I have Windows Vista Home Edition for my Desktop PC and have recently bought a MacBook. I was wondering what would happen if I tryed to install Vista on my Mac using the same product key as the one I used for my PC.
Will it just say its been used before, will it affect my PC’s validity or do nothing?
If it does do something bad then I will just get another Vista disk - just trying to save money :). Thanks
Ok I have 3 answers… all different! XD
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4 responses so far ↓
1 yap_jp // Aug 14, 2008
During registration, Microsoft will check its database and since the key is already used, so it will be rejected and you will need to key in different product key otherwise until certain period, your second computer will be locked up and you will need to reformat the computer or you must key different product key if you still want to use the system
2 Mikadoxeno // Aug 14, 2008
You can use each Vista product key twice with no problem, but after two uses, you’ll get an annoying please register this copy of Windows screen every so often.
3 Bryan L // Aug 14, 2008
Wrong. You can use the key more than once. You can use the key up to 5 times before it will be rejected at which point you can still install vista but you need to activate it by calling microsoft. I had to do this and it took 5 minutes.
4 roo2 // Aug 14, 2008
You can use the same key an unlimited number of times on the same hardware. The problems arise when you try to use it on a different machine. When you install Vista and key in the serial number, it connects to MS servers and registers the key as well as some info on your hardware, like the CPU serial number. Then it activates the OS locally. If you install it on a second machine and key in the same serial number, it connects to the MS servers, sees the serial number has already been used, checks the hardware information and sees that it’s different, then rejects the code. The second copy isn’t activated. With XP, it would just nag you and not allow you to get certain updates. With Vista, you have 30 days to activate with a new key or it goes into reduced functionality mode. This means that it disables your start menu, removes all desktop shortcuts, and won’t allow you to do anything but connect to the MS servers and buy a new key. It also shuts your computer down after 1 hour of use if you don’t input a new key.
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