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Microsoft to ignore Vista upgrade loophole

Published on 7th February 2007 by Tim Smalley

Microsoft will rely on consumer honesty. Oh the irony!

The loophole that allows users to use an upgrade version of Vista for a fresh installation will not be closed. Instead, Microsoft will rely on consumer honesty for the time being.

A spokesperson from the software giant stated that "People without a licensed copy of XP that use this workaround are violating the terms of use agreed to when they purchased the upgrade version of Windows Vista.

"As such, we believe only a very small percentage of people will take the time to implement this workaround, and we encourage all customers to follow our official guidelines for upgrading to Windows Vista."

Because of the workaround, consumers can save significant amounts of money by buying the upgrade version instead of the full retail copies that cost about 35 per cent more.

You have to wonder about whether this strategy makes sense for Microsoft, especially when the company has gone to such great lengths to prevent piracy in Vista.

If large numbers of consumers go down this route to save a few bucks, I personally can't see this loophole remaining open for a long time. Got your own thoughts on the whole Vista upgrade debacle? Share them in the forums.

11 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

<A88> 7th February 2007, 13:50

The whole Vista purchasing system is a bit of a mess if you ask me. Although you can get Home Premium for under £60, which is brilliant value, you've then got Ultimate costing about £320 for retail, 3-pack OEMs which cost no less than buying them seperately and upgrade editions (including student ones of course) which aren't upgrades at all...

<A88>

Buzzons 7th February 2007, 13:54

If it stops piracy (you have to buy the upgrade disk) then it will just mean more sales of a vista disk (be it OEM/UPGRADE/RETAIL) etc.. so its a good thing to be fair.

Also, its good for those that get the crappy update disk from OEMs if they want to install Vista cleanly on their PC that came with XP+update disk.

Go MS for making a nice decision :)

Mother-Goose 7th February 2007, 14:33

so basically (just to clarify to me) you can do a fresh install of vista from the update disk without actually having a previous install of any os on the hdd?

fini 7th February 2007, 14:43

yes

mclean007 7th February 2007, 14:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser
so basically (just to clarify to me) you can do a fresh install of vista from the update disk without actually having a previous install of any os on the hdd?

Yup, though it is intended to work that way - you should be able to install the upgrade onto a virgin HDD, provided you have a valid XP (or presumably Win2k etc.) licence key.

[edit] oh no - I'm wrong - this is how it USED to work with XP etc. Apparently Vista upgrades supposedly require booting from within XP/2K, though you can still, having gone through this process, wipe the HDD and do a clean install from there. The loophole also removes the need to install XP/2K first. [/edit]

As I understand it, the 'loophole' is that, if you don't put the XP key in on installation, you can get Vista to boot on a 30 day trial basis, and you can then validate that into a non-trial copy of Vista by inputting your Vista key, without ever having shown Vista a valid XP disc or licence key.

Veles 7th February 2007, 15:32

I wouldn't have though MS cared all that much TBH. The people who buy the upgrade disk will firstly, be buying a product off them, and if it makes the few people that bother to do it more likely to get vista, is an increase in the market dominance at the cost of a few quid. It's not like MS arn't rolling in the stuff.

randosome 7th February 2007, 15:59

i don't suppose someone could clarify for me, do you actually need to enter a XP serial to do this ?

Quote:

* Boot to the Windows Vista Upgrade disc and click "Install Now";
* Do not enter your product key when prompted and then select which edition of Vista you have - this installs Windows Vista as a 30-day trial;
* Once the installation is completed, restart the setup programme from within Windows Vista and enter your product key when prompted;
* Choose either an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install - the latter will complete another fresh install of Vista;
* Once complete, you should be able to activate Vista as normal.

It doesn't say enter the XP serial ... but it doesn't clarify which serial you need

<A88> 7th February 2007, 17:22

You just need the serial/product key which came with the Vista upgrade.

<A88>

cpemma 7th February 2007, 18:48

A cunning move by MS, some geeks will be dashing out to buy Upgrade figuring they're putting one over on teh evil M$.

If the system's going to change in future the logical point is if MS decide to slipstream SP1 into a new pressing a la XPSP2. That's not far away, really.

However,

Home P OEM £67.53
Home P Upg £133.39
Home P Full £197.62

(ebuyer prices inc VAT)

OEM with a new motherboard still looks best bang-for-buck if you don't change mobos too often. :?

Quote:

Microsoft will rely on consumer honesty for the time being.

Bless...

Da Dego 7th February 2007, 19:16

Over here, the cost difference is a little less of an issue. OEM is $129, upgrade is $159. I bought the OEM version simply because I don't mind having only the 64 bit code - it's not really much of a problem. But those who may switch computers now and again would probably buy the upgrade just for the versatility.

DXR_13KE 7th February 2007, 19:51

if it fills their pockets with cash......