades, mine was a generic OEM version of Media Centre edition purchased at the same time as the parts for my my pc, which came with a free upgrade voucher.

There wasn't a voucher with the product. Guessing that it's old stock.
I can fax a copy of the receipt to their Netherland office though (with order confirmation reference.) Hope that's enough.

**rushm001** · March 12th, 2007

When you applied what did the email you received say?

**Tuffgong4** · March 12th, 2007

well I did the upgrade thing with moduslink and worked great. What I did was fill out the upgrade form, with receipt and online confirmation and faxed it in. That made things go way faster than mailing. I had my update change in days after faxing as opposed to weeks or even months with the mail in.

The XP license stays valid when you order and even receive the upgrade. Activating Vista is another story. It should stay valid after installing vista but YMMV. Depending on whether you want to stay legal or not is a whole other story. (don't want to go to far with the OEM activation stuff)

**sean.ferguson** · March 12th, 2007

Sorry for perhaps coming across as an idiot, but wouldn't it have been easy enought just to phone Microsoft and ask them? At least then you would gain the required info "straight from the horses mouth" so to speak.

Anyway, on the topic of Vista and you not being quite ready. Vista for me has ran great and I have ran both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. I have run into no problems, or seen a single error which was so bad it interrupted the use of my machine. After all, it's going to receive service packs just like every other version Microsoft has released!

Good luck with following your Vista experience though.

**ming** · March 14th, 2007

Faxed my proof of purchase to moduslink yesterday and got a confirmation email this morning saying the product will be delivered within the next 4-6 weeks.

@Sean, I've been playing around with Vista beta on my desktop without a lot of problems on the appication side of things, however, vista is quite taxing when it comes to hardware though. my gpu fan is spinning at max from boot up to shut down, and performance is sluggish even with 2GB of ram.

I've looked at the performance score on the laptops that already have vista pre-installed and they all come up with 3.1~3.3. The way things are at the moment with all the crap pre-installed on my laptop, I think will move over to vista and maybe put the basic theme on..

**rushm001** · March 14th, 2007

Disc was dispatched last Wed, received an invoice for the upgrade handling costs in the post today but still no disc.

March 9th, 2007	Top \| #1
ming OSNN Advanced Joined: June 2003 Location: UK Posts: 4,252 Reputation: 1160 Power: 162	Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Hi, I just purchased a new laptop which has XP pre-installed and I'm entitled to a free Vista upgrade on it. However, before I actually go and apply for the free upgrade I've got a query on the validity of the existing XP licence once I've received the upgrade disc. I'm wanting to take up the upgrade offer before it expires at the end of this month, but I'm not 100% sure whether I want Vista installed on the laptop just yet. So, if I do receive the upgrade disc, but I don't install the upgrade - will my XP licence still be valid? Curent system: Intel Quad Core 9450 \| 4GB RAM \| WD Raptor 36GB \| nVidia 8800GT 512mb

March 9th, 2007	Top \| #2
Sazar F@H - Is it in you? Joined: April 2002 Location: Between Austin and Tampa Posts: 14,888 Reputation: 4110 Power: 313	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Don't see why not. Check with the vendor to be absolutely sure. Help to find cures for Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers. Folding@Home, is it in you?

March 9th, 2007	Top \| #3
kcnychief █▄█ ▀█▄ █ Joined: April 2005 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 16,949 Reputation: 4941 Power: 305	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade I haven't been as on top of news as I'd like of late, so things may have changed - but I'm pretty sure that if you install a Vista upgrade over your XP installation it does void your license for XP. XBOX Live Gamertag: kcnychief

March 9th, 2007	Top \| #4
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 82	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Originally Posted by kcnychief I haven't been as on top of news as I'd like of late, so things may have changed - but I'm pretty sure that if you install a Vista upgrade over your XP installation it does void your license for XP. Yes it does...because it is an upgrade. You loose your XP license. Therefore: do a fresh install of Vista, but do not enter the code so you are still in try out mode. Once installed, reboot, start Vista, do not activate and from within Vista install/upgrade again. This time Vista thinks it is upgrading, enter the code and activate it after reboot. This way you can install an upgrade version from scratch, like it was the full version.

