Re: WinXP, Ghost, Licensing, OEM's, and more

From: D.Currie (dmbcurrie.nospam_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 10/29/04 

Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 23:54:00 -0600

"Matt" <mpiechota@cybrzn.com> wrote in message
news:10o262ek86jk073@corp.supernews.com...
> Greets -
>
> I'm wondering if I can do the following legally and physically to make
> life
> easier :-)
>
> I work for a small shop that does home PC repair. We get a lot of
> machines
> in for repair, and some need rebuilds. The delimma is when a customer
> needs
> a PC rebuilt, owns a legal license (sticker on outside of case) but either
> can't find/doesn't have their restore CDs, which happens a LOT. Since I
> have much experience w/ Ghost and sysprep (in the corporate world) I'd
> like
> to make some kind of ghost image that will prompt for their serial on
> boot,
> which I know can be done. What I run into is, certain builds don't accept
> certain serial numbers. For example, if I use a general OEM CD to build,
> and put in, say a Gateway serial off their PC, it gets rejected. I have
> to
> hope that they can find their restore CDs usually. Basically I'm looking
> to cut down turnaround time for the customers, while still doing this all
> right and legal.
>
> What I need to know is:
> a> Can I do what I'd like to do legally? The serial numbers would be the
> ones already owned by that customer who needs the PC rebuilt. So to my
> mind, this should be all legal but if anyone knows any reason why it
> wouldn't be, please tell me and I'll be happy to cease looking into it.
>
> b> Can I make a ghost image that would work across multple OEMs, or will I
> just need to make and sysprep an image for each OEM, i.e. a WinXP for
> Gateway, WinXP for Dell, WinXP for HP (if it's trashed on the HD stored
> version), etc. I don't know enough about how the serials are separated to
> know if it's by OEM, or by some kind of software generation release. Or
> would this even work?
>
> c> Same questions for other OS's.. Windows ME is still prevalent around
> here, as is Win98 first and second edition.. as well as a scattered W95
> machine here and there. Granted W95 and 98, and possibly ME may not be
> able
> to be prepped how I like, but XP is the going foward
>
> d> Anything I'm missing here?
>
> I appreciate any ideas and info that anyone has!
>
> Thanks,
> Matt
>

First, you might want to get an official comment from Microsoft before
embarking on anything that might impinge on your employers' business. They'd
be liable for anything you do, and if it gets MSs attention and lawyers come
calling, it could get ugly. Telling them that you got information from a
newsgroup isn't going to hold a lot of weight.

Second, while it might work when you install it, the next problem is going
to come when the user or another shop tries to use the original CD that they
suddenly found and it starts spewing messages about how it's not going to
work or there's an illegal version or whatever. They're going to come back
to your employer's shop and start making all sorts of ruckus.

Third, the OEM software that you're talking about generally includes a lot
of customization that you're not going to have with your generic OEM cd. So
what you reinstall is not going to be what they had originally. Personally,
I'd rather have the generic install, but there might be something on the
original CD that isn't on the generic one that your customer wants or needs.
It would certainly be a shame if you had to reinstall again just because
some custom oem wallpaper is missing.

The next problem is that if the shop gets a reputation for installing XP
without the user have any CDs, that could be a problem as well. I guess that
depends on whether the shop wants that sort of rep or not.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: WinXP, Ghost, Licensing, OEMs, and more
    ... > I work for a small shop that does home PC repair. ... For example, if I use a general OEM CD to build, ... > ones already owned by that customer who needs the PC rebuilt. ... I don't know enough about how the serials are separated to ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Re: WinXP, Ghost, Licensing, OEMs, and more
    ... > I work for a small shop that does home PC repair. ... For example, if I use a general OEM CD to build, ... > ones already owned by that customer who needs the PC rebuilt. ... I don't know enough about how the serials are separated to ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: OT Re: Repair Fraud?
    ... >>> that brake inspection has to go back together so the hoist can be ... That depends on what the customer is asking for. ... >> Simple because then you would have to increase your labor rate ... "Your" in this case is referring to a shop that is known to have a high ...
    (rec.autos.tech)
  • Re: OT Re: Repair Fraud?
    ... >> air and the wheels are off. ... > That depends on what the customer is asking for. ... > appointment with a shop and give them a list of items I want done, ... their car. ...
    (rec.autos.tech)
  • Re: OT Re: Repair Fraud?
    ... > Fine as long as the options and costs are communicated to the customer ... and $7 on an exhaust pipe, workflow thru the shop is disrupted, ... > the labor rate was a bit higher it is unlikely he would be complaining. ... There is no compelling reason to go to a dealership for a brake ...
    (rec.autos.tech)
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