Does the Vista upgrade disable your copy of XP?

I don't know if this is true or if it just MS haters spreading lies.

I have installed Vista on a second harddisk and can use dualboot now without problems.

Upgrades are installed over an existing OS - so technically your XP installation should be gone.

Legally: In most countries, you cannot have both systems installed without violating the license agreement. However, in Germany, for example, upgrades are regarded as 'software sold with a special rebate' and you are allowed to sell the old software.

Does it disable it: no
but you still had the system registred for XP so you might have to get the install count reset.

I'm an M$ hater, and yes it does.. If you overwrite the OS on the same partition (Doh!).

That's not what he's asking.

He wants to know if his XP serial number will cease to function if he installs a Vista upgrade. Or to put it more plainly, will he be able to reinstall and use XP if he needs to, using the same serial number.

I don't know the answer. Don't think many people have even got the question yet though.

Regardless, my statement holds true.

I ordered an OEM copy of the full install of Vista Home Premium with SP 1. It was only $110.

My eyes hurt when I poke them. Completely irrelevent, but my statement still holds true.

Mine wasn't completely irrelevant.

Not sure... But if life has taught me anything:

If there are two different interpretations regarding Microsoft licensing, then whichever version makes microsoft the most money tends to be true.

I have both XP and Vista on my machine no problems. Make sure XP is installed first and you don't have any funky hard drive configurations like I did and you shouldn't have any problems whatsoever.

Shouldnt do, however if you install vista on a multi boot machine you may find you cannot dual/tripple boot anymore.

It can be fixed by re-installing a 3rd party boot manager like grub but its a fiddle.