Description of the technical support policy for systems that have not been confirmed as meeting the requirements of Windows Vista or of Windows XP

Technical issues may occur if one or more of the following conditions are true:

• You install Microsoft Windows XP or you install Windows Vista on a system that has not been confirmed as meeting the requirements that Microsoft has determined.
• A system contains components that have not been confirmed as meeting these requirements.
• A system contains components that have been individually confirmed as compatible. However, the system configuration as a whole has not been confirmed as compatible.

Microsoft will make commercially reasonable efforts to investigate and to resolve these issues. However, the computer manufacturer may have to resolve some of these issues.

Some systems have been confirmed as meeting the requirements that Microsoft has determined. These systems are affixed with one of the following logos:



Typically, support issues are minimized on a computer that has one of these logos affixed to it. The logo indicates that the computer manufacturer has tested the hardware configuration of the computer model. The logo also indicates that the computer passed the applicable criteria that Microsoft requires for a good user experience. The computer manufacturer provides technical support for computers that are preinstalled with Windows Vista or with Windows XP.

However, many different computer components and many different hardware configurations are available. Not all these components and not all these configurations have been confirmed as meeting the requirements of Windows Vista and of Windows XP. Nevertheless, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide technical support to customers who have purchased retail versions of these operating systems. We will also use commercially reasonable efforts to provide technical support to customers who purchase support from Microsoft.

Microsoft is committed to helping customers who use Windows Vista or who use Windows XP optimize their technology investments by providing technical support. You can access the various technical support options that are available from Microsoft when you visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Issues that may occur

The following list identifies some issues that may occur when you try to run Windows Vista or when you try to run Windows XP on a system that Microsoft has not confirmed as compatible. For example, these issues may occur if Microsoft has not confirmed that the components are compatible. Or, these issues may occur if Microsoft has not confirmed that the system configuration is compatible.

• Differences between power management systems and the associated power management tuning may cause a poor power management experience.
• Differences between hard disk partitioning schemes may cause data loss and system instability on dual-boot systems.
• You cannot use Windows Update to obtain driver fixes or to obtain driver updates for components that have not been confirmed as compatible. You also cannot obtain these updates and fixes by visiting Microsoft.com.
• Systems that do not have the basic hardware functionality that Windows Vista expects do not take advantage of the full range of functionality that Windows Vista provides. This functionality includes the following:
  • The application (right-click) key
  • The DELETE key
  • The Windows logo key
  • The PRINT SCREEN (SYSRQ) key
  • The SCROLL LOCK key
  • The PAUSE (BREAK) key

These issues may cause poor performance or system crashes.