Reduced Functionality Mode will be removed in Vista SP1

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Michael Pietroforte

Michael Pietroforte is the founder and editor in chief of 4sysops. He has more than 35 years of experience in IT management and system administration.

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When I started playing with Vista RC, I couldn't believe my eyes when one of my test machines entered RFM. This computer had a private IP and had no router configured which made it impossible to activate Vista via Internet since one isn't even allowed to change the IP settings of a machine in RFM. There seem to be workarounds, but they were all too time consuming for my taste. This incident made it clear to me that we will have to invest a lot of extra time just dealing with Vista activation.

I think RFM is a nightmare for any sys admin. Just imagine all your Windows machines entering into RFM over night because something went wrong with Vista activation. So in my view this is the most important new feature of Service Pack 1. However, this doesn't mean that Vista activation becomes easier for us to handle.

The fundamental difference between Windows XP and Vista still stands. Most admins didn't have to worry at all about Windows activation until Vista drew its first breath. So before you can deploy Vista, you have to spend a considerable amount of time learning about Vista's activation methods. It also remains to be seen how intrusive this recurring notice is that non-genuine Vista installations will present to users.

I suppose this also means that Windows Server 2008 will be delivered without RFM. This might be even more important. I don't have to tell you what it means if some of your servers go into RFM just because you forgot to activate them.