Re: No OS disk with purch refurb laptop



"Shenan Stanley" wrote:

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

Shenan: Thank you!

It's 640, not OEM. "Volume/Select/Open" are kinds of licenses? I'll google
around and see what I can read about those. Maybe I should call MSoft sales
tomorrow, and see if they can help me understand what kind of licences
someone in this guy's business might legitimately be buying and reselling.

And I'll see if I can find the softwre you recommended for determining what
the product key is that's installed on my PC - whether that matches the one
on the sticker.

Each step of the way through this mess, I'm trying to incorporate new
knowlege and re-frame my questions/issues. At this point, I still don't
understand what he sold me or what his obligations to me are, nor what
features I'd have to find in a borrowed CD if I wanted to use someone else's
media to reinstall or repair my machine using this product key.

By the way: since the MS.com legal-checking process asked whether the
sticker says "OEM Product" underneath where it says "Windows XP Professional"
(which it doesn't), I'll volunteer this further info in case it means
anything: *after* "Windows XP Professional" it says "1-2CPU", and below
"Windows XP Professional" it says "HPQ"
.

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