Re: MS Licensing...
From: D.Currie (dmbcurrie.nospam_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 04/04/04
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Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 19:16:57 -0700
"Moshup Trail" <moshuptrail@fishbait.com> wrote in message
news:2PSdnX8mhvP13_LdRVn-tw@adelphia.com...
> bottom-posted:
> "D.Currie" <dmbcurrie.nospam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:c4neka$2ktpt7$1@ID-193095.news.uni-berlin.de...
> >
> > "Moshup Trail" <moshuptrail@fishbait.com> wrote in message
> > news:qPqdnRP0Su_Wp_LdRVn-vw@adelphia.com...
> > > I bought a used laptop on eBay. It came with XP Pro, but no disks,
CDs,
> > or
> > > documentation.
> > >
> > > Do I own the license for XP Pro?
> >
> > Do you have the cd-key? What brand it the laptop, and what did it come
> when
> > it was factory-new?
> >
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Assuming I do, Is there any way to switch the XP Pro license to my
> > desktop?
> > >
> > >
> >
> > According to the EULA, if it's oem, no; if it's retail, yes.
> >
> > However, unless you have the CDs and the CD key, you have no way to
> install
> > or reinstall the software, so there's no way to transfer it, much less
> > reinstall it on the laptop should something go wrong there.
> >
> > If you have the CD key and the software is OEM, it might have been one
of
> > the brands that puts the recovery on a partition on the hard drive
rather
> > than supplying CDs. In that case,. you've probably got a legal license
to
> > the software for the laptop. You still should have gotten some
> documentation
> > with it, though.
> >
> >
>
> To muddy the waters, the laptop seems to have been packaged by Dell with
> Win2000 Pro. The XP Pro seems to be a retail upgrade.
>
> When I go to My Computer/Properties I can see a long number. Is that the
CD
> key?
>
> Of course all this may be moot without disks, but I thought if worse came
to
> worse could I go to Microsoft and request (even paying a small fee)
> "replacement" CD's?
>
The seller probably kept the CDs and key to use on his own system, or worse
yet is selling multiple systems with this same version of XP loaded. There's
little chance MS would do anything for you, as the original owner didn't
actually transfer the software to you, and it's likely to still be in use on
another computer.
You're really better off getting your own copy of XP and doing a nice clean
load on the laptop. If you just wanted to do a repair install on the laptop,
you could go with the upgrade version, but if you ever wanted to do a clean
install, you'd have to have a previous version, and you don't even have
that.
You might want to contact Dell and see if you can get the 2000 CD for the
computer. That would be a good place to start, and depending on what they
say, you could then decide if you want to upgrade it to XP or leave it
as-is.
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