Thank You Microsoft

warnea1984

warnea1984

warnea1984

Associate
Joined
26 Jan 2005
Posts
826
I had a problem today, my fathers retail brought pc's hard disk failed, after replacing the hard drive for a new one I attempted to re-install from the supplied CD that came with the pc, this would not work as it required files that were already installed on the broken hard drive.

So I got my copy of windows xp home oem and installed windows fom there, went to activate xp over the net but the product key on the back of the machine would not validate, so i thought it must be because it is a manufacturers licence.

Anyhow phoned microsoft up this morning got straight though to a real person, explained the issue I was having, they asked for the key on the back, I gave it to them and then they re-issued me a new licence that would would from the oem cd, no charge no hassle, best service I have recieved ever and most unexpected from microsoft, just thought I share my experience.
 
Nope, just stepping down from day-to-day running to concentrate on other things (like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - which has just been offered a rather large sum of money).

And even then, that's not for a while yet.
 
I have had mixed dealings with phoning up MS about activation.

One extreme to another, I bought XP Pro Retail some time ago, cost me over £250 and I got it purely because I know I like to do a fresh install every 2 minutes... I know there is no real need to, I just do it, and I got this version knowing that I could do it without having any greif.

I was ok for about the first 6 or 7 times, but since then... Hassle, hassle hassle all the time. Once I even told them to go ( Bleep ) themselves as I was so sick of it all.

Now, I also got a licence here, that I took off an old PC that I dumped and guess what? Not once have I failed to activate it over the net, not once have I had to phone them up, and I have reinstalled the PC thats on, must be a dozen times at least in the 2 years ( give or take ) that I have had it, and I have swapped and changed the hardware many many times in that time too!

Funny isnt it?

I also have a CD here that installs a fairly clean setup ( For a supplied CD that is ) and this does not need activating or anything. I fancied a laugh and I tried the CD on my DFI LP250UT and it installed just fine on that too, and never asked for a serial or to be activated... Very naughty.

I dont have MCE for the DFI, thats XP Home, and I have gone through the configs etc on the naughty ( but legal ) CD and I have now managed to conjure up an XP Home CD, that does not ask for a licence ( And I have not added it to my SIF file in case you are asking ), does not need activating, and I have full updates and its happy with this WPA thingy too!

As far as I can tell, as I have fully legal licences for all my PCs, and as this is happy with MS' idea of copy protection, and does everythign it should do, I am absoolutely sure that it is perfectly legal too! - I just used the info take from one of my original CDs and adapted another of my legal CDs to do what the first one does!!

Much better than adding my junk to nLITE

Sweet.
 
FatRakoon said:
Now, I also got a licence here, that I took off an old PC that I dumped and guess what?
Click to expand...

Was it an OEM license? If so, they are not transferrable.

I may be wrong but I think only the Volume License media don't require activation. Where did you get it from?

Burnsy
 
burnsy2023 said:
Was it an OEM license? If so, they are not transferrable.
Burnsy
Click to expand...


Yes, it was. you are right, they are not strictly ransferable.

Guess what?

I will, I did, it has. Job done. Been using that one onf of my PCs for roughly 2 years and its activated several times and never had an issue once.

burnsy2023 said:
I may be wrong but I think only the Volume License media don't require activation. Where did you get it from?
Burnsy
Click to expand...

Based around a Fujitsu Seimens PC... I got this licence along with my P4-3.6.

I wont go into too much details here, but the Licence sticker on the PC base unit is a different one to what comes up when I read the number and the same with the XP Home CD I did too... They dont need activating, and the MCE one has been like that for 2 and a bit months now, the Home one I only had that on maybe a month? - never needed activating, both are perfectly happy running Windows updates etc, and neither of them have been cracked in any way other than me fiddling with the Home CD, but the MCE CD is the original one!

Oh, by the way... Even the corp licences are now getting the hassles when you update them, so its not that!
 
FatRakoon said:
Yes, it was. you are right, they are not strictly ransferable.

Guess what?

I will, I did, it has. Job done. Been using that one onf of my PCs for roughly 2 years and its activated several times and never had an issue once.
Click to expand...
...but you are breaking the terms of your license, and so aren't strictly legal. Nobody in the know in the thread has ever said that breaking the terms in the EULA will break anything with your software... they *could* do, but just because you've had no issues does not mean you were allowed to do so.
 
They are usually good when you phone activiation line. Its the same deal with Office as well. As long as you have valid license key - just phoned them up say you have replaced your harddisk and they will give you activation key over the phone.
 
Otacon said:
...but you are breaking the terms of your license, and so aren't strictly legal. Nobody in the know in the thread has ever said that breaking the terms in the EULA will break anything with your software... they *could* do, but just because you've had no issues does not mean you were allowed to do so.
Click to expand...

No, of course its not legal in the proper sense... I mean its legal in that The MS updates have accepted it.

In my books, this is enough!

Like I said, the PCs I have, all have their own legal licences, some are Home, some are 2KPro, one is XP Pro and the other XP MCE.

Saying what I have done is illegal, is exactly the same as saying that anyone who has used an nLite customized CD is also using an illegal CD too, because in a round-about way, thats all I have done. ( With some adjustments admittedly )

So, you got to look at in this way:-

If I have bought a PC with a fully legal licence and using the CD that comes with that PC dopes not require me to activate or even enter a serial number, so am I breaking any laws in using the supplied software?

NO!

So, if I was to use another CD that does require activation and entry of a serial number as a base, and then altered the information on that base, to be the same as the first CD, then is that breaking any laws?

After all... I could be a total git, and simply go round all my PCs and see which PCs this one CD installs to, and then flog off the original licences for those PCs...

This would in effect mean, that I could get all my PCs fully installed with Media Center, and not need to activate it or crack it in any way, and I will have full updates etc, and as far as MS are concerned, I will just have all legal licences... I mean, after all, I could do that quite happily.

But why?

All I have done, is try to make up a customised CD, using XP Home ( As I have bought for this PC ) and then try to alter its info to tie in with the info I have aquired from that WinMCE CD thats all.

If other companies re doing it, if nlite users are doing it, then why cant I?

Can you see where I am going on this?
 
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