Greetings,For some this question will be a black or white issue. For others there will be shades of grey.For YET others it will start inner rage (hopefully not against me).So here goes. I own a copy of "widows Vista Home Premium Express Upgrade" on a CD. This was provided to me about 3 months after a purchase of a computer (brand new from a licenced retailer) due to the fact that Vista had not been officially released yet. A condition of the sale was for the eventually provision of a copy of Vista for that computer. Now due to the initial and ongoing bad PR re that operating system i never installed it on the computer it was to be associated with (nor any other). I now have a Dell computer bought used) that has xp-home on it.The other has xp-media center on it. I absolutely do NOT want to install it on the original computer for a number of reasons. In the interest of full disclosure the following phrase is imprinted on the Vista disk "For use only as an upgrade to a qualifying ZT Group Int'l Inc PC". Now i have read other comments on this and other forums and there are a considerable variety of positions on this type of issue covering the full spectrum of possibilities of opinion. I will not debate them here,but others may chose to.I don't even KNOW if the Dell will process the Vista if i were to try it so it all may be a mute point. I would appreciate some views on this issue as to the likelyhood of success should i try it. There is absolutely nothing on the Dell i want to protect or keep. It will perhaps give me a CHANCE to see for myself what Vista is all about without risking any current computer that i have operating and don't desire to risk. The main purpose is to run Vista and see what I think of it. I do not ever intend to try to install Vista on any more computers. Thank you, truenorthThat was a struggle. Couldn't you have simply said "I have a Vista upgrade disc meant to work with one computer, will it work with another?"

Honestly, I don't think it will work, but it all depends on how that disc was made. Most discs made for a specific brand of computers will only work on those computers.quaxo,yes your right it was a struggle--mainly due to not wanting to misrepresent my ownership of things and to ensure full disclosure. Plus that i was not ENDEAVORING to do anything"illegal" (which in itself can be somewhat subjective) don't you think? Thanks for your input and it reflects my own thinking re what might happen. But as you put your finger on it remains to be seen what the disk really is. truenorthMe personally ...
If i was in your position and i wanted to really try out Vista i would get another hard drive and install it on the machine it was intended for in a dual-boot enviornment therefore keeping with all liscensing agreements and having the option to not screw up the existing machine if i didn;t find it satisfactory or not to my liking...
If you need more details on pursuing this option post back and we'll walk you you thru it...Patio,Your suggestion has great merit. I do have other computers with dual boots on them (xp/win98 combinations) but none with Vista. I unfortunately cannot even contemplate your suggestion as it could imperil a marvelous 49 year marriage. The computer for which the Vista was intended is one of my wife's computers and that is definitely a no go zone. I tried to get her approval way back when the Vista disk arrived and was told to "keep your FINGERS off my computers". Certainly appreciate your generous offer though. truenorthQuote from: truenorth on May 20, 2008, 08:09:03 AM

I tried to get her approval way back when the Vista disk arrived and was told to "keep your fingers off my computers".