Are OEM Product Key labels "really" the Product Key???

This may be a silly question, but I recently installed Vista on my notebook with a OEM, so product key was not required. I ran "Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder v1.51" for my copy of windows XP home and found the product key to be completely different from the XP Home product key label underneath my notebook. I did the same for the vista copy and same issue, different Product key. Or is this program just completely bogus.

So do OEM actually have a product key??? Since they are locked to the brand of computer.

 

They are for real! Why diff? I don't know. You did not have to type in PC, I don't know, I fear when MS scans your computer maybe watch out good luck!
Try Belarc advisor to confirm, free for home.

 

The installed key is somewhat like a pre-activated key that an OEM may use in all their laptops. Its like a volume license key, so they don't have to go and activate each laptop individually.

The key on the bottom of your laptop, the Certificate of Authenticity is a unique key only to your machine. Your OEM is required to give you a unique key under the terms of the agreement with Microsoft.

So essentially you are given 2 keys. One is pre-activated by your OEM, another is one that is not activated and you must call in to use it.

I have used both keys, they are genuine, one is just to make the OEM's job a little easier, and the other is just a requirement from Microsoft.

 

You have actually stumbled onto the a secret that most average computer users don't know about. The key that you will find on the sticker on the bottom of your notebook is a key that does nothing, it is just there it is just used as proof that you have a license to use the said version of windows. However if you want to use it to install a copy of windows you have to call microsoft.

They blacklisted(blocked) all sticker keys a few years ago as it was a major source of piracy. Instead they now use what are called volume license keys(VLK) and these are the ones that are actually used by the manufactures when installing windows onto computers and therefore these are what are detected by Keyfinder software. Vista on the other hand not only uses these VLK to activate OEM computers but also a special OEM certificate(cert) that scans the BIOS for what is called a SLIC: Software Licensing Description Table that identifies to vista what manufacturer the computer belongs to.

Hope this explanation clears up and confusion you have.

 

Okay, this begs the question, which has been asked on the forum several times, can an OEM disc be used to install on any pc with the product key, either it be a label product key or the product key found via Keyfinder software?? (I ask this because I recently purchased a NEW unopen, OEM (dell) copy of XP Home SP2 with product key sticker), I plan to use this OS disc for a gaming PC I plan to build. Will I be able to use this OS disc?? Or is it only good on a dell PC??

 

I believe it is only valid on a Dell PC.

Dell OEM key will only work with a Dell PC.

 

If you install XP on a DELL PC with a DELL OEM CD, it won’t ask you for a product key; if I remember correctly you don’t even have to activate it (OR online activation works flawlessly). But if you use that CD on a non DELL PC it will ask for a product key; most probably the key on the sticker will work, but you may have to call Microsoft to activate it.

I have once installed XP Pro on a non DELL PC using a DELL OEM CD with a retail key (original CD was lost); and once XP Home on a DELL notebook with a retail CD + Product Key on the sticker (original CD was damaged). As I remember both times I had to call MS to activate. But once activated everything was fine, no problems with Genuine Advantage validations or Windows updates.

However, in both cases I used the product key associated with the PC (OEM key on DELL and retail key on non DELL), only used a different CD. But what you are trying to do is different. Therefore it might not work. And I think it is illegal according to the EULA, but I personally don’t see it as morally wrong... well, that’s just me. But I’m sure some people will disagree.

 

This is a shrink wrapped sealed package, with booklet, sticker, and disc. It says "For distribution only with a new PC" on the side, only problem is that it is not retail, but OEM from Dell. The disc and label look exactly like the disc and label that came with my dell 700m, but from the looks of it, being in the wrapping, it has never been installed. Well, thanks for the comments on my orginal question and on my follow up question.

 

oem cd read the key code embeded on ur dell pc, so once it knows it a dell it will not ask you for a product key at all, if you build a computer with a dell motherboard you will get away with using that cd to install xp....
but there are many softwares out there which will copy ur oem code of ur dell pc and then install it onto the pc you build making the cd think its a dell pc and not bothering you to activate it.....
i'd advice you just make a back up copy of ur winxp cd and just embebed the product key onto the cd, so every time you use that cd it wont bother you with product keys, entering user names or passwords...

