Need to replace missing 64-bit Vista Ultimate disk

[TheAnimus]

become a windows ME.......... windows ME was launched as a peice of ***p.

it was the end of the line litterally for DOS.

It was launched as a cheap stop gap before people could move to the NT side of life, which was much more demanding on CPU, older systems would really be stuffed by the jump of rings, extra ram demands etc.

[2Cold Scorpio]

I foresee Windows 7 being a lot like Windows 98 was to WIndows 95: Win95 was quite a big change from Windows 3.1, however it did have its share of problems. Windows 98 came along and was essentially what Win95 really should have been: more stable and quite improved. Face it, it was good enough for many people to use it for years until XP had SP2 come along.

Back on topic, Agent mentioned that my copy of Vista was likely an OEM version. What perplexes me is that the disk is actually an upgrade disk, and I don't recall seeing OEM upgrade disks. It *does* say on the disk:

English
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
For Upgrade Use Only
(Product Key Required)
May 2007
Systems Student Media
All use subject to volume license agreement. Do not make illegal copies of this disk (duh!). Not for retail or OEM distribution. Not for resale

Thoughts, anyone? While the disk itself does not say 32-bit, the label on the slipcover with the MFG Reference code and part number did. And I'm 99.9% sure it installed 32-bit. I've looked at the disk itself and saw no evidence that it possibly contains both 32-bit and 64-bit installers (the root of the disk only had one Setup.exe, and during install, there was no option to choose...

What do you guys think of all this?

[Agent]

OEM Distribution is something different. Say for example you own a computer shop. You sell systems with Vista on them, its almost certain you will choose to install the OEM version. This is all it means by OEM distribution, and that they can not use that key/licence for that purpose.

As for being an upgrade disk - no idea. What did you upgrade from?
If you didn't upgrade did you need to do the 'install as trial, then reinstall over the top' trick? or did you do a fresh install with this disk?
There is a thread from the last few days around here talking about the licensing issues with the upgrade disk. AFAIK, and I'm yet to see anyone prove otherwise, when you upgrade from your previous licence type, you keep that type (ie. OEM XP -> Upgrade = OEM Vista). Please keep in mind that needs desperately for someone to confirm, its only what I've read in a few places and have no verifiable links.

But anyway, all that to one side - If it come in a plastic wallet and not a boxed version, its 99% certain its OEM or one of the more restrictive licences. With the Microsoft site saying you can't have the disk as well, it seems to back that up.
You could phone them and ask?

[Splash]

Regards the 32 bit/64 bit installer question: your media comes with one or the other, not both. That's why you require a seperate disk to install the 64 bit flavour instead of the 32 bit.

[2Cold Scorpio]

I did the install/re-install (however, I did it right this time by on the second install, choosing custom instead of Upgrade. I read recently you can do this and it actually seems to work better, as the second install is 'clean' too...) trick in order to get a clean install out of the deal, as well to maintain XP Pro on the first partition. However, I have a spare XP license anyways, on old XP Home retail disk, so no harm no foul, really, it would seem. I *could* have installed XP, then done two custom installs of Vista (to maximize probability of a cleaner install) if needed; I simply saved an hour of time to get the same end result.

Shoot, maybe I should phone them. When I started this thread, I didn't realize it was such a...complex issue.