Do all Vista editions Require Activation and Wga? I was wanting to know what Microsoft plans to do for mission critical systems. There are systems that have to run 24 hours a day and are not connected to the internet.

I read volume license customers even have to activate every 6 months. This is also bad for small businesses that do not use the internet.

Not sure about WGA. Activation is required...

If you're not connected to the net you'll have to use the phone to activate.

I'm pretty sure you have to activate all editions of Vista, including Enterprise. As for WGA, I would guess it's also mandatory.

I'm pretty sure you have to activate all editions of Vista, including Enterprise. As for WGA, I would guess it's also mandatory.

Yup, even Enterprise. My high school has a license for Enterprise. Got to install Vista for the first time while I was working there this summer. Kind of a pain to activate though, IMO...

Do all Vista editions Require Activation and Wga? I was wanting to know what Microsoft plans to do for mission critical systems. There are systems that have to run 24 hours a day and are not connected to the internet.

I read volume license customers even have to activate every 6 months. This is also bad for small businesses that do not use the internet.

There are 2 types of Volume Keys. MAKs can be activated a specific number of times. Once a computer is activated with a MAK it does not have to be reactivated. KMS keys are tied to an activation server the activated computer must connect to your KMS server at least once every 6 months. If a computer with a KMS key doesn't contact your KMS server the activation will expire and your server will have 1 more licence to reallocate. The KMS server can be activated online or by phone.

Royalty OEMs still don't have to activate.

also you can have a KMS server local to your domain that can activate Vista machines based on the KMS key you add to it (the server has to activated with MS but that is it)