Is the COA tied to a specific machine?

The reason I'm asking is I just got an email from the place who's supposed to have sent my Vista 32 bit upgrade discs & they want the COA of the dv9220 I had when I applied for the upgrade.

While I still have the serial number, & the recovery DVD's I made, I ditched that notebook a while ago & was wondering if the COA, not the CD key, that looks like this format: 00000-000-000-000 is tied to a specific machine.

Can I find this number in the recovery DVD's?
I have searched relentlessy for this info & have not found it.
Probably because I'm not using the right search term, dunno.

Can I just look at another dv9220, give them the COA number & get my disc?

Am I screwed?

 

The COA was on a sticker for the machine. Legally, it is an OEM copy, so yes the license is/was tied to the machine. Another dv9220 would have been purchased at a different time as you receipt indicates, not to mention the ethical issues involved with that!

 

Ahem...hang on a sec Night 2004...

You're right and it still doesn't matter. So yes he can give them a different COA key and it may work. Why doesn't it matter? Because when you get an OEM preinstall the key number on the COA isn't the one that is "loaded" into your OS anyway. The OEM (HP, Dell, etc.) has a special "generic" key that is preloaded into the system image that they distribute. The one on the bottom of your machine isn't the one that's in your system's registry. Having a COA with a valid key is all that matters. BUT he doesn't have that machine anymore so he may still be hosed if his Vista upgrade is 'keyed' using the XP COA key he gives them. It may only work on the computer that he got the XP key from. So it may be a wash. Ain't no such thing as free lunch right? Personally I'm avoiding Vista (and IE7) until the first service pack comes out (and in IE7's case, when it gets to IE7.5!).

Schmagagled