 

If I remember correctly, companies aren't actually authorized to sell OEM disks that are for use on a particular type of PC. Usually those disks look for the SLIC that Evolution talked about in his post, and when it's not found the install halts. The sticker that is included may or may not work; if it doesn't work I don't think there's any way to get a valid key from Microsoft.

All you can do is try to install your copy and see if the included key works.

 

Most OEM Instal CDs are not only "BIOS Locked" But also relate to your "PID" product identifaction. This number, listed under system properties, is a number that is used to not only identify the install cd you used, but also the hardware that you installed it on. Even if the install works, you will fail validation and be required to call MS. But 9 out of 10 times, MS will just give you a new number. GL

 

Haven't heard about it.. There is a proper 'business' of illegal installations via OEM licenses out there, if you look into any P2P network you will find distributions of the so called 'OEM files' linked to particular manufacturers. Many people however use it out of morally good motives, When they lose their recovery CDs with Windows and the license key preinstalled, all they need (to avoid calling Microsoft and long explanation) is to get any CD of the same OS, download the manufacturer OEM files to this OS, and simply change the corresponding files on the CD with the OEM files. As a result they get the copy of Windows that would be activated on their system, irrespective of any hardware.

This is not exactly true. VL and OEM are different licences, have a look here. OEM use OEM licences, not VL.

 

I think you are confusing manufacturer OEM and retail OEM. A manufacturer OEM (i.e. from Dell,HP etc) use VLK, however a OEM copy that you can go in a retail store and purchase (i.e amazon.com, outpost.com etc) will use a OEM key, retail OEM kits are often called "system builder kits".

Manufacturers use VLK because they have massive volumes of computers to register and if they had to individually go to each one and install windows using your typical OEM key that would take a very long time. Instead what they do is have a "blanket" install on all of the computers of a particular series and they do this using a system image that will not only contain windows, but also the drivers for all the components as well as the bloatware . They use the microsoft sysprep tool that is built into windows to prepare this image, the image has the key and other necessary files for activation already in it so that when they users turns on the PC for the first time it doesn't need activating.

 

Wow, this has been a very interesting topic, just to make a point, I used my Vista Dell disc to see about installing it on my D900T, it went straight through the process and asked "where to install", no product code, did not ask anything, accept if "I agree to the license terms". I did not go further as I did not want to install Vista on my D900T, don't want any problem with my games.

 

hey this is an informative thread...sorry to necropost..

but i had an old dell laptop that came with win xp pro...
i used the recovery disk to install in my new laptop that din come with any OS.

now the qn here is that i realised that only one computer updates..as in windows update applied on both show that only one set of updates is used...

to make my point clearer, no one update is installed in both computers. does this mean that MS registers both laptop as one. hence the current situation?

With regards to cd-key, how can we tell which type of licence a cd key is. is there a certain few letters or numbers to signify OEM manufacturer(VLK) and OEM retail?

evolution : if oem manufacturer uses VLK. wun all the dell computers have the same licence? What about schools, govts, companies that buy in bulk? i thought they use VLK instead?

 

Short answer: No. The _Dell OEM copy you purchased almost certainly was not licensed for resale of any sort, so you'd do well to check the terms of the license first to see if the mere fact of having purchased it separate and apart from a _Dell computer has voided the license. Also, since it's a _Dell OEM disk, it's undoubtedly been customized for _Dell's proprietary systems, including _Dell-only drivers, so even if it hasn't already been installed on a system before, it most likely won't fare too well on any non-_Dell system, if it installs at all.

Also, OEM copies of Windows can only be installed on one computer (defined, basically, as the motherboard plus a hashed code derived from the other original components, of which you can change a certain number before the Windows copy needs to be validated again), and under the terms of the license cannot be transferred to any other computer once installed. Thus, if you have a COA license number plus a generic OEM product key combination that, together, "tells" the MS validation servers that you're trying to install a _Dell royalty copy of Windows on anything other than a _Dell, good money sez it won't work.

