Windows Media Centre 2005 to Vista Premium Upgrade

I am currently running Vista build RC1 without any problems. It will eventually (so I understand) expire May 2007. Does anyone know for sure (no opinions please) what the upgrade rules are if I were to buy an £69 OEM copy of MCE 2005 that includes a £4 upgrade to Vista Premium from somewhere like *buyer.co.uk?
That way I would have Vista Premium for half the £150 retail price. From what I can read it looks possible..

 

I think that you might need to present a receipt for a pre-built system according to another retail site's terms and conditions (which they quote from MS). The way they describe it the voucher is only usable by the end user of a fully built PC.

I'm really interested in doing this if anyone knows otherwise though. I don't know whether a small hardware purchase like a mouse or a hard drive would be enough to get you the upgrade.

 

I purchased said software over christmas and have installed and used the coupon, it took my details online and card details, but the instructions are a bit retarded. I think you need to send details(recipt) of your new computer. As I dont have a new computer I cant do this, I needed a legit copy of windows anyway, and it only cost £79.00 so vista would be a bonus. I heard else were that the copy of windows I bought can be proof not sure, will let you know if am succesfull dont hold your breath

 

I'd love to know too... In theory could you not just say you were the system builder and run off an invoice? I've built a few machines for people and bought and installed a legit XP on them for them! Would this qualify?

 

I very much doubt you will be able to do what is being suggested unless you are a registered Microsoft Partner. This is how the "System Builder" program is run - http://www.microsoft.com/oem/default.mspx.

 

Your wrong im pretty sure I will recieve a oem upgrade version of vista premium early feb, check this website out.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1132123

 

I purchased two OEM MCE with Vista vouchers. I called the telephone number (NL I think) and stated that I was the system builder and had no reciept for the systems, I was expecting them to ask for the component receipts but instead was asked to send them the receipt for the OEM MCE only, I was advised that this would be sufficient. I seem to recall that if it comes to pass it will be £15 p&p for the pair. I am assuming that the Vista provided will be handshaken to the hardware that the MCE is installed upon (which should be sufficient to determine that the systems were in fact built).

In any event, I emailed a faxed copy of the receipt, have had an acknowledgment that it has been read, but don't expect to find out if I qualify until February.

PS Is the £150 the upgrade price or that of a new license? I would not be upgrading under any circumstance for £150.



Regards,
Francis.

 

Sounds promising. Of course another interesting figure would be the OEM price for Vista once it becomes available. The retail package price may be £150 but the same can be said for the retail box for XP.

 

Quite. I would imagine it won't differ much from the MCE OEM versions.

The advantage of spending a little more on the Retail edition is that you will be able to keep on reinstalling it everytime you upgrade your machine. If you upgrade your machine past the point where MS would consider it a new machine (at the moment this has been acknowledged as changing the motherboard), then you need a new license.

Might just be worth paying the extra if you plan on upgrading a lot in the next few years.

 

For £10.06 it doesnt bother me at the moment so If I send in my receipt for windows media oem thats all they need? buy the way whats the address the nearest one I have is amsterdam can you just scan and email it?

edit just read the info and you can just scan your receipt to [email protected]

Anyway if I upgrade my computer will just buy a oem version of vista late next year.

 

You need a upgrade certificate which is bundled with certain copies of Microsoft Windows at the moment. Put your upgrade code into the moduslink.com site and follow the instructions. You need to send off a cheque to the the Netherlands to cover postage but that is only around 10 pounds.

 

A bit Off topic, but I loaded Vista RC1 (downloaded from Microsoft in September) onto my 'puter late last week. Connected to the internet to authorize it...no probs. However, I came to use same PC on Saturday (about 3 days after the install) & it said the "license has expired...so tough" - 'puter completely unusable...oh, how I laughed.

So therefore I'm wondering how yours is still running & where did you read it will expire in May?!

 

My copy of RC1 5600 also expired early because I'd been messing around with the date due to decoder problems. Changing the date a couple of times caused it to expire early also on 31/12/06. I then did a complete fresh installation and now have Vista until August 2007.

People are having success buying an OEM MCE 2005edition with Vista upgrade coupon. This can be bought on its own without hardware. See other posts here and elsewhere.

 

iv just bought a brand new acer pc tower, which is vista premium compatible.as soon as vista premium is released, they said me a confirmation and all i have to do is pay for postage which is about £12 and they said it out to me.does this sound right or am i missing something

 

This should help with expected Vista prices. Extract from PC Advisor web site news release 4th January 2007.

Official: MS confirms UK Vista price

The estimated retail price for Windows Vista Home Basic has been confirmed by Microsoft as £179.99, while Vista Home Premium – the operating system Microsoft hopes most home users will choose – will cost £219.99. The price for Windows Vista Ultimate stands at £369.99.

The upgrade cost stands at £99.99 for Home Basic, £149.99 for Home Premium and £249.99 for Ultimate.

The UK prices for Windows Vista, which goes on general sale at the end of January, are likely to be significantly higher than in the US. According to prices leaked on Amazon’s US website last summer, home PC users in the UK could be asked to pay anything between 50 percent and 80 percent more for the new operating system than those living in the States.

 

£150 for an OS CD???!! What an absolute con.

It should be about a tenner. They'd still make massive profits at that.

 

you can always get the oem version for a lot cheaper you just cant upgrade your computer.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-036-MS&tool=3

 

I bought MCE 2005 yesterday from Aria computers, £68.68 incl vat.
They confirmed that I can upgrade with the coupon without having to send off any other receipts for PC or hardware etc. MCE 2005 has to be installed and activated before the Vista upgrade can be issued. I will be registering soon.

 

I now have an order number after registering with my coupon online at moduslink.com it was £10 for P&P.
Posted the coupon and receipt for MCE2005, so should have Vista within next 6 weeks.

 

I have just purchased a copy of Windows Media Center 2005 OEM from Amazon which is now working and registered.

It came with an upgrade coupon for Vista Home Premium, but when I entered the data into the website (http://upgradeweb.moduslink.com/vista) it told me that it couldn't validate my COA number.

Anybody else had this problem?

Anybody managed to get past this point?

 

I have had no end of hell with this website - it's not been tested at all or so it seems.

I bought an Acer laptop and have then tried to register to upgrade from MCE to Vista Premium Home (or whatever it is!)

First, I used my COA and it seemed OK...but then the site wigged out and I had to try again. Upon having another pop it failed saying that the COA had already been used. Or words to that effect.

So...off goes and email to the Moduslink people...

About a week later, I get reply saying that the problem with the site had been fixed and 'duplicate' COA's had been reset. Woohoo...

I tried again and this time managed to get further...I could get to the point where I could actually pay for the upgrade...it failed.

A few days later, I could get to the same point...it failed.

Now - I can get as far as entering in my COA (which at least doesn't fail any longer) won't go past the next stage. I'm stuck at "Unrecoverable Error. Please Try Again Later." - not the most helpful message known to man!

So...another email has been fired off to Moduslink. Shoddy work at best, I'd say.

Aside, if anyone with a new Acer machine has managed to do this successfully, please get in touch with me!

 

I have been trying for 4 days now and every time it says it cannot validate my Serialized Redemption Form Number. And still no reply to my e-mails

 

Received an email yesterday from Moduslink who said they are changing their site and it cannot recognise a lot of Serialized upgrade numbers so they asked for my number and will send me a new updgrade number to install on their site. Will let you know the outcome

 

Hi I am having the same problems. I purchased mine from amazon and saying the same Coa error. I did get a reply back from modus link and the gave me a new serial. However, its the same problems. Im getting really cheesed off now