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ashenfang

The Jet Man!
Joined
Feb 25, 2003
Location
Indiana
Im not real sure where to post this, but i figured this was the best place to ask. Two things

On windows XP pro, which i own an legit copy, i usually do a reformat install of the OS at least 3 times a year, the last time i did it, when i tried to activate it online, it told me i couldn't activate it because it had already been activated on a machine with a different hardware config. well, that would be mine. I changed vid and sound cards thats why, but apparently, it must log the hardware profiles of previous activations. So how do i get around this? I still have the "you have 30 days to activate windows" thing. Im trying to figure out how they can legally do that, i mean, i paid for it, but yet they limit its functionallity.

Next question.

I have an OEM disc of windows ME, it came with my laptop. I don't use it on any other machines, but here recently my parents computer went down, so i built them a new one and since they only use it for internet/word process. I figured windows ME would be ok for that. So I go ahead and start the fresh install, and before it loads anything it gives me a message "windows will not load on this system, this version of windows is oem and will only work on the system it was shipped with." WTF? Is there any way around this? I mean i did buy it after all.

Thanks!
 
this is suppose to be on the Microsoft Operating Systems forum

anyways, you're only allowed to upgrade your hardware 3x then after that you're going to have to call M$ for activation of your OS
and the OS you buy is only licensed for one machine(unless you get the corporate edition)
 
As was said above, you can only activate your copy of Windows XP so many times. After that, every time you want to activate your copy of Windows, you'll have to call Microsoft. It's a little bit of a pain, but not a big deal, and you have to understand that Microsoft is just trying to keep people from pirating their software.

In regards to Windows ME, you can rarely install an OS that came with an OEM system, like Dell, on any machine other than the machine it was shipped with. Dell codes it that way on purpose, to prevent you from installing it on more than one computer, as well as to keep you from selling Dell installations, which usually include some extras. The disk you have is probably a restore disk, so it will include every app that came originally on your system.

Both of these practices are perfectly legit, though, so there's nothing you can do.

Z
 
zachj said:
As was said above, you can only activate your copy of Windows XP so many times. After that, every time you want to activate your copy of Windows, you'll have to call Microsoft. It's a little bit of a pain, but not a big deal, and you have to understand that Microsoft is just trying to keep people from pirating their software.

In regards to Windows ME, you can rarely install an OS that came with an OEM system, like Dell, on any machine other than the machine it was shipped with. Dell codes it that way on purpose, to prevent you from installing it on more than one computer, as well as to keep you from selling Dell installations, which usually include some extras. The disk you have is probably a restore disk, so it will include every app that came originally on your system.

Both of these practices are perfectly legit, though, so there's nothing you can do.
Z
Dell doesnt do that anymore with there desktops, dunno bout there laptops. Friend of my friend got 20 copys of dell winxp pro discs for FREE from his school. He sold them for cheap to people. (like 50bucks) Anyway my point is that dell doesnt use restore discs anymore I dont think.
 
schismspeak said:
Dell doesnt do that anymore with there desktops, dunno bout there laptops. Friend of my friend got 20 copys of dell winxp pro discs for FREE from his school. He sold them for cheap to people. (like 50bucks) Anyway my point is that dell doesnt use restore discs anymore I dont think.

Isn't that illegal? :eh?:
 
Schools don't get the *same* computers as single consumers. Schools get different licenses and what not. And yes, that's illegal. The school should never have given those to your friend in the first place, and your friend shouldn't have sold them.

Z
 
Agreed. That was an improper practice, as regards reselling windows with improper licensing in place.

As for the activation, as I recall, the activation servers will allow a max number of hardware changes and/or reinstallations in any set time period. I believe that time period is 6 months, and the number of major hardware changes / reinstallations is on the order of a half dozen as well. However, there should be an MS number you can call to explain your situation, and as I understand it, they're generally pretty agreeable.

A good way to help avoid this problem is to not activate windows until you're sure you want to stick with your setup. (e.g., when you're reinstalling windows, don't activate right away, in case you decide you want to change your entire partition strategy, etc.)

