Hi everyone, I have an Advent 6441 Laptop with Vista Home Premium pre-installed. I have read that it is possible to upgrade my vista to ultimate using the OEM cert and SLP keys?? Could someone please either write a step - by - step instruction as to how i do this or point me in the right direction if there is already a thread explaining this. I am so confused I have been searching through all the threads and cant find one. Cheers.
Yep, that will do it...or you can put your cert in and enter the key on install. this would allow you to have access to installing all versions of vista without changing the iso each time...I do not use the PID.TXT if you can tell..
There's really no need whatsoever to create an OEM DVD. Just use the regular retail DVD. You can then install without a key, which will allow you to choose the edition you want to install. Once Vista is installed, open an elevated command prompt, with administrator rights, and execute the following command to install the OEM certificate: slmgr.vbs -ilc C:\Certificate.xrm-ms (where "Certificate.xrm-ms" is the file name of the certificate and "C:\" is the path where the OEM certificate is located. Change these accordingly.) Then go to system properties and, at the bottom, click on "Change product key". Once the product key is changed, wait a few seconds and Vista will be activated.
Yes we all know you can activate vista with cmd lines but all round if it is your own machine just make OEM dvd
Thanks you guys. Am going to give it a go at making my own OEM Disk. Just to double check, if i am using my backup XrML cert for my install can i just use absolutly any OEM vista ultimate key, even though my cert is from Home Premium? Its just that on the page with all the OEM SLP keys, they have brand names at the side of them, so does it mean (for example) if i use a ACER vista ultimate key on my ADVENT that this wont work?? or does it not matter? Sorry for being a pain / or coming across really stupid, just trying my best to get my head around all of this ....thanks for your help, its very much appriciated.
You and I may know this, but the original poster claims to be a newbie, so I thought he should be aware of this easier method. I personally consider that making OEM DVDs is a waste of time and DVDs, since they only work on a specific system. In my opinion, it's better to use the official MSDN/TechNet DVDs (guaranteed no errors), and backup the OEM certificates to a usb pen drive, external disk or a separate partition. Activation is quite easy and there are no worries about creating, losing or damaging a specific OEM DVD. Yes, any OEM:SLP key for Vista Ultimate will work. OEM certificates don't care about the Windows edition. You can use the certificate to activate ALL editions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, provided that you use an OEM:SLP key that matches the edition you want to install. You can use any key you want, since product keys are NOT brand-specific. Those brand names are only there for information purposes.