XP License question

smo

smo

smo

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I have 2 laptops - both legit with genuine XP PRO licenses and stickers....but no media.

One of these laptops is dead, the other works however i wish to reinstall - is there a way i can re-use these licenses which belong to me to reinstall either on the laptop or another machine, if so where can i get the media to do it??
 
Firstly, OEM licences (which they most likely are) cannot be trasnferred to a different machine. To get media, my suggestion is to give the OEM a call and see if they can send you some or to order some directly from MS if the OEM is out of business or it was a small system builder.
 
OEM's are NEC and Panasonic but neither really care as one is second hand and the other i purchased many years back.

How do i get the media from Microsoft - are they going to want to charge the equiv of a new licence...
 
I suggest talking to the OEMs first as they may have their own product key pools like Dell (which mean that the key won't work with the media you'll get from MS), if not the link to get replacement media is in the sticky and it costs about £7 or so.
 
Spoke to panasonic, they say they can't sort replacement media because they "dont keep backups"......idiots, its a bleeding CD!

Trying Microsoft now but the link doesnt work and i rekon because its OEM installed by manufacturer they wont play ball either.
 
just get hold of a copy of windows XP pro, install with your own key. Quite frankly obeying the to-the-letter legalities of windows licensing is stupid. My company uses hacked multi install discs courtesy of net pirate gangs to install versions of windows XP consistent with our customer licensing, the code from the COA on the customers hardware is then applied and the software activated. The ownership of the COA label, OEM or otherwise, is a legal right to install the software, whether from a 'backup' burned CD or an official genuine product. The 'CD's' are not what is purchased when ypou pick up an OS, just a medium to apply the license into which you have bought.

In legal terms you never 'own' a version of windows anyway, only the right to use it on a specified piece of hardware, or multiple hardware license permitting. The crux of the matter is it can be akward to obtain the 'hard' data, the CD, through normal, legitimate, channels. However you are doing no wrong if you obtain a replacment disc via channels of ill-repute (example, torrent or guy on market stall) as long as you apply the COA code that you legitimatley purchased either seperately or with your hardware

As an OEM manufacturer myself i am under no obligation to provide original media to my customers and at my descretion may recreate the data to be used within the confines of the prurchased license, this includes reproduction of OEM data to meet the needs of the business, some companies put the contents of the windows CD on a hidden partition and supply a recovery disc, others reproduce and relabel a custom disc with their own branding again containing the copywrite material from a standard windows CD. Hell microsoft even provide us with the compilation tools to slipstream it!

The point is, in the real world, you get a copied cd, install windows using your code, activate and then keep the CD safe. Legal, simple and useful
 
Burnsy2023 said:
I suggest talking to the OEMs first as they may have their own product key pools like Dell (which mean that the key won't work with the media you'll get from MS), if not the link to get replacement media is in the sticky and it costs about £7 or so.
Click to expand...

Most dell keys now activate with OEM installs, but obviously you cant use a retail disc. I think they have altered activation lately it has been a lot less hassle the last year or so, before that any key with a branding on the COA (toshiba, fujitsu siemens, mesh etc) would not activate by phone or online when installed using OEM media. Now they do
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
My company uses hacked multi install discs courtesy of net pirate gangs to install versions of windows XP consistent with our customer licensing, the code from the COA on the customers hardware is then applied and the software activated.
Click to expand...

I feel so sorry for anyone who buys a system from your company. Your a load of cowboys who make the rest of us look bad. Installing a copy of Windows from a pirate sourse is totally irresponsible. You have no idea what other nasties could be in that image leaving your customers exposed to unknown threats. Not only that, but you're breaking the system builder licence as well.

Quite fankly, I find your behaviour appauling and I hope you get your act together.
 
One thing tho - does it matter where the disc comes from in the case above, as long as the actual licence code is legit and proper??
 
smo said:
One thing tho - does it matter where the disc comes from in the case above, as long as the actual licence code is legit and proper??
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Yes. You must not engage in distribution of pirated software and you need to be sure that any media you use is safe.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
I feel so sorry for anyone who buys a system from your company. Your a load of cowboys who make the rest of us look bad. Installing a copy of Windows from a pirate sourse is totally irresponsible. You have no idea what other nasties could be in that image leaving your customers exposed to unknown threats. Not only that, but you're breaking the system builder licence as well.

Quite fankly, I find your behaviour appauling and I hope you get your act together.
Click to expand...

