Re: No OS disk with purch refurb laptop

Tech-Archive recommends: Fix windows errors by optimizing your registry

You cannot download any MS app, other than trial, from any legitimate source
(Technet excluded)
The OEM licence is for the PC not the user

"Jeremy" <jeremy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0E20789A-CCC3-4B57-B643-DA3B7821F70E@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The product key you have is an OEM product key. It is a legit key, but I
am
not sure if the license is transferrable. Ring your county's MS licensing
centre to find out. If it is transferrable then you will need an OEM
Windows distribution to install from. This is probably readily
downloadable
on the Internet.

Keep in mind that OEM licenses die when the computer does, you aren't
allowed to use it on another computer.

Cheers,
Jeremy.

"tmd0309" <tmd0309@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B7B2D965-AF44-4D4A-81A5-25DE4D98189E@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi: I just bought a used laptop from a local refurb shop.

I am beating myself up for not asking before making the decision to buy,
but
I didn't, so now am trying to make the best of the situation: I didn't
get
any disk for reinstalling the OS (Win XP Pro). There's a Microsoft
Certificate of Authenticity sticker on the bottom of the machine with my
product key on it, and I've confirmed that it's legit, here on the "How
to
tell..." page, but I would like to be able to burn a reinstallation disk
from
what's here, if the installation left what I need on the drive for that
purpose. I searched around and learned that if reinstallation files
were
loaded on the pc, in lieu of providing me with a CD, I'd find them in a
very,
very large directory c:\i386 OR c:\windows\i386. I don't have that
folder
or
those files.

I called the shop to ask if maybe they'd hidden such a set of files
somewhere I'd missed, and the guy said no -- that if I were ever to need
to
reinstall, I'd need to borrow someone else's WinXP Pro disk to install
with,
and then register/validate with this product key.

The guy says this is standard practice for refurbished machines, and
even
for many new ones - that although the vendor is able to install the OS
and
provide me with a legal license/product key: 1) there's no installation
disk
that comes with the machine, and 2) there are not the files copied to
the
hard-drive that the articles I've read suggest should be there.

From what those articles say, when those files do exist, they are
basically
a copy of the files from an installation cd, correct? And now I'm
hearing
that the licenses that Microsoft sells to retailers don't permit copying
of
the install-files to the hard-drive. Maybe they used to and don't any
more,
or maybe they only do in certain circumstances (depending on what the
retailer bought), but generally no -- that would be a violation of
copyright,
for the shop to have copied the files to the hard-drive.

SO when (not if) I need access to installation files, my only **legal**
options are 1) buy a copy of the OS (even though I paid for a license
for
the
OS that's running on my machine right now) or 2) borrow a disk and use
that
(NOT copy it) to install, but then supply the product key of my own
license
during re-registration/re-validation. Is that right?

AND is this standard with refurbished machines?

Could that be right -- maybe because the only way the vendor could have
supplied me with a disk would be for him to have bought and sold me a
more
expensive version, the retail version of the software? Is it
right/legal/consistent with whatever license he would have bought that
he
would install without providing me the means to re-install?

When I confirmed that my software is legit, the last page asked if the
COA
had "OEM Product" under the name of the product. It doesn't. The
validation
page said in that case, I should have received a "recovery solutions" CD
from
my PC manufacturer. BUT of course, I didn't buy this from the
manufacturer.
I bought it from a refurbisher. SO maybe that page is wrong?

Thanks for help shedding light on this absurd situation!




.

Relevant Pages

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    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
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