How so? I've bought and paid for both versions...
That is how their EULA is written. I had my counsel review it, and get clarification from MS (in my case, it was for virtualized copies running on Windows for non-business machines.)
You cannot install multiple copies from the same 'license' for consumer / retail Windows: even putting two copies of the same purchased Windows on the same PC but different hard drives is considered a violation of the EULA by MS. Same with running a virtual machine with a copy of the 'same' Windows, and even native-boot VHD copies. I run heavy virtualized development, and MS requires that I have a license for each 'copy', even if it is for personal, non-enterprise use. At least my enterprise / server Windows includes licenses for virtualizing...
Goofy, but that's the result of a watered-down version of their business/enterprise licensing. I've never heard of them going after individuals over this, but I'm not going to be the first
. Even MS support techs are unclear on this - in the past, they OK'd virtualizing the same copy on the same machine, and gave me new keys when my install limits were reached (often when developing...)
If a consumer needs to have multiple copies on the same PC in one of the mentioned scenarios, the 'family pack' is probably the cheapest way to do this, and gets you 3 Home Premium licenses for ~$45 each. No native-VHD boot with that and other lesser versions, but few consumers need that anyway.
Doing a clean install of 64-bit and removing the 32-bit install is fine by the EULA, of course.
Rob
