Windows XP Pro - Dell OEM versions do they work on non dell pcs ?

fraser

Hi,

I keep seeing people selling win xp pro for sale on ebay that is meant for dell computers...

eg. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11229&item=7136236303&rd=1

do these actually work on non-dell pc's ? and do the keys work ?

I thought these were supposed to only work on one pc or are these site licenses that people are selling when they shouldn't ?

thanks in advance

F

Wesker

I bought XP Home for a friend last year that was only meant to work on a Dell PC but the seller assured me it would work OK on any make of PC. And sure enough it did. Cant see XP Pro being any different.

busabus

The OEM software agreement is non-transferable, so if you did manage to get it working on another PC it would be illegal anyway.

robnye

some of them are clever enough to know what make of pc they are being installed on...... :rolleyes:

busabus

Not sure what you mean robnye, but as far as I'm aware make is irrelevant.

"An OEM license only allows you to use the software on the specific computer it came with."
"OEM software may not be transferred from one system to another system."
etc etc
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/12/dutch_resellers/

Basically those sales on ebay are where people have gone round taking tags off PCs and are making a profit out of nothing, same as the guys selling links to information. Personally I would never give my money to them.

robnye

busabus wrote:

Not sure what you mean robnye, but as far as I'm aware make is irrelevant.

"An OEM license only allows you to use the software on the specific computer it came with."
"OEM software may not be transferred from one system to another system."
etc etc
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/12/dutch_resellers/

Basically those sales on ebay are where people have gone round taking tags off PCs and are making a profit out of nothing, same as the guys selling links to information. Personally I would never give my money to them.

sorry i cant see ebay due to blocking of site from work, so mistakenly assumed it was for software..... rather than licence codes....

Rex_Mundi

Be aware that from the middle of this year, Microsoft is planning to only provide udates to 'validated' copies of Win 2000 and XP. This will mean that if you are running an OEM version in the wrong machine, you won't get updates.

While I'm here......if you fancy a little giggle, look HERE

blinky

The Validation scheme only checks that the serial is valid i.e. fits appropriate pattern and is not blacklisted.

The OEM copies were supposed to be tied to the OEM PC's BIOS through activation, but M$ must have dropped it.

The critical part of buying XP/2000/2003 is the Certificate of Authentication Sticker (used to be on the front on the manual on older M$ OSes) not the disc.

Rex_Mundi

The critical part of buying XP/2000/2003 is the Certificate of Authentication Sticker (used to be on the front on the manual on older M$ OSes) not the disc.

Better read this

On February 28, Microsoft® will disable Internet activation for all Microsoft Windows® XP product keys located on the Certificates of Authenticity (COA) labels distributed by large, multinational OEMs.

Direct OEMs of Microsoft (large multinational OEMs that that have a direct signed license agreement with Microsoft) usually preinstall Windows software using System Lock Preinstall (SLP), which is a direct OEM’s method of legitimately bypassing Product Activation on behalf of their customers.

One form of piracy occurs when Product Keys are stolen from Certificates of Authenticity (COAs) that have been placed on direct OEM machines where the Windows software was preinstalled using SLP. Pirates take the Product Key from these COAs and sell them to resellers or customers who then use them to activate a hard disk loaded copy of Windows.

To reduce the illegal trafficking of these OEM product keys Microsoft will “disable” the ability to activate these direct OEM Product Keys over the Internet. When a customer or reseller tries to activate using a Product Key found on the list of “disabled” Keys, the online product activation wizard will instruct them to call Microsoft where a customer service representative can assist them further. Call center operators receiving these calls will only issue an override key to customers who correctly answer a series of questions which manually verify them as legitimate.

The first phase of this Product Activation policy update will affect product keys from the top 20 Direct OEMs only. This policy will go into effect on February 28th with additional updates throughout the year to extend this policy to all OEMs authorized to use SLP. This change will affect all Windows XP product keys already shipped from the top 20 OEMs in the market today as well as shipments going forward.
http://www.aviransplace.com/index.php/archives/2005/02/22/changes-in-windows-xp-product-activation/

This is going to affect a lot of people.

blinky

Rex,

I'd read that after I'd posted. Although Activation is different to Validation, it will have an effect. As it says it's aimed to stop people from buying Dell / HP / Big OEM XP discs to install on their own systems. Microsoft have wanted to clamp down on OEM sales through retail for a while. If you obtain a generic OEM copy of windows with a COA then you won't be affected by this first phase (this is the type of disc your local computer shop normally supplies with a machine), in fact it would be logistically impossible to force all OEM copies to go through this process.

Rex_Mundi

Certainly in answer to the original question on this thread. This news item means that no, from Monday, Dell keys will no longer work if you try to reinstall them on another machine. I've been trying to find a list of the 20 top OEM installers to bring them to everyones attention. I haven't found the list yet.

You're right though. This will not affect all OEM copies. The small suppliers that use the key to activate can't be included in this item. Although it does mention the list will be added to, it doesn't mean these types of suppliers.

This will affect a lot of people. I know of a few that have used the same key to activate copies of XP, including Dell keys.

HERE'S another news item along the same lines.

For anyone out there using a dodgy copy of MS. It looks like they are starting to close the gates (boom boom) on your updates.