March 9th, 2007	Top \| #5
ming OSNN Advanced Joined: June 2003 Location: UK Posts: 4,252 Reputation: 1160 Power: 162	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade I think you guys are missing the point here... I was asking whether my XP licence will still be valid once I've received my Vista upgrade disc. I haven't said anything about it being valid after installing Vista. Curent system: Intel Quad Core 9450 \| 4GB RAM \| WD Raptor 36GB \| nVidia 8800GT 512mb

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March 9th, 2007	Top \| #6
kcnychief █▄█ ▀█▄ █ Joined: April 2005 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 16,949 Reputation: 4941 Power: 305	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Well technically your Vista license would only be valid for that one machine. So, in theory, once you receive that license it would nullify your legal license for XP. Of course, both of those assumptions will assume you follow the rules. Technically, I would assume you could probably use that method to install Vista on another machine but that would be frowned upon. XBOX Live Gamertag: kcnychief

March 9th, 2007	Top \| #7
ming OSNN Advanced Joined: June 2003 Location: UK Posts: 4,252 Reputation: 1160 Power: 162	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Originally Posted by kcnychief Well technically your Vista license would only be valid for that one machine. So, in theory, once you receive that license it would nullify your legal license for XP. Of course, both of those assumptions will assume you follow the rules. Technically, I would assume you could probably use that method to install Vista on another machine but that would be frowned upon. Never thought of that, but thanx for the suggestion.. lol No, I wouldn't have considered getting Vista to use on a different machine. I just don't want to lose out on the free upgrade offer, but at the same time, I'm not ready to move to Vista just yet. Therefore I want to get the upgrade disc, but put it aside for the time being until I'm ready to upgrade it to Vista. Curent system: Intel Quad Core 9450 \| 4GB RAM \| WD Raptor 36GB \| nVidia 8800GT 512mb

March 9th, 2007	Top \| #8
kcnychief █▄█ ▀█▄ █ Joined: April 2005 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 16,949 Reputation: 4941 Power: 305	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade That may be a grey area - as Sazar originally suggested you may want to get clarification from your manufacturer. XBOX Live Gamertag: kcnychief

March 11th, 2007	Top \| #9
rushm001 In the beginning...... Joined: September 2002 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 3,480 Reputation: 1370 Power: 165	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade From what I gather up until the point that vista is installed the xp licence remains valid which is a good thing with how long Moduslink are taking to deliver the upgrades!

March 11th, 2007	Top \| #10
ming OSNN Advanced Joined: June 2003 Location: UK Posts: 4,252 Reputation: 1160 Power: 162	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Originally Posted by rushm001 From what I gather up until the point that vista is installed the xp licence remains valid which is a good thing with how long Moduslink are taking to deliver the upgrades! I've applied for the upgrade already... do I have to send/fax a copy of the receipt over to them too? Curent system: Intel Quad Core 9450 \| 4GB RAM \| WD Raptor 36GB \| nVidia 8800GT 512mb

March 11th, 2007	Top \| #11
rushm001 In the beginning...... Joined: September 2002 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 3,480 Reputation: 1370 Power: 165	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Originally Posted by ming I've applied for the upgrade already... do I have to send/fax a copy of the receipt over to them too? You do need to send them a copy of the proof of purchase, along with the upgrade voucher which you write the serial number on. Although I don't know how each individual manufacturer is dealing with the upgrades, mine was a generic OEM version of Media Centre edition purchased at the same time as the parts for my my pc, which came with a free upgrade voucher.

