Can i sell my copy of vista?

DJMK4 · 28 Feb 2007 at 14:43

Basically what happened was i had a spare machine at home which i decided to buy vista home basic OEM and sell the system. I bought the copy of vista home oem from ocuk and put a clean install of vista on the machine and validated it over the internet.

Then a day before im due to hand it over and recieve money the motherboard blows meaning the sale is now down the pan, and im stuck with a pc with a borked mobo..Instead of buying a replacement motherboard i decide i cant be bothered and instead i split the pc and sold the parts.

Now of course i am stuck with a copy of vista home which was registered to that pc, the sticker was stuck on the case..What can i do with this copy now?

bledd · 28 Feb 2007 at 14:46

you can't sell it as is, you'd have to get a new motherboard, explain to ms when it comes to activating (if it gives you any trouble) then sell it

DJMK4 · 28 Feb 2007 at 14:49

but thats the point...i will not be having another system to sell..iv split the parts and im sold them seperately..

If i install this OS on another machine (totally different machine) and i phoned MS up will i be able to activate it if they were told that the motherboard was faulty thus having to replace it?

bledd · 28 Feb 2007 at 14:53

yeah, but its a bit of a grey area

at the end of the day, ms will allow you to do it if you tell them the motherboard is broken (might not get it from the first representative you speak to though)

leaskovski · 28 Feb 2007 at 16:02

If you are replacing the motherboard like for like, then there shouldnt be a problem reusing the OEM product.

Burnsy2023 · 28 Feb 2007 at 16:21

bledd. said:
you can't sell it as is, you'd have to get a new motherboard, explain to ms when it comes to activating (if it gives you any trouble) then sell it

This is pretty much the case, since you've split the pc, I think you can pretty much kiss the Vista licence goodbye.

Burnsy

DJMK4 · 28 Feb 2007 at 16:44

burnsy2023 said:
This is pretty much the case, since you've split the pc, I think you can pretty much kiss the Vista licence goodbye.

Burnsy

How the hell does that work? if so then MS is seriously ripping off its customers..At the end of the day anything could go wrong, and if something does go wrong it may not be just 1 piece of hardware that blows..

Surely if i explained that i had a faulty PSU which took out the Motherboard and processor then they would have to?

Corasik · 28 Feb 2007 at 17:06

OEM is 1/3 the price of retail, and the only restriction is your cant transfer it to an new PC, its linked to the first PC its installed on.

You can 'repair' the PC, replacing all parts, even the motherboard if its genuinely faulty, if you've parted out the PC, then it no longer exists, and the licence is finished/broken/void whatever.

Its pretty unlikely that you'll ever find anyone prepared to buy an already activated copy of Vista OEM, about the only chance you have would be to sell the borked motherboard, and Vista OEM together, that way the buyer can call microsoft and request reactivation when their 'pc' is repaired, but thats pretty 'dodgy' and I certainly wouldnt buy a copy of vista oem in that scenario.

If you tell MS your PSU/CPU/Motherboard were all fried, they still wont 'reset' it to unactivated. They would simply tell you to repair the computer and call if/when activation failed on the repaired machine.

Of course if you tell them that your other 'completely' separate computer is infact the repaired machine, then they wont be able to tell, and should run the activation for you.

So, conclusion, you should be able to install it personally on another computer, by calling MS and telling them you repaired the failed system. But sell it completely... only if you sell it already installed and activated on another computer.