And if the mods could help us move this to the appropriate forum, it would be greatly appreciated! ;)

-- Paul

*edit* As I've just finished some reading, I've discovered that reinstallation on identical hardware may not count towards that max limit. So that's a good thing. I also seemed to be seeing 6 as the number of major hardware changes allowed, although the algorithm is complex. I also saw a "four times a year" phrase which leads me to believe that the count of major changes resets every 3 months.

*/edit*
 
^^^^

chaning your partitions wont make u activate it - it is only major hardware changes - like a new mobo / cpu / sound card.

things like a NIC card and that u dont have to reactivate or it does not count towards your activations - or so i heard, but i guess if u format - then yeah, u got to activate it as all previous record is deleted from your system
 
Agreed, changing your partitions won't directly count as a change and a count against the WPA count. But changing your partitioning scheme is often done when reinstalling windows. (e.g., deciding you want a single NTFS partition, rather than a few partitions, and not using third-party software to change that primary partition with windows on it.) Reinstalling windows brings the WPA process to the fore again. Which, of course, leads to the question of whether or not it (the reinstallation and going through WPA) leads to the total count of activations / major changes within the 3-month period of time. That's the route I meant.

Since then, I've read that a simple reinstallation of windows, although it brings back the product activation process, doesn't count against you. I'm not sure how reliable that source is, however. At any rate, I still say it's silly to activate windows every time you reinstall until you're sure you want to stick with your paritioning scheme, etc. (I've gone through a few times where I've installed windows and decided I wanted to totally change the way I organized my partitions, particularly in dual-boot situations.)

Thanks -- Paul
 
I don't think that reinstalling Windows on identical hardware doesn't count toward the number of activations allowed. I seem to recall having to register (via phone) with Microsoft after trying to reinstall it on the same hardware as the last installation (same computer).

Z
 
That's what I seem to remember as well: too many reinstallations with a certain number of months means you need to call to activate. The sources I found on Google were mixed, so I guess I haven't seen a definitive answer on that. Thanks for the input; it makes me feel less crazy (than I already am). ;) -- Paul
 
If you guys really think it was illegal that is fine I suppose, but the school was given the liscenses from dell(or bought them), which I believe entitles them to do whatever they like.(like give them away) Also dont see how selling them once given to him, was illegal. It's not like they were corporate copys.(they were not) All had there own key. Legal in my eyes, especially when you can get them for $60 on ebay and sell it to someone for $100 legally, so what do you see that I dont? It was a windows xp pro disc with dell stamped on the front. Not some different liscense like you claim.


Only way it culd of been illegal is if those discs went to the computers they bought and were suppose to use them for reinstalling xp(not restoring) if so then yes those keys may have already been used before, but I doubt it.
 
Last edited:
The school is given them under an academic (site) license. Which means they can give them to any student at that school to use it for academic purposes. They are entitled to do anything they like with those copies that complies with the terms of their license. That part is fine.

I would venture a guess that the terms are "one copy per student computer" or perhaps even more restrictive, as "one copy per student".

Under a site license, the student has a valid license to use the software so long as he/she is a student at that particular school. Once he/she graduates or otherwise leaves, the license is no longer valid. Generally, the license shouldn't be transferrable, even to another student at a different school. (The license is tied to being a student at the particular school.) Any sale of that copy/license to people outside that university would not be legal.

Under a more general academic discount price (such as WinXP Pro Upgrade for $100 for students at a student book store), such a copy is legal for that one person on one computer so long a he/she is a student. Selling to another person who satisfies the terms of the license would be in the gray but probably okay (but check for yourself!) The key there would be that the license is transferred from one person who satisfies the terms of the license to another. Sale to somebody who isn't a student would be very clearly illegal.

Buying an academic-license copy on ebay would certainly not be legal unless you satisfy all the terms of that license. Selling to somebody who doesn't satisfy the terms of the license is also not legal.

In short, if it has any chance at all at being legal (and I have my doubts), the buyer must satisfy all the terms of the license being transferred. (Which may included being a student or being a student at a particular academic institution.)

Transfer of software licenses has always been iffy, and it is precisely for that reason that software sales aren't allowed in the classifieds. And at the end of the day, it's not what you or I think that matters, but rather what the judge interprets in the license agreement and the law, which isn't so ambiguous.

