Windows Vista OEM Ready Program

Attention: Microsoft will continue to accept submissions and select OEMs will continue to support OEM Ready for Windows Vista-based PCs through July 2009. We currently plan to retire the OEM Ready Program in August 2009. However, Microsoft may continue to support and accept submissions after August 2009 if needed based on market conditions and partner feedback.

Beginning with Windows 7, Microsoft recommends that partners test their applications for the Windows 7 Software Logo Program.

The OEM Ready program is a quality assurance program aimed at increasing customer satisfaction with partner products. Software publishers that adopt the OEM Ready program requirements in partnership with OEMs that pre-install OEM Ready applications are taking a critical step towards creating a much improved Windows experience for customers.

The OEM Ready testing requirements are a subset of the Certified for Windows Vista requirements that have been identified as key to OEMs. Available testing tools, guidance, and a streamlined process make it easier for partners to advance through these requirements in a manner that provides customers the best out of box experience with their software.

Program Benefits:

Improved customer satisfaction
The OEM Ready program helps to ensure that applications address the criteria customers use to judge quality: compatibility, reliability, and well-behaved installs and un-installs.

Fewer calls to technical support
The OEM Ready tests have been designed to identify and address the most common issues that plague applications today.

Direct connection to Microsoft
Guidance, testing tools, a streamlined process and free technical support make it easier for partners to meet and surpass the software quality tests.

Additional Information About Microsoft Windows Quality Programs:

Microsoft Quality Programs provide guidelines and requirements for ensuring a great experience on a Windows PC. This FAQ can help you decide which programs are best suited to help you improve your products and business.

Development guidance

Plan Ahead

Before you build

Determine your application's eligibility:

Read the OEM Ready program documentation to understand the application's eligibility and what test cases applications must pass.

Download the OEM Ready Program Documentation.

New Update Available Now!

v2.5 of the OEM Ready Program Documentation
The documentation has been updated to reflect tool and program changes. Additionally, the update incorporates feedback that has been received from customers, Tier 1 support, and from the OEM Ready lab visits. Screen shots have been updated to remove any conflicting information.

If your software is already Certified for Windows Vista, you are already considered OEM Ready.

OEM Ready Program Frequently Asked Questions

For technical support for the OEM Ready program send e-mail to mdasw@microsoft.com.

OEM Ready Technical Blog

Development first steps

Build & Pre-Test

Test your application:

After you build your application, confirm it will pass the OEM Ready Program Test Cases.

Download the OEM Ready software qualification test suite.

New Update Available Now!

v1.1 of the OEM Ready Certification Tool
This release includes bug fixes, some additional test automation, and an updated AppID tool that uses ProgramID technology which allows for manual addition of applications and files when they are not detected automatically.

Test suite training materials:

OEM Ready Testing Issue Resolution Process:

Questions should initially be directed to the technical support e-mail address. If you encounter an issue during the OEM Ready testing process, it must be resolved prior to making a test submission, either by correcting the issue or by receiving an OEM Ready Resolution ID number.

You must complete an OEM Ready Testing Issue Resolution Request Form to receive an OEM Ready Resolution ID number. The form is designed to help gather all of the information that the OEM Ready team may need to help you resolve a testing issue in the shortest time possible. Please complete one form per unique testing issue.

OEM Ready Testing Issue Resolution Form

Development final steps

Submit Test Results

OEM Ready Submission Process Overview

After completion of testing applications for the OEM Ready Program, you can submit the test logs to Windows Quality Online Services (Winqual) for processing. To submit results for qualification consideration, please ensure that you follow these steps.

Obtain a code-signing ID.
This ID is required for submitting your product to the OEM Ready Program through Windows Quality Online Services. This ensures your organization is authentic and to secure transmission of applications and test results to Microsoft.
Establish a Winqual account
A Windows Quality Online Services (Winqual) account is necessary to submit products to the OEM Ready Program.
Submit Test Results
1. Log on at the Windows Quality Online Services site.
2. Select from WINDOWS LOGO PROGRAMS --> SOFTWARE --> OEM Ready.
3. Edit an existing submission, or click CREATE NEW to start a new OEM Ready submission.
Check Submission Status.
After the completion of the review, the status of the submission ID will change to indicate whether the application has passed or failed testing. If your test submission fails, you can submit new logs to Winqual for retest after reported failures or omissions are corrected.

Pre-release guidance

Validate Results

Validate your compliance

After successfully completing either OEM Ready or software testing for Certified for Windows Vista you can validate your compliance for your application by downloading the OEM Ready Audit Tool and running on an image with your application pre-installed.

OEM Ready Audit Tool

This verification tool inventories a system, compares the results against an XML compliance database, and generates a report in .txt or .csv format indicating the OEM Ready status of each application preinstalled on the system. This is a command-line tool.

The OEM Ready Audit Tool is used in conjunction with the OEM Ready compliance database. The database will be updated and made available for download monthly. As a result new passing submissions will not be reflected by the audit tool until the next monthly update of the database.

If the OEM Ready Audit Tool is run on a Windows Vista system with your application preinstalled you can confirm that the application is being reported correctly as "compliant".

Download the OEM Ready Audit Tool.

OEM Ready Audit Tool v1.5 Released

Download the1.5 version of the OEM Ready Audit Tool which has been updated to:

Accept all CSUP.TXT file types(except for Rich Text Format):

Notepad (supported types): ANSI, Unicode, UTF-8, and Unicode big endian
Permit various date formats (e.g., MM-DD-YY)

Version of command-line is displayed as 1.5
Alternate marketing names and version are accepted and result in a ‘compliant’ status where appropriate
Foreign characters are displayed correctly in CSV and report text files

OEM Ready Compliance Database

This database contains a comprehensive list of approved applications from the OEM Ready Program and Certified for Windows Vista software testing program. It is used in conjunction with the audit tool to compare the inventory of applications on a system to those that have passed the OEM Ready test suite or the Certified for Vista software testing program. The database will be released on a monthly cycle.

Download the OEM Ready Compliance Database.