Need (legal?) help with Vista upgrade.

I have a destop PC with XP-Pro installed. I recently bought a notebook PC also with XP-Pro, but it came with a free vista-business edition voucher. My Vista upgrade disk came today.

My Question is: Is it legal to use the disk for my PC instead of my notebook?
(still only for 1 computer) as the disk came with a piece of paper that said (among other legal stuff) that this upgrade is legal only for my notebook.

I'd much rather use Vista on my PC as I'll probably soon be getting a better (DX10) video card, but my laptop is DX9 forever--sort-of defeating the (gaming) purpose of upgrading.

As long as the disk is unly used to upgrade 1 computer from XP-Pro to Vista, is there a legal difference?

 

My Question is: Is it legal to use the disk for my PC instead of my notebook?

Legally, your new Vista is an OEM copy...OEM = stays on original hardware, which means the laptop.

That being said...you could try it but I don't know if it will work. Probably not, but I might be putting my foot in the mouth there.

 

Wow--Thanks for the quick response !!

I figured it was something like that. Well, it never hurt too ask. The funny thing is that I currently have no desire to "upgrade" the laptop as several components (like the audio) still lack full support in Vista. Guess I'll be waiting a little longer.....

 

maybe ring microsoft and ask the question?

 

Nobody will know what you do. There is no detection mechanism in place to check that you installed the Vista on your notebook instead of another PC. However, upon installation, the key will be tied to your hardware's motherboard/BIOS and if you intend to install it on another device later, it will require manual reactivation by calling Microsoft.