March 11th, 2007	Top \| #12
ming OSNN Advanced Joined: June 2003 Location: UK Posts: 4,252 Reputation: 1160 Power: 162	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Originally Posted by rushm001 You do need to send them a copy of the proof of purchase, along with the upgrade voucher which you write the serial number on. Although I don't know how each individual manufacturer is dealing with the upgrades, mine was a generic OEM version of Media Centre edition purchased at the same time as the parts for my my pc, which came with a free upgrade voucher. There wasn't a voucher with the product. Guessing that it's old stock. I can fax a copy of the receipt to their Netherland office though (with order confirmation reference.) Hope that's enough. Curent system: Intel Quad Core 9450 \| 4GB RAM \| WD Raptor 36GB \| nVidia 8800GT 512mb

March 12th, 2007	Top \| #13
rushm001 In the beginning...... Joined: September 2002 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 3,480 Reputation: 1370 Power: 165	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade When you applied what did the email you received say?

March 12th, 2007	Top \| #14
Tuffgong4 The Donger Need Food!!!! Joined: June 2002 Location: Chicago Posts: 2,465 Reputation: 840 Power: 153	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade well I did the upgrade thing with moduslink and worked great. What I did was fill out the upgrade form, with receipt and online confirmation and faxed it in. That made things go way faster than mailing. I had my update change in days after faxing as opposed to weeks or even months with the mail in. The XP license stays valid when you order and even receive the upgrade. Activating Vista is another story. It should stay valid after installing vista but YMMV. Depending on whether you want to stay legal or not is a whole other story. (don't want to go to far with the OEM activation stuff) Home Intel E6600 \ Abit AB9 Pro \ 4 gig Corsair DDR2-667 \ EVGA 9800GT \ HDD 1 320GB sata + 1 1.5TB sata \ 1 1TB backup drive / Samsung S183L SATA DVD-RW \ Windows 7 Pro x64 Laptop Asus UL30VT\ Intel CULV SU7300 \ 4GB Ram \ Intel Integrated + Nvidia 200m \ 500GB HDD \ 13.3 inch LED \ Windows 7 Premium x64

March 12th, 2007	Top \| #15
sean.ferguson OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: July 2003 Location: Fife; Scotland Posts: 1,693 Reputation: 550 Power: 130	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Sorry for perhaps coming across as an idiot, but wouldn't it have been easy enought just to phone Microsoft and ask them? At least then you would gain the required info "straight from the horses mouth" so to speak. Anyway, on the topic of Vista and you not being quite ready. Vista for me has ran great and I have ran both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. I have run into no problems, or seen a single error which was so bad it interrupted the use of my machine. After all, it's going to receive service packs just like every other version Microsoft has released! Good luck with following your Vista experience though. Mac - 13-inch Macbook Core Duo 1.83GHz\| 1GB Ram \| 120GB Internal \| BT & AE \| OS 10.5 PC- Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8GHz \| 2GB Dual Channel Ram \| 360GB Internal \| Lite-On DVDRW \| Radeon X1300XT \| Vista Home Premium 64-bit

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March 14th, 2007	Top \| #16
ming OSNN Advanced Joined: June 2003 Location: UK Posts: 4,252 Reputation: 1160 Power: 162	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Faxed my proof of purchase to moduslink yesterday and got a confirmation email this morning saying the product will be delivered within the next 4-6 weeks. @Sean, I've been playing around with Vista beta on my desktop without a lot of problems on the appication side of things, however, vista is quite taxing when it comes to hardware though. my gpu fan is spinning at max from boot up to shut down, and performance is sluggish even with 2GB of ram. I've looked at the performance score on the laptops that already have vista pre-installed and they all come up with 3.1~3.3. The way things are at the moment with all the crap pre-installed on my laptop, I think will move over to vista and maybe put the basic theme on.. Curent system: Intel Quad Core 9450 \| 4GB RAM \| WD Raptor 36GB \| nVidia 8800GT 512mb

March 14th, 2007	Top \| #17
rushm001 In the beginning...... Joined: September 2002 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 3,480 Reputation: 1370 Power: 165	Re: Help: New Laptop with free Vista upgrade Disc was dispatched last Wed, received an invoice for the upgrade handling costs in the post today but still no disc.