Be very carefull when you upgrade to Vista !!!

The Vista EULA, suggests that once a consumer has purchased the upgrade he will not be given the option to revert to XP in case, for example, he does not like Vista. The relevant EULA article states, 13. UPGRADES. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from.

Considering that upgrades will be a popular Vista migration option it is important that users realise how final a commitment their upgrade will be. Most XP owners are likely to wish to wait until a verdict on Vista is out before rushing to upgrade.

So think twice before doing it......

 

see the workaround to this:
http://www.tomcoyote.org/security/workaround-for-clean-install-with-vista-upgrade-dvds/76/

 

Thanks very much, Clark_Kent, for revealing the "gotcha" in the Vista EULA. :major :wave

As I'd like to run both XP Pro and Vista, on separate hard drives, it looks like I am up for a full version, not an upgrade. :cry $$$$$ Bazza

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A few quick points on this, especially referring to the dual boot situation:


1. I think what the EULA is refering to is a technical limitation; there is no rollback option after a Vista Upgrade. If you have your XP disks or recovery CDs, you can of course still clean install with XP. This was also true of upgrades to Windows XP from windows 2000, or between windows xp versions (say, home to pro). In some cases, the rollback option was not even available in windows ME or 98. It's just really hard, software-wise, to have an undo option in an upgrade senario. For what it's worth, if your Upgrade starts by doesn't finish because of a problem, you can usually roll back to an XP desktop. Usually.

2. Vista upgrade DVDs must be launched within a working, activated, "genuine" (no WGA pop-ups) version of Windows Vista, XP (SP2), or 2000 (SP4) (At least, that seems to be the official party line- according ot the link "acejones" provided, it will work from an non-activated vista installation). That means upgrade DVDs do work fine for dual boots. Just install Windows XP first and start the installation from the XP desktop.

3. You can launch a "clean" install with an upgrade DVD, as long as you are in a working O/S when you start it. You can't actually format, but all the older O/S files get put in "windows.old" and do not affect the Vista installation in any way (at least in theory, if the file system is in bad shape there are going to be issues). So you don't necessarily have to do an actual upgrade with an upgrade CD.

This warning is a really good idea, however. Alot of home users are going to assume that they can "uninstall" Vista if things go wrong. I really wish the box had more information how an upgrade Vista DVD actually works.

I definately think MS deserves some flack for making the upgrade versions so hard to work with.

 

Actually, reading up a bit more on this, it turns out everything I wrote might have been coming out of my rear end!

Just to make things clear, the previous O/S's product key is actually invalided or blacklisted on the upgrade? Has this been confirmed in the real world?

 

You know what you who like MS and those that hate it can rant and rave all you want, but the rest of us are just going to sit back and wait till the Fireworks show is finished and then decide.

I truly love the Geeks that NEED the latest toys, there my best Test "Guinea Pigs". They pay the highest price's for all their "New" toys, then in six months if the "Toy" works, I pick it up for 50% less. Keeping up with with "Mr. Jones Geek" is totally futile.

Sorry for the rantings of a "Old Retired Geek", just getting tired of both sides:banghead and:guns

 

It just says MS doesn't want you to use your old copy of XP. Nowhere does it say how or if they're enforcing it. This is what upgrades means. If you want two operating systems, you should buy a new copy outright, not the upgrade version. The problem I see here is that if you do decide to go back to XP for whatever reason, you should be able to do that. I suspect a call to MS support will fix any problems with your XP key if you choose.

edit:

Also this is nothing new. Section 9 of the Windows XP Home EULA

9. UPGRADES. To use Software identified as an upgrade, you must first be licensed for the software identified by Microsoft as eligible for the upgrade. After upgrading, you may no longer use the software that formed the basis for your upgrade eligibility.

 

I just plan on reinstalling xp on my second hard drive, if they even make me, and then upgrading over xp - has it been confirmed whether you need XP INSTALLED or if only a working CD will suffice?

 

You can use the upgrade as a clean install with doing a bit of work. In other words, install Vista twice. As MS has quietly stated, this works. (Don't want to get :ban but it's all over the place now) I've seen people coming back and stating that it works. One question is how long will this huge loophole last? http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/11747 Of course please remove if I'm up against your TOS.

 

well augie, it's not like they can recall the DVDs
That's good, though I didn't think about just installing XP on the second drive then upgrading vista

 

Of course they can't recall the DVD's but they could stop the auto install of drivers when you don't put a key in at the start. However that would mean everyone would be blocked from taking Vista on a test drive also I believe.

 

What will probably happen is this "bug" will be squashed with SP1, so it won't work with Vista SP 1 CDs, and possibly won't work from a Vista SP1 desktop, at least if it is not activated.

 

Microsoft can order the stores to stop selling the current batches and to return the unsold portions, while shipping revised DVDs.

They have done it before.