Re: Cloning OEM XP PC's?

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William Stokes wrote:
> Yeah.
>
> This licensing stuff just keep getting better. I Called our PC
> supplier (DELL) to ask if we could purchase the PC's with no OEM OS.
> They said yes, sure but the price is the SAME with or without an
> WinXP!
> So if I want to start using Volume Licenses on new PC's, to avoid the
> product activation after cloning, do I need to aquire Windows XP
> volume licenses from MS reseller and pay for it full price? This
> would mean that I get one OS license with the OEM manufacturer and
> pay for another directly to Microsoft! This can't be right! What have
> I misunderstood? How large companies normally handle their XP
> licenses?
> I really don't want to call to MS every time I have cloned (with
> Sysprep) a PC or restored one from image.
>
> Thanks
> -Will
>

The VL for XP is an upgrade. There has to be an underlying license for XP
according to the VL agreement. I know it doesn't seem to make much sense
buying XP twice but this is the way it works. Buy the cheapest XP, probably
Home, that you can get with the pc's then image them with the VL product and
key. This has the added advantage of reusing the disk space the HP restore
partition takes up (not much) and getting rid of the factory installed
spyware. Other products like Office have different terms. Here's a link to a
faq on volume licenses.

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/faq.mspx

Here's a link to an online wizard to help determine which license is best
for you. You will also find phone numbers here.

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/mplahome.mspx

Kerry


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