Vista retail and OEM questiom

I've got 2 versions of Vista Ultimate. One is the retail version that comes
with both the 64 bit and 32 bit versions. The other is an OEM 64 bit
version. I installed the 64 bit retail version on my main desktop computer
and activated it. Everything works great. When I got the 64 bit OEM version,
I loaded it up on my laptop but didn't activate it yet as I had alot of
issues with drivers. Since I couldn't find enough drivers, I decided to see
if the 32 bit retail version had any better luck with drivers. Lo and behold
it did. Everything is working great now on my laptop. So, here's what I'd
like to do. I'd like to use the 32 bit retail version on my laptop and then
uninstall the 64 bit retail version on my desktop and install the 64 bit OEM
version on my desktop. Will I have activation problems with the 32 bit
version now on my laptop?

"Mark" wrote:

> I've got 2 versions of Vista Ultimate. One is the retail version that comes
> with both the 64 bit and 32 bit versions. The other is an OEM 64 bit
> version. I installed the 64 bit retail version on my main desktop computer
> and activated it. Everything works great. When I got the 64 bit OEM version,
> I loaded it up on my laptop but didn't activate it yet as I had alot of
> issues with drivers. Since I couldn't find enough drivers, I decided to see
> if the 32 bit retail version had any better luck with drivers. Lo and behold
> it did. Everything is working great now on my laptop. So, here's what I'd
> like to do. I'd like to use the 32 bit retail version on my laptop and then
> uninstall the 64 bit retail version on my desktop and install the 64 bit OEM
> version on my desktop. Will I have activation problems with the 32 bit
> version now on my laptop?
>
> No, you should not have any problem activating the 32bit on your laptop, since you're already uninstalled the other one on your desktop. But if you do, I guess you going to have to call Microsoft to resolve it.

"Mark" <hitechgearbozo@comcast.net> wrote

> I've got 2 versions of Vista Ultimate. One is the retail version that
> comes with both the 64 bit and 32 bit versions. The other is an OEM 64 bit
> version. I installed the 64 bit retail version on my main desktop computer
> and activated it. Everything works great. When I got the 64 bit OEM
> version, I loaded it up on my laptop but didn't activate it yet as I had
> alot of issues with drivers. Since I couldn't find enough drivers, I
> decided to see if the 32 bit retail version had any better luck with
> drivers. Lo and behold it did. Everything is working great now on my
> laptop. So, here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to use the 32 bit retail
> version on my laptop and then uninstall the 64 bit retail version on my
> desktop and install the 64 bit OEM version on my desktop. Will I have
> activation problems with the 32 bit version now on my laptop?

You should have uninstalled the x64 retail version from the desktop before
installing the x86 version on the laptop. That said, since you didn't
activate the OEM license on the first computer, then you can move it to the
desktop. The retail version can be installed / transferred to any new
device as long as there is only one installation at any one time. The x64
and x32 bit versions cannot be installed at the same time.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]