Vista Installs?

Just a quick question, i have purchased vista home premium and intend to install it on my macbook pro when it arrives. However how many installs does windows allow? Will i be able to install it via boot camp and parralels or will Microsoft detect this as some sort of fraud? Will i be able to use it for bootcamp on my MBP and my sisters MB?

Thanks

 

The license that you have is for one pc at one time if it is the retail version. You can move the license to another computer provided that you delete the original installation before the move to the other computer per the eula. So based on your question, legally you can only use it on your OR your sisters computer at the same time. If you want to use it on both you have to purchase another serial key.

 

What about an OEM version? Any way to use it in parallels and boot camp? Technically still using it on one computer.

 

The EULA has different permissions for virtual installs, even retail copies don't technically permit a regular + virtual copy except for Vista Ultimate I believe. They consider a virtual machine a machine, so BootCamp + Parallels would be two.

However, if you install it on BootCamp and then create a Parallels install from it, I believe Parallels just creates an exact image of it, so it wouldn't require activation again. I'm not 100% sure about that though as I've never done it.

Also, OEM copies are only valid for ONE machine. If you built a desktop and got a OEM copy of Windows and installed it, and then upgraded the motherboard and CPU two years down the road, LEGALLY you'd have to get a new OEM copy of Windows.

That's just strictly according to the EULA though, Microsoft pretty much never enforces that.

 

The Vista eula was clarified to cover virtualization as well, because it's one license, at one time, on one VM or real machine. So in this case it would also not be legal to do this.

The above post clarifies the OEM portion, but Microsoft most definitely enforces the eula on Vista. Not so much on Xp but that was because of differences in the eula. The eula was changed to allow the retail version to be moved to another machine in Vista which was different from the original eula.

 

Also, only Vista Ultimate and Business are allowed to be run under virtual machines according to the EULA. So you would be breaking the license if you install Vista Home Premium under parallels. The option with you is to either dont care about the limitation, or upgrade to Ultimate.

 

Sorry for my laziness if it's stated somewhere but would you install windows using boot camp then use parallels to create a vm from it and/or can you install a boot camp partition and create a vm from it all through parallels?

 

First you would install Windows via BootCamp. Then you would boot into OS X, run Parallels and choose the custom install option. After you pick the version of Windows you're installing, how much RAM you want to allot, etc, it will ask you if you want to create a new hard disk image, use an existing one, or use BootCamp.

 

Thanks surfacewound

 

Actually this site makes a very good point:


"Under the current XP license, a virtual machine is a separate computer and needs a separate license, with a separate product key and product activation. The new terms in the license for Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium continue that policy and make it crystal clear:

'You may not use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system.' [emphasis added]

The qualifier is crucial. Does the clause quoted above say you can't run any copy of Vista Home Basic or Home Premium in a VM? No. It says you cannot reuse the copy installed on your physical computer within a virtual machine on the same computer. That's no different from the way XP works today. If you want to run a second copy of your Windows operating system in a VM, you need a separate license.

But Vista Ultimate is different. Under the Additional Terms section for that OS, the license reads:

'You may use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system on the licensed device.'

In other words, if you are running a licensed copy of Vista Ultimate, you can load another copy of that same OS, using the same product key, in a virtual machine on that same computer (the "licensed device"). This license gives Vista Ultimate users a right they wouldn't have with any previous version of Windows. (The Vista Enterprise license will reportedly be even more generous, giving users the right to run up to four virtual copies on the licensed machine. There's no indication of what virtualization rights will be included with Vista Business.)"

 

In light of what surfacewound (and if i understand correctly), has anyone had any problems activating vista ultimate for boot camp and parallels boot camp vm?