Windows OEM Activation
OEM Activation for Windows Vista is a software protection technology for the Windows Vista operating system that improves upon System-Locked Preinstallation, which is available for Microsoft Windows XP operating systems. OEM Activation helps prevent the copying of legitimately licensed Windows Vista software onto non-licensed computers by associating the Windows operating system to the firmware of the physical computer.
In Windows XP, Microsoft started an initiative in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) channel called System-Locked Preinstallation, to combat illegally installed copies of Windows while at the same time allowing OEMs to pre-activate Windows machines on the factory floor. OEM Activation for Windows Vista improves on this initiative, making the process easier for OEMs and making it much harder for pirates to crack the system by ensuring that Windows Vista SKUs licensed to an OEM will function only on that OEM’s hardware. With this innovation, counterfeiters attempting to use Windows media improperly will be unable to install and activate the product using media intended for recovery and reinstall that is distributed by an OEM.
Advantages of OEM activation include persistent activation, activation without connecting to any activation provider, and the ability for OEMs to use custom media images. (The recovery media is also activated.) Additional requirements for the customer are the need to maintain recovery media specific to each OEM system configuration versus having a generic image to use across all hardware.
It is important to note that organizations can also provide system images created from volume license media for an OEM to image; however, these systems must be activated either by retail or volume activation options discussed later in this document.