Thanks for the follow-up post. -- Paul
 
some info - might as well get it from the source :)

Technical Details on Microsoft Product Activation for Windows XP

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...net/prodtechnol/winxppro/evaluate/xpactiv.asp

Modifications to hardware and how they affect the activation status of Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...net/prodtechnol/winxppro/evaluate/xpactiv.asp
Product activation rechecks the hardware it is running only to help reduce illegal hard disk cloning — another prevalent piracy method. Hard disk cloning is where a pirate copies the entire image of a hard disk from one PC to another PC. At each login, Windows XP checks to see that it is running on the same or similar hardware that it was activated on. If it detects that the hardware is "substantially different", reactivation is required. This check is performed after the SLP BIOS check discussed above, if the SLP BIOS check fails. This means that if your PC is pre-activated in the factory using the SLP pre-activation method, all the components in the PC could be swapped, including the motherboard, so long as the replacement motherboard was genuine and from the OEM with the proper BIOS. As noted above, installations of Windows XP made using volume licensing media and volume license product keys (VLKs) will not have any hardware component checking.

Microsoft defines "substantially different" hardware differently for PCs that are configured to be dockable. Additionally, the network adapter is given a superior "weighting." If the PC is not dockable and a network adapter exists and is not changed, 6 or more of the other above values would have to change before reactivation was required. If a network adapter existed but is changed or never existed at all, 4 or more changes (including the changed network adapter if it previously existed) will result in a requirement to reactivate.

Scenario A:

PC One has the full assortment of hardware components listed in Table 1 above. User swaps the motherboard and CPU chip for an upgraded one, swaps the video adapter, adds a second hard drive for additional storage, doubles the amount of RAM, and swaps the CD ROM drive for a faster one.

Result: Reactivation is NOT required.

Scenario B:

PC Two has the full assortment of hardware components listed in Table 1 except that it has no network adapter. User doubles the amount of RAM, swaps the video card and the SCSI controller.

Result: Reactivation is NOT required.

Dockable PCs are treated slightly more leniently. In a dockable PC, if a network adapter exists and is not changed, 9 or more of the other above values would have to change before reactivation was required. If no network adapter exists or the existing one is changed, 7 or more changes (including the network adapter) will result in a requirement to reactivate.

Scenario C:

Dockable PC Three has the full assortment of hardware components listed in Table 1 except that it has no network adapter. User doubles the amount of RAM, swaps to a bigger hard disk drive, and adds a network adapter.

Result: Reactivation is NOT required.

The change of a single component multiple times (e.g. from video adapter A to video adapter B to video adapter C) is treated as a single change. The addition of components to a PC, such as adding a second hard drive which did not exist during the original activation, would not trigger the need for a reactivation nor would the modification of a component not listed in the above table. Additionally, reinstallation of Windows XP on the same or similar hardware and a subsequent reactivation can be accomplished an infinite number of times. Finally, the Microsoft activation clearinghouse system will automatically allow activation to occur over the Internet four times in one year on substantially different hardware. This last feature was implemented to allow even the most savvy power users to make changes to their systems and, if they must reactivate, do so over the Internet rather than necessitating a telephone call.
 
I wasnt aware of all that crap, I'd say most people dont know this and most schools knowledge of this is iffy, I'll have to let my friend know that he bought an illegal copy (he bought one for 50 bucks, not knowing of course it was illegal), I told him it was illegal in the first place, because I thought the kid stole them, but he didnt, he was given them, but now it is back to it being illegal. This sucks.
Thanks -Schism
 
Well, at this point, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Again, double-check to make sure. There are always if's, and's, or but's that may apply.

It's also possible that those were OEM copies that were given / sold. That would probably change the equation, too. OEM wouldn't be quite so bad ... (then the only requirement was that it was sold with hardware, and newegg is pretty flagrant about those, as I recall ... )

Again, I wouldn't rush to any conclusions. (This said after all the major flags I raised earlier. I was just trying to point out how it might very well be illegal.) It's worth the while to check into and see what's what, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Rather, I'd use it as a guide for future action / decisions. (Just my 2 cents.) ;) Later! -- Paul

PS:
@Mr.Guvernment:

Thanks for the info!! :D That's great! -- Paul
 
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