Vista Upgrade licence terms

> So can someone tell me for good, what the upgrade licence I have bought
> entails?

> Do I have a 'retail' version of the software or is it more like an OEM
> licence?

> If I upgrade my motherboard (the big no-no for OEM installations) will my
> upgrade licence still be valid (assuming I install XP first again)?

> Am I entitled to the same level of support as full retail licence holders?

> Will I ever be able to perform a proper 'clean' install?

> Are there other restrictions on Upgrade editions that I don't yet know
> about?

> Hi again,
>
> I purchased the retail upgrade edition of Windows Vista Home Premium, as I
> saw no point in paying the extra to get a full retail version of Vista
> when I
> had paid nearly £100 ($200) for Windows XP Home Retail just 6 months ago
> (which I was forced to do after upgrading my motherboard).
>
> However when I came to install, I assumed, as was the case with 98/XP,
> that
> I would be able to do a clean Vista install provided I could prove my
> ownership of XP, this seems fair to me. This turned out not to be the
> case,
> I was unable to install from the boot DVD, it errored saying that it has
> to
> be run from within Windows, then I tried doing a key-less install and
> activating later, the install went ok but when I tried to activate
> Windows,
> it somehow remembered how it was installed and told me it could not be
> activated.
>
> Much to my frustration I had to reinstall XP from scratch, THEN reinstall
> Vista, this was the closest I could get to having a 'clean' Vista
> installation.
>
> So this leads me to some concern, what exactly have I just paid antoher
> £100
> ($200) for? I assumed because I was paying almost twice as much as the
> OEM
> version of Home Premium which is roughly £50, that I would be getting a
> Retail version of the software, but it seems to me that anytime I want to
> re-install Windows (I'm a bit of a power user, so I do it 3 or 4 times a
> year, because of upgrades to my system mainly) that I am going to have to
> jump through hoops every time.
>
> So can someone tell me for good, what the upgrade licence I have bought
> entails?
> Do I have a 'retail' version of the software or is it more like an OEM
> licence?
> If I upgrade my motherboard (the big no-no for OEM installations) will my
> upgrade licence still be valid (assuming I install XP first again)?
> Am I entitled to the same level of support as full retail licence holders?
> Will I ever be able to perform a proper 'clean' install?
> Are there other restrictions on Upgrade editions that I don't yet know
> about?
>
> It strikes me that Upgrade versions are supposed to reward long-time users
> of Windows products by giving them cheaper ways to have the latest
> versions,
> but so far having the upgrade version has been nothing but trouble.
>
> Seb.

> Hi again,
>
> I purchased the retail upgrade edition of Windows Vista Home Premium, as I
> saw no point in paying the extra to get a full retail version of Vista
> when I
> had paid nearly £100 ($200) for Windows XP Home Retail just 6 months ago
> (which I was forced to do after upgrading my motherboard).
>
> However when I came to install, I assumed, as was the case with 98/XP,
> that
> I would be able to do a clean Vista install provided I could prove my
> ownership of XP, this seems fair to me. This turned out not to be the
> case,
> I was unable to install from the boot DVD, it errored saying that it has
> to
> be run from within Windows, then I tried doing a key-less install and
> activating later, the install went ok but when I tried to activate
> Windows,
> it somehow remembered how it was installed and told me it could not be
> activated.
>
> Much to my frustration I had to reinstall XP from scratch, THEN reinstall
> Vista, this was the closest I could get to having a 'clean' Vista
> installation.
>
> So this leads me to some concern, what exactly have I just paid antoher
> £100
> ($200) for? I assumed because I was paying almost twice as much as the
> OEM
> version of Home Premium which is roughly £50, that I would be getting a
> Retail version of the software, but it seems to me that anytime I want to
> re-install Windows (I'm a bit of a power user, so I do it 3 or 4 times a
> year, because of upgrades to my system mainly) that I am going to have to
> jump through hoops every time.
>
> So can someone tell me for good, what the upgrade licence I have bought
> entails?
> Do I have a 'retail' version of the software or is it more like an OEM
> licence?
> If I upgrade my motherboard (the big no-no for OEM installations) will my
> upgrade licence still be valid (assuming I install XP first again)?
> Am I entitled to the same level of support as full retail licence holders?
> Will I ever be able to perform a proper 'clean' install?
> Are there other restrictions on Upgrade editions that I don't yet know
> about?
>
> It strikes me that Upgrade versions are supposed to reward long-time users
> of Windows products by giving them cheaper ways to have the latest
> versions,
> but so far having the upgrade version has been nothing but trouble.
>
> Seb.