Hello,

I found the torrent for the above and am currently downloading it. The ISO image is 1.9GB, compared to the other ISO's 2.4GB. Will install it and test it soon, including screenshots

In advance- you don't need to enter a key. However, activation will be a problem because it activates according to KMS.

i can imagine a a KMS faker, where it always gets told it is activated

@casablanca
Thanks, but I knew that I want to try how it behaves compared to the other Vista editions when playing around with the activation.

@___
Maybe...

I get the impression that Enterprise is quite stripped out compared to Ulitmate, so I'm not sure I'd want to run it as my everyday OS anyway - Ultimate's the one for me, I think

I myself wouldn't need Ultimate, I'd prefer Business anyway. To be honest, I wouldn't even think of running Vista as my main OS And Enterprise seems to be more similar to Business than to any other Vista edition. By the way, the download has finished, I'll test it in a VM very soon and post impressions/upload screenshots. Just for information, the DVD label is LRMEVOL_EN_DVD. It's installing in Parallels Desktop right now.

edit: It installed fine, without a key, and said auto-activation was due in three days. There was the option to activate Windows manually, but this failed of course because the VM wasn't even connected to the net. After setting the date to December 30th, which is more than 30 days in the future, the system booted fine and I could still logon, but shortly after that, it showed a message that the volume license couldn't be validated and Windows would stop working. Then, it seemed that some programs would no longer run. After a second restart, it immediately prompted me to activate Windows (over the network) or to change my key. Cancelling that logged me off. Additionally, it showed the Vista build number in the lower right corner of the screen just like the betas did, extended by an ugly "This copy of Windows is not genuine" notice. When you select the "Reduced Functionality Mode", it is still possible to start the Explorer interface from the IE window that's then opened.








(Sorry for blurring the data in "About Windows", I just feel better this way. )

have you tried 'activating' it? Are you required to put a key in (or have on in an answer file) or does it just install anyway?

No, I'm not required to enter a key. It doesn't even prompt for one when installing. I haven't tried activating it as of yet because the VM has no internet connection. And I guess activating won't work since it wants to connect to a KMS.

does it actually have a key stored in it or does the KMS keep all that? If you run a key finder, would it find a key?

There is a pid.txt file in the sources directory on the DVD that indeedly contains a key! I suppose this is the key Setup uses when installing and I think this is the key you'll find in the system using a key finder (although I haven't verified that). And if you need to, you can change the key in the "Activate Windows" dialogue.

I think the idea is that they key(s) are on the KMS, so that you can no longer extract VLKs from workstations like you could with XP Possibly it has the integrated key as it's not possible to install Windows without a key (the need for keys is presumably integrated very tightly), and then to activate it has a second key on the KMS?

If you choose to activate manually rather than use a KMS, presumably you have to enter a VLK, as it's not going to activate using the key on the disc? If you did that, a key finder surely would find the key.



Have you tried what happens if you set the clock forward by 50 years or whatever, install Vista (or ReArm your existing installation), then go back to the current date? This seems to work for normal Vista (my Vista is still showing 30 days remaining, and it still seems to work if I set the clock forward by more than 30 days) - does it work for Enterprise?

As I said before, there is a key stored on the install disc. I'm reinstalling it ATM and will try a keyfinder, we'll see what it shows. I have to try what it prompts me for when choosing to activate manually.


Interesting. Will try that. As I am currently installing with the "correct" date – how would I go about "reArming" my current install? Do I do that after the install is finished?

After Windows is installed fully, shut down the VM, set your date to 2050 or whatever you want (and make sure you disable clock-synching between the main machine and the VM if necessary - I don't know how Parallels works), start up Vista, and it will be in RFM because activation will have expired. You can either use Safe Mode as (like in XP) it logs on without checking for activation, or the ReArm should work if you start Explorer from within IE. Get the Run box up and enter "rundll32 slc.dll,SLReArmWindows" (without the quotes, and the SLReArm bit seems to be case-sensitive), wait for a few seconds while there's activity, then shut down, set the date back to normal, and start Vista again to see if it's worked.