You have no idea what you are talking about. If you think we havent checked and recompiled the entire thing before launching an ENTIRE LINE of pc's using it you would be mad. The fact is that there are some very good, enterprising coders out there providing great alternatives to microsoft install discs and just because they have to distribute through pirate channels you immediately assume a virus fest. Sure thats how the warez kiddies get caught out but seriously, you think a legitimate company would do that? please. Cowboys, christ what are you 12?
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
You have no idea what you are talking about. If you think we havent checked and recompiled the entire thing before launching an ENTIRE LINE of pc's using it you would be mad. The fact is that there are some very good, enterprising coders out there providing great alternatives to microsoft install discs and just because they have to distribute through pirate channels you immediately assume a virus fest. Sure thats how the warez kiddies get caught out but seriously, you think a legitimate company would do that? please. Cowboys, christ what are you 12?
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Burnsy is very serious when it comes to Windows licensing, not that it's a bad thing.
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
You have no idea what you are talking about. If you think we havent checked and recompiled the entire thing before launching an ENTIRE LINE of pc's using it you would be mad. The fact is that there are some very good, enterprising coders out there providing great alternatives to microsoft install discs and just because they have to distribute through pirate channels you immediately assume a virus fest. Sure thats how the warez kiddies get caught out but seriously, you think a legitimate company would do that? please. Cowboys, christ what are you 12?
Click to expand...

Actually, I know exactly what I'm talking about. I do this on a daily basis, but I only use media that I know will be supported by not only myself but MS. I agree, using a stock install would probably be a foolish thing, but I wouldn't use anything that I didn't know exactly where it came from and have proper support for it.

And yes, legitimate companies do get caught out and either get security holes/application instabilities becuase of it, or even worse, get caught out during an MS audit.

Ultra_Extreme said:
thats not the case legally, only for these forums, dont mix the two up.
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Actually, it's a requirement of the system builder agreement, but as a system builder you should know that ;)
 
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Ultra_Extreme said:
You have no idea what you are talking about. If you think we havent checked and recompiled the entire thing before launching an ENTIRE LINE of pc's using it you would be mad. The fact is that there are some very good, enterprising coders out there providing great alternatives to microsoft install discs and just because they have to distribute through pirate channels you immediately assume a virus fest. Sure thats how the warez kiddies get caught out but seriously, you think a legitimate company would do that? please. Cowboys, christ what are you 12?
Click to expand...

To be honest, whats is so different about these installs? And why dont you use normal media?
 
teaboy5 said:
To be honest, whats is so different about these installs? And why dont you use normal media?
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The main reason for not using normal media is to have a selection of installs on a single DVD. My agents are supplied with company discs based on code created by pirate vendors that allows multi boot installs of XP. Essentially the discs contain each variation tailored to the customers spec and slipstreamed with our choice of startup programs like AV and Spyware removal, aswell as all the stupid things Windows leaves out like the xvid/divx codecs, DVD codecs and high def codecs. Also these installs are slipstreamed to service pack 3.

The point is that these methods of install cut the time to reinstall a system significantly and make it easier for remote installs in locations where a 4-5 hour manual sit in is not feasable. The problem with your typical 'expert' on here is that they only ever fix their own PC and probably spend ages setting it up perfectly. As a business doing several generic backup/reinstall/rebuild operations a day for as little cost to the customer as possible, it is very important that we be both efficient and legal. This is all a rhetoric anyway as he's just got my back up by calling me a cowboy (i see so much of that out here, scheduled system failures, second hand equipment fitted at 10x the cost of new stuff etc). My point is that whilst in a perfect world it would be easy to reinstall windows by caqlling MS and quoting a PID it isnt, and they make it oh so very hard at every turn.

I'm not advocating piracy in any way, im just stating that the easiest way for the OP to get original media is via backup, i would also reccommend it being a copy of a friends media to ensure security, whilst virus' are rare in the win install itself the dodgy ones often come with activation cracks that have virus' built in.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
Actually, I know exactly what I'm talking about. I do this on a daily basis, but I only use media that I know will be supported by not only myself but MS. I agree, using a stock install would probably be a foolish thing, but I wouldn't use anything that I didn't know exactly where it came from and have proper support for it.

And yes, legitimate companies do get caught out and either get security holes/application instabilities becuase of it, or even worse, get caught out during an MS audit.



Actually, it's a requirement of the system builder agreement, but as a system builder you should know that ;)
Click to expand...

Fair enough, apologies for ranting. My point is that practicality in business and to the letter legalities are areas that are blurry at best. The way i see it, i support all my systems and am answerable to all my customers, all my PC's have genuine licences. So no problem?

There are many aspects of MS's OS design that seem intent on making repairers and OEMs lives very difficult. Many of these are solved by using add-on independent code, often provided by pirate groups, one example is a copy of mini-usb XP which allows me to carry a memory stick with bootable XP code. I have used this to save many a system from crashed disk/file system error, or simply to recover some poor families erstwhile lost photos. Sure i could strip the disk out and run it on a recovery rig, but then im charging twice the money and taking twice as long. To the letter legal? no. Something to be punished for? Not imo.
 
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