Question about FULL (non-upgrade) Vista Ultimate licences.

I bought Vista Ultimate Retail (full licence) the other day.

Unlike the other editions this is actually sold with both 32 bit and
64 bit media.

For some time now I've had two Windows systems on my PC that I dual
boot from: XP pro and XP 64.

I've upgraded the XP pro (32 bit) to Vista, and have now activated it
(BTW, the upgrade went very smoothly, to my surprise).

I prefer 64 bit but until more there are more 64 drivers I'm stuck
with 32.

Once 64-bit becomes more viable I'd like to start using the 64bit
version of Vista.

But, I presume if I upgrade the XP64 to Vista I won't be able to
activate it because the licence is now in use. Could I cancel the
Vista 32 activation and transfer it to the 64 installation?

Or (I hope) can I have two systems on one PC as I do now with XP?

(Hell I could have bought two OEM copies (32 and 64 bit) of Ultimate
for less than this full retail version (though I couldn't have
upgraded with them), so I hope M$ cuts some slack here to people
who've paid the full monty).

Your license entitles you to use either the 32-bit or the 64-bit version but
not both at any one time. But you can install one now, then fully replace it
with the other later.

In other words, you can install the 32-bit version now for the time being.
Later, you can do a 'clean' install of the 64-bit version to fully replace
the 32-bit version. There is no 'upgrade' path between 32-bit and 64-bit
versions of Windows. Clean install only.Your only options will be how you
want your clean install done - from scratch or by running it from the
preceding OS.

Microsoft's Rule: one copy, one license, one computer.

Saucy Lemon


"SteveL" <stevelon@deletethisbitntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:ruWdnZaicOn4B1rYnZ2dnUVZ8sHinZ2d@giganews.com ...
>I bought Vista Ultimate Retail (full licence) the other day.
>
> Unlike the other editions this is actually sold with both 32 bit and
> 64 bit media.
>
> For some time now I've had two Windows systems on my PC that I dual
> boot from: XP pro and XP 64.
>
> I've upgraded the XP pro (32 bit) to Vista, and have now activated it
> (BTW, the upgrade went very smoothly, to my surprise).
>
> I prefer 64 bit but until more there are more 64 drivers I'm stuck
> with 32.
>
> Once 64-bit becomes more viable I'd like to start using the 64bit
> version of Vista.
>
> But, I presume if I upgrade the XP64 to Vista I won't be able to
> activate it because the licence is now in use. Could I cancel the
> Vista 32 activation and transfer it to the 64 installation?
>
> Or (I hope) can I have two systems on one PC as I do now with XP?
>
> (Hell I could have bought two OEM copies (32 and 64 bit) of Ultimate
> for less than this full retail version (though I couldn't have
> upgraded with them), so I hope M$ cuts some slack here to people
> who've paid the full monty).

SteveL wrote:
> I bought Vista Ultimate Retail (full licence) the other day.
>
> Unlike the other editions this is actually sold with both 32 bit and
> 64 bit media.
>
> For some time now I've had two Windows systems on my PC that I dual
> boot from: XP pro and XP 64.
>
> I've upgraded the XP pro (32 bit) to Vista, and have now activated it
> (BTW, the upgrade went very smoothly, to my surprise).
>
> I prefer 64 bit but until more there are more 64 drivers I'm stuck
> with 32.
>
> Once 64-bit becomes more viable I'd like to start using the 64bit
> version of Vista.
>
> But, I presume if I upgrade the XP64 to Vista I won't be able to
> activate it because the licence is now in use. Could I cancel the
> Vista 32 activation and transfer it to the 64 installation?
>
> Or (I hope) can I have two systems on one PC as I do now with XP?
>
> (Hell I could have bought two OEM copies (32 and 64 bit) of Ultimate
> for less than this full retail version (though I couldn't have
> upgraded with them), so I hope M$ cuts some slack here to people
> who've paid the full monty).

No slack, sorry. One license, one Vista install.