Direkt zum Inhalt

universal restore? legal?

Thread needs solution

I'm just now paying attention to this feature- universal restore.

So, let's say you have 2 PCs. One dies and you don't care to fix it- you simply do the universal restore to a different PC which will likely have different components. And, as I understand it, this restore will actually work because it'll download and install whatever drivers are needed.

Now, let's say it really works OK. But, won't there be problems with this legally? Will Microsoft notice if you have your MS OS on a different machine? For software that is sold to be legally installed on only 1 machine, won't this be noticed eventually by that software firm?

I'd find it hard to believe that this wouldn't eventually be a problem.

but, if the univeral restore actually works successfully, it seems like a very impressive feature

I think I need to download the Universal Restore as a separate item?
Joe

0 Users found this helpful

If you have a retail version of Windows on the dead PC, it will reactivate just fine on the new computer. If you have an OEM version, it might be an issue, most likely with more recent UEFI/GPT motherboards. When Windows doesn't reactivate by itself, you can still call Microsoft support and go through an automated process. When that fails, you can talk to a support rep, explain your situation and they might fix it for you.

thanks for your comments, Pat. Is "universal restore" a separate program from ATI 2015, that I'd download separately? I don't see any sign of it built into ATI.
Joe

Now, yes. Universal Restore is now a separate recovery medium you can create by downloading the ISO from the website.
When you perform a "UR" you in fact run 2 separate operations:
- first you boot on the normal recovery medium to restore the image of computer A on computer B
- then you boot the computer on the UR recover medium to insert the drivers on the computer B folders and registry
- then you can reboot the computer normally

Pat, thanks for that explanation. I hope I'd never have to use UR but knowing it's possible is a comfort.
Joe