We picked up three new Lenovo T61 from a client to prep them with their Line of Business (LoB) apps and for installation onto the client's SBS network.
The T61 comes with Windows Vista Business out of the box, so we were also going to downgrade them.
When we received the boxes, we did some research on the downgrade process. We erroneously picked up on some forum posts that indicated that we were required to call Lenovo to order the downgrade CDs.
This was, of course, before opening up the boxes and having a look at the contents! ;)
Lenovo support was very straight forward. After obtaining some product codes off of the box they sent us the CDs no questions asked.
When the disks arrived - all eight of them - we opened up the T61 boxes to have a look at the laptops. Originally we planned on making copies of the disks to enable us to run all three laptops at the same time. This was not necessary since we discovered that the laptops also came with their own copy of the recovery CD set.
The first thing we noticed was that the set that was sent to us by Lenovo were stamped "Recorded in the USA" as opposed to the set that came in the box with the T61s that was stamped "Recorded in Hong Kong".
Curiosity kill the cat ... :D
Okay ... so, is there a difference in the image contents too? Technically an image should be an image.
So, we downgraded two of the laptops using the in-the-box media (referred to as HKs) and one of the laptops via the media that came directly from Lenovo (referred to as USA).
The first difference was abrupt: After running Rescue & Recovery 3 via the first recovery disk on USA and starting the "recovery" process to factory defaults for the XP downgrade we were prompted to reboot the system to continue the process. The reboot happened without a problem. The HKs on the other hand both erred out on the reboot request in what seemed to be a disk format utility error. We were offered the following button options on the error dialogue: Cancel, Retry, and Ignore. On one we clicked Retry which hung the system indefinitely and required a hard reset (hold the power button for about 10 seconds). On the other we clicked Ignore which caused the machine to pause for about half a minute before rebooting itself and continuing the recovery process. No ill effect seemed apparent after this though.
Once the three laptops finished their post recovery initialization, they seemed to be the same desktop wise, but there were some initial subtle differences. The HKs would pop up OS information bubbles at the same time while the USA would not. There were a couple of post SBS domain Windows Update hiccups on the HKs where the USA seemed to accept the changes and run through the Windows Updates smoothly.
There were a number of other anomalies associated with the LoB apps too. The LoBs installed with little or no issue on the USA but set themselves up differently on the HKs which was really odd. We saw some errors out of the LoBs on the HKs that we have not seen in years from those particular applications.
When it came time to run the Lenovo built in software updates, all three were asking to download 1.6GB each or more! That, in and of itself, is pretty scary ... especially for those who are charged by the bit or in our client's case, have a small bandwidth Internet connection.
Also, keep in mind that two of the updates required by the Lenovo software are two Windows XP hotfixes that should be applied before adding the T61s to the SBS domain: Lenovo (& Others) XP Specific Updates: Hotfixes required via Product Support Services (previous blog post).
If the hotfixes are not applied before adding the T61s to the domain, one needs to log on to the unit as a domain admin before the hotfix will allow itself to be installed citing insufficient admin rights.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.
Showing posts with label Vista Business Downgrade Rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vista Business Downgrade Rights. Show all posts
Monday, 14 January 2008
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Acer & IBM-Lenovo seem to include the XP Downgrade now
We have been working with a number of Windows Vista based Acer TravelMate 6592G and Lenovo T61 laptops.
Out of the box, we fire them up and run through the Windows Vista initialization which can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes depending on the speed of the system.
We do that for each new laptop we receive on behalf of our clients. Once the initialization is finished, we create the Windows Vista recovery media for our archives.
Initially, laptop manufacturers were not necessarily providing the ability for us to easily downgrade the Windows Vista installation to Windows XP Professional. We had to install an OEM copy of Windows XP Pro, then download and install every component driver which could be a hit and miss affair.
Fortunately, that has changed lately. Both Acer and IBM are now supplying a set of recovery disks to downgrade the laptop to Windows XP Pro.
That is no simple feat either. The manufacturer essentially has to double up on image creating for each Windows Vista model.
Now we can essentially babysit the system to change disks as the Windows XP Pro recovery media runs.
While the cost of providing the downgrade disks can be distributed across hundreds of thousands of units for the manufacturer the same cannot be said for our clients.
So, this is definitely a step in the right direction for all concerned.
Oh, and remember to make a copy of those disks for your archives. ;)
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.
Out of the box, we fire them up and run through the Windows Vista initialization which can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes depending on the speed of the system.
We do that for each new laptop we receive on behalf of our clients. Once the initialization is finished, we create the Windows Vista recovery media for our archives.
