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General discussion

Is this illegal?

Jun 10, 2007 10:19PM PDT

Is it illegal to use a reinstall disk to put windows on a mac or just put it on any computer?

Discussion is locked

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It's not illegal to put in on a machine ...
Jun 10, 2007 10:22PM PDT

from an existing CD, as long as you use an unique license key that you don't use anywhere else and that's not an OEM key either (because that's bound to the original machine).

I doubt, however, if you can put Windows on a Mac, that way.

Kees

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No
Jun 11, 2007 12:06AM PDT

So long as you meet the conditions Kees mentioned, AND if you're looking to install Vista, it's Vista Ultimate, you're fine.

Of course you either need some kind of virtualization software like VMWare or VirtualPC or an Intel based Mac to install Windows in the first place on a Mac. You also will need to be careful if you hope to maintain the dual boot with OS X. If it's a pre-OS X system, don't even bother.

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Well Maybe...By 'Reinstall Disk', Do You Mean..?
Jun 11, 2007 2:19AM PDT

...the Recovery Disc which was used on another computer to reinstall the operating system and all programs back to it's factory state? If the Recovery Disc was previously used on another computer, then you are not allowed to use it on another computer.. And besides, it probably won't work anyway.. For example, Recovery Discs from HP/Compaq, etc. are basically computer model specific..

Hope this helps.

Grif