Re: XP Pro CD - Retail or OEM?

From: Jane Crystal (utopianseamaid_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 09/04/04 

Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 12:24:46 -0700

Mike

What a pleasure to hear from someone from Microsoft. Thank you for telling
me that a retail CD will not work to repair an OEM installation. I must have
misunderstood incorrectly in reading other posts in this forum. I thought
the retail CD was better to have for certain repairs and things that the OEM
CD could not do. I guess I'll have to reread those posts. I might not get
an OEM CD after all. It might be better to find a retail copy, though it
will be a lot more expensive. An OEM CD will cost anywhere from $120 to
$199, depending on where I get it. A retail CD will probably be closer to
$300, unless the price has come down.

At least I was able to use my friend's CD to run the Windows XP Upgrade
Advisor. It told me some hardware and software that might not work on XP. I
will see about getting either updated drivers, patches, or later versions
for everything it flagged. Let me make it perfectly clear that I am not a
software pirate and have no intention of installing that CD on my computer.
I have great respect for Microsoft, but IMO they charge far too much for
some of their software. I have a license for everything on my computer that
requires a license. I don't think it's possible to pirate Windows XP anyway.
You'd never be able to activate it, and it would only cause you problems.

My friend did have an original CD, but his ex-wife either took it or
destroyed it out of spite. He does not know. All he has left is the copy,
and it has been on his laptop for years. So far he has not had to reinstall.
Is there no way to tell from the copy whether it is retail, oem, upgrade, or
full version? It would be kind of important for him to know, but he doesn't
remember.

Thank you for telling me that you can upgrade from the full version. Is it
true that you can only do that if you have the retail CD, not if it's an OEM
CD, or am I wrong about that?

Finally, if you have wipe & reformat your hard drive, can you use an upgrade
version if you place a Windows Me CD in the drive to verify you are
eligible, or can you only do that with the full version?

"Mike Brannigan [MSFT]" <mikebran@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uQX2NWmkEHA.1356@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> "Jane Crystal" <utopianseamaid@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:ur%23GypjkEHA.3552@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> >A friend lent me a copy of an XP Pro CD so I could look at some of the
> > files and run the Upgrade Advisor to determine hardware and software
> > compatibility and readiness.
> >
> > He does not know whether it is a retail or OEM CD or whether it is the
> > full
> > version or an upgrade. Is there any way to tell by looking at certain
> > files?
> > This is a CD-R, not an original Microsoft CD.
> >
> > I'm assuming it is the full version. I pretended to install it to see if
> > it
> > gave me a choice. It asked me whether I wanted to do an upgrade (from
> > Windows Me) or a clean install. The upgrade version wouldn't give me
that
> > choice, would it? That's why I think it's the full version. But I still
> > can't determine if it's retail or OEM. After that I exited the
> > installation
> > and rebooted.
> >
> > If this indeed is a retail CD, then it might be a good idea for me to
> > retain
> > a copy of it for future repair purposes. I do not intend to install this
> > CD.
> > It belongs to someone else. I will be getting an OEM CD when I upgrade
my
> > computer.
>
> You can tell what it is by looking at the disk - if it is an original CD,
> if your friend does not have the original CD, why not ? are they using
> pirated software ?
> .
> They are all clearly marked as Windows XP - if OEM then it states so on
the
> disks.
> If it is an upgrade that to is on the disk surface.
>
> Both full and upgrade can be used to do an upgrade.
>
> You should not make a copy of the Retail CD if you are intending to
purchase
> an OEM one, since you cannot do a repair install with a retail CD to an
OEM
> install and besides you also mention are about to get an OEM CD so why do
> you need someone else's CD ?
>
> --
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike
> --
> Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights
>
> Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
> newsgroups
>
> "Jane Crystal" <utopianseamaid@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:ur%23GypjkEHA.3552@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> >A friend lent me a copy of an XP Pro CD so I could look at some of the
> > files and run the Upgrade Advisor to determine hardware and software
> > compatibility and readiness.
> >
> > He does not know whether it is a retail or OEM CD or whether it is the
> > full
> > version or an upgrade. Is there any way to tell by looking at certain
> > files?
> > This is a CD-R, not an original Microsoft CD.
> >
> > I'm assuming it is the full version. I pretended to install it to see if
> > it
> > gave me a choice. It asked me whether I wanted to do an upgrade (from
> > Windows Me) or a clean install. The upgrade version wouldn't give me
that
> > choice, would it? That's why I think it's the full version. But I still
> > can't determine if it's retail or OEM. After that I exited the
> > installation
> > and rebooted.
> >
> > If this indeed is a retail CD, then it might be a good idea for me to
> > retain
> > a copy of it for future repair purposes. I do not intend to install this
> > CD.
> > It belongs to someone else. I will be getting an OEM CD when I upgrade
my
> > computer.
> >
> >
>
>

Quantcast