Reinstall is done, here's a bit of information:

* Vista Enterprise is installed using the key stored on the DVD in the \sources\pid.txt file. This is, of course, also the key a keyfinder shows.

* Vista Enterprise can only be activated online. Trying to activate (without a KMS being present) results in the following error:
"Windows Activation Error: A problem occurred when Windows tried to activate: DNS name does not exist."

* The only other option you have in the Activate Windows tool besides the one to activate online is to change your key. There's no way to activate Windows manually by phoning MS or something like that.

* "ReArming" does not seem to work on Enterprise. I set the date to 2038 and started up, receiving the "Volume license check error, you must activate..." message. I started Explorer, reArmed Windows, shut down, set the date to 2006. Started up, was thrown into RFM. ReArmed Windows again (date being set to 2006) and restarted, same. RFM. So far, I have not been able to find a way to get Vista running again. Choosing to retype/change the key and entering the key Vista was installed with (the one on the DVD, that is) is okay, but then it tries to activate which fails and leads back into RFM. The thing that annoys me about that is as long as I can't figure out a way to get Vista up and running again after such experiemts, the only solution is a) to back-up the VM HD image before doing that or, if no backup has been made, to b) reinstall it.

Interesting...maybe the activation system is so different on Enterprise that the ReArm trick doesn't work. If you have time at some stage, it would be interesting to see whether installing it with a future date has any effect (have the future date set until you've logged in to Vista once, to make sure it's set your activation dealine, then shut down, set the date back to normal, and restart Vista).

Okay, will try that as well when I have time. It struck me when I was doing all the testing that I actually love doing such things, i.e. testing OSes and doing all kinds of nasty things to them to see how they behave

it would still ask to activate after a certain amount of time anyway (180 days?) so the time travel trick wouldn't work in the long run anyway

I'll still try that. After all, this is not going to be my OS for everyday use. And even if I had to reinstall it every 180 days or something like that, that wouldn't be too bad. I'm used to reinstalling every couple months, even if I don't actually have to.

true, but a trial could be easier (if released). 120 days plus 3 re-arm's. Just collect about 10 keys. Should last long enough till the next Windows

Just collecting keys won't be enough for Enterprise if re-arming doesn't work. After a key is entered, it still wants to activate immediately to "bless" the new key or something like that.

- good stuff isn't it?!



From the testing I've done so far, it doesn't seem to. I ReArmed (Ultimate Edition) with the date set to year 2050, and this is what I get with the year set to 2006 (not sure why the day is set wrong in the virtual machine, by the way):



Fastforward to 2020 and no RFM (and still 30 days, supposedly, to activation):



The restart again but now with the date set to one after the date at which I installed, but less than 30 days, and the countdown to activation is well under way, and RFM will kick in once the remaining days are up:



Obviously I can't test if Aero Glass etc is still working, but I see no reason why not - it's not moaning about a lack of genuine-ness, and as it's using the "magic key" from the DVD, there's no reason why WGA should say invalidate it either. Feel free to do more testing though

i don't think they will release a enterprise trial. But even if they did, you could put the new keys on the KMS server

I don't think there'll be an Enterprise trial either. It wouldn't make much sense because this is to be used by large companies only. And if they want to test drive Vista, they either get it (Enterprise, that is) within their SA contracts; otherwise, they could just test drive another version that closely resembles Enterprise, i.e. Business . I'll have to look up the differences between Business and Enterprise, apart from the licensing and activating stuff, but I doubt there are many.

edit: Indeed – if you don't count the different activating method and the other license that allows some things not allowed in the EULA's of the other Vista editions, there seem to be only two differences between Business and Enterprise. The first is the lack of Windows Anytime Upgrade in Enterprise, Business can be upgraded to Ultimate if you like. And the second is the lack of Windows BitLocker full drive encryption in Business, this feature is present in Enterprise. Skipping that, the two versions seem to be identical. And, to make it more complicated: Business is also available as a VLK edition AFAIK.

http://www.msblog.org/2006/11/22/vista- ... breakdown/
shows differences between versions. Don't think it mentions enterprise

Look here, it's very detailed and Enterprise is mentioned.
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_editions_final.asp