What happens if ive activated more than once?

[Radec]

Sorry for the thread spawning, but I have one final question I'd really like to know.

I'm really confused with my situation:
My friend had 2 PC's, say, Alpha and Bravo.
Alpha broke, so he bought Bravo, both custom builds from a site.

I buy Alpha from him, replace its PSU and it's fixed.
Once I fixed it he gave me a W7 disc; He said it came with his newer PC Bravo, so it may or may not be already used, but he said it's likely the key has been activated on his Bravo PC.

So I format my Alpha, boot the disk, install the W7 oem disk, and the key works.
After all installed, the OS was even activated when I tried it.

It's all well and good, but i really don't understand how, it's likely my friends PC already used it when he bought it from the site, so how is it possible?

If it has been installed on both systems, will microsoft ban my system or something?


"windows 7 home prem for oem software.
Key- xxx"
and the disk:
"intended for distribution with a new PC.
SP1, 64 bit"

Any idea?

 

[Radec]

I've got the key from a sticker on the disk case.
the sticker is all holographic, and the disk is legit, you can tell.

Ive just checked my friends Windows product ID,
And it's different from the one i've been given.

Maybe the website he bought them from gave him a spare W7 disk by mistake or something.
Because otherwise that key wouldn't have worked i'm guessing.

 

[Radec]

Just keep in mind that what you're running is as legal as downloading a cracked version.

My friend is using a copy of windows 7 ultimate now
and im using windows home premium he previously owned.

The key worked fine, and was activated right away.
So right now, this key i have is only being used by me, so i think im all sorted.

 

[Radec]

If you'd just said that in the first place then it would have been much easier to tell
But yes you're fine.

I didn't know untill he actually told me, haha.

appreciate all the replies though, thanks.