Initially, laptop manufacturers were not necessarily providing the ability for us to easily downgrade the Windows Vista installation to Windows XP Professional. We had to install an OEM copy of Windows XP Pro, then download and install every component driver which could be a hit and miss affair.
Fortunately, that has changed lately. Both Acer and IBM are now supplying a set of recovery disks to downgrade the laptop to Windows XP Pro.
That is no simple feat either. The manufacturer essentially has to double up on image creating for each Windows Vista model.
Now we can essentially babysit the system to change disks as the Windows XP Pro recovery media runs.
While the cost of providing the downgrade disks can be distributed across hundreds of thousands of units for the manufacturer the same cannot be said for our clients.
So, this is definitely a step in the right direction for all concerned.
Oh, and remember to make a copy of those disks for your archives. ;)
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
System Builder Tip: Vista Business OEM Downgrade Rights
Folks, if you are like me and you have clients not ready to run Vista Business or Ultimate on their SBS networks, get yourself an XP Pro SP2 Fully Packaged Product ASAP! You can use that media to install and validate the downgrade XP Pro SP2 Retail for your client.
The OEM method, as explained further down, could be a bit of a struggle as you would need to make sure that you have their old system with the XP Pro SP2 COA on it! So, make sure to advise them to bring in the old system before tossing it into recycling or passing it on.
Microsoft Licensing today indicated to us that we could use the retail key to install and validate the downgrade version as many times as is required. Product Activation need only know that we are authorized system builders installing a downgraded OS.
A reason for indicating that one needs to grab an XP Pro FPP is because they are becoming few and far between at the Big 3 or 4 distributors here in Canada. I am sure that the U.S. may be the same. The Microsoft Licensing Rep mentioned that the Retail key can be activated with no issues, or the System Builder can call the Activation Centre to get it activated with little or no issue. Your Microsoft Partner ID or System Builder ID may be required for this service.
From Microsoft's document: Microsoft Select License, Open License, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) License, and Full-Packaged Product (FPP) License Downgrade Rights
It also explains that in the case of downgrading Windows Vista Business OEM the CLIENT is to provide the OEM key!
For larger System Builders who have a spool of COAs with their OEM packs, this may not be much of an issue as of yet. But, for the smaller System Builders and OEMs it may become one very quickly as the Big 3 or 4 here in Canada have NO stock on XP OEM product. I suspect that this is also the case in the U.S. and other places.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
The OEM method, as explained further down, could be a bit of a struggle as you would need to make sure that you have their old system with the XP Pro SP2 COA on it! So, make sure to advise them to bring in the old system before tossing it into recycling or passing it on.
Microsoft Licensing today indicated to us that we could use the retail key to install and validate the downgrade version as many times as is required. Product Activation need only know that we are authorized system builders installing a downgraded OS.
A reason for indicating that one needs to grab an XP Pro FPP is because they are becoming few and far between at the Big 3 or 4 distributors here in Canada. I am sure that the U.S. may be the same. The Microsoft Licensing Rep mentioned that the Retail key can be activated with no issues, or the System Builder can call the Activation Centre to get it activated with little or no issue. Your Microsoft Partner ID or System Builder ID may be required for this service.
From Microsoft's document: Microsoft Select License, Open License, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) License, and Full-Packaged Product (FPP) License Downgrade Rights
Can I downgrade my OEM version of Windows Vista Business to Windows XP Professional?A document download called, "Windows Vista Downgrade Rights" that I can't seem to locate the actual Microsoft download page for, can be found here (PDF). This document gives a visual presentation of Windows Vista Downgrade Rights along with a straight forward FAQ.
Yes. OEM downgrade rights for desktop PC operating systems apply to Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate as stated in the License Terms. Please note, OEM downgrade versions of Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate are limited to Windows XP Professional (including Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP x64 Edition). End users can use the following media for their downgrade: Volume Licensing media (provided the end user has a Volume Licensing agreement), retail (FPP), or system builder hologram CD (provided the software is acquired in accordance with the Microsoft OEM System Builder License). Use of the downgraded operating system is governed by the Windows Vista Business License Terms, and the end user cannot use both the downgrade operating system and Windows Vista Business. There are no downgrade rights granted for Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows Vista Home Premium.
It also explains that in the case of downgrading Windows Vista Business OEM the CLIENT is to provide the OEM key!
For larger System Builders who have a spool of COAs with their OEM packs, this may not be much of an issue as of yet. But, for the smaller System Builders and OEMs it may become one very quickly as the Big 3 or 4 here in Canada have NO stock on XP OEM product. I suspect that this is also the case in the U.S. and other places.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
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