Re: No OS disk with purch refurb laptop

tmd0309 wrote:
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!

Jeremy wrote:
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.

tmd0309 wrote:
I don't think this is correct. The COA does not say "OEM Product."
Using the screens that Microsoft uses to help me determine if my
copy of Windows is legal, the questions ask whether the COA says
"OEM Product", and which information those screens feed back to me
depends on my answer, from which I conclude that the fact that my
COA does not say "OEM Product" means that my copy of windows is not
an OEM version.

What would a guy who runs a computer service and resale shop, who
wipes lots of hard-drives and reinstalls windows on them, buy to
install? What would he buy, and what would they require him to do?

tmd0309 wrote:
My Computer > Properties > General (tab) says:

Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

So...It's not an OEM license what does that mean? It can't be that
he just bought a straight-up retail license -- then he'd have given
me the disk. What other ways to these guys have of putting OSs on
PCs? I mean, legally. I'm still not sure he's ripped me off -
Microsoft's "is my software legal" thing says I'm ok.

- Right Click on my Computer.
- Choose Properties
- Under Registered to there is a 20 digit PID
- The three digit sequence ( the second set of numbers)
- If they are OEM that is OEM media
- It that is 640 that is Volume\Select\Open

Most resellers would likely buy and sell OEM copies - because they are less
expensive and more likely to sell because of that one fact. Most of the
other rules of such a license are more restrictive than their retail
cousins.

If your product key is on a sticker on the machine itself - there's a VERY
GOOD (closing in on 100%) chance it *is* for an OEM license. However - that
does not mean what is currently installed is OEM and/or that it even matches
the product key stuck to it...

Use Belarc Advisor or Magic JellyBean KeyFinder to get the product key
extracted from the currently installed OS and compare it to the sticker - do
they match?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html


.

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