 

I used the OEM key on the bottom of my laptop to install windows on my laptop and it worked...

 

^
Do you need to call Microsoft for that? I hate to make an international call to Microsoft with my broken English just to activate.

 

Same here

 

the key on the bottom of a laptop is NOT an oem key. That is a full fledged MS license key. Generally, the first time you use that key, you can register straight away online, as it has never been used b4. The oem bulk key that is used to pre-install Vista on Dell, HP, etc., are all the same(for each manufacturer). That's why you can use Orev's ABR tool from the HP forum and never have to use your "actual" Vista Key from the bottom of your laptop.

If you use a Dell Vista Reinstall disk on a Dell PC that came w/ Vista pre-installed, it has the key integrated into the disk and auto-actiavtes. If you use that disk on a non Dell, it will install, but it will ask for a Vista key and is not activated until you enter a valid key(like from the bottom of your laptop).

 

i tried the reinstall disk that came with my dell laptop on my new self made pc....wun even start the process.

 

If it is a true reinstall disk, then it won't work - that's not an install disk. Any Dell branded Windows OS disk will install on any other computer, but it will require a retail key.

 

hmm it says recovery disk on the disk itself... will that change anything?

 

ok, i'm trying to figure something out

I have just got a laptop with vista home premium...

no recovery cd's.

If i just install the regular retail version of vista as its an acer laptop will it read in the activation stuff from the bios? or do i need a key?

reason for installing is I want to repartition the drive into one big partition instead of the 2 smaller ones they always split them up into, also I don't want any of the software that is installed with the laptop, well, apart from the drivers & webcam software, but i've noticed all the drivers are in a hidden folder called drivers

I haven't looked to see if their is a key on the laptop, i'm assuming there is (its back in the box at the moment as its a present for someone so don't want to get it dirty!, wanted it all setup and ready to go before its given tho)

one last thing, I can't belive how fast this laptop is! i've been playing around with a friends slower laptop (acer 5720, well its far from slow but its 1.45ghz i belive and this is 1.66ghz) and I was impressed, but this one makes it look slow, its one of the gemstone range slightly faster cpu but thats the only differece (fsb is faster too) but it feels quicker, also I was impressed that the 5720 could handle the dx10 sdk demo's, only at 7-8fps, but i thought it was impressive performance for an IGP

sorry for the long post!

 

frus: why make one big partition? if ur OS crash..all ur info and personal files will be gone!

 

If you want to install a retail version of _Vista, then the BIOS lock will be irrelevant; instead, you'll have to validate using the key that came with the retail product. Also, if later on you want to move the retail installation to another computer, you can, provided you uninstall it from the first computer and, of course, go through validation again. The BIOS lock mechanism is just to prevent the OEM-supplied versions from being pirated, in part because those versions are typically all generated from one master image, and the license fee to Microsoft is paid by the OEM as a royalty (i.e., so many $$ per unit sold by the OEM), at least with the big OEMs.

 

Can you remember if Microsoft gave you a hard time when you called to activate the key?

 

(Emphasis added)

Sorry, but I just can't resist. Theft of property isn't morally wrong? I suppose then that there's nothing wrong with my going off and selling that nice Ferrari F430 Spider that this company is stupid enough to rent out to all comers, eh? It may be illegal, but hey, I need the money more than they do, since they can afford to own that Ferrari (and all the other exotics they rent out) and I can't even afford a new Hyundai, so it can't be immoral, can it?

Theft of property is theft of property is theft of property (to paraphrase Gertrude Stein) and it smells just as foul whether the property is tangible or intellectual.

 

because when a 60gb hd is split 3 ways (os, data, recovery) it very soon fills up, I installed 2 games (around 7gig) on a laptop wanted to see how they run out of curisosty, and after the second one went on, kept having windows warn me of low disk space, the drive in this one is bigger, but theres still only 40gb of free space left, and I find most people like to have one big drive as its easier to manage!

data crash? well its on one drive, if the drive fails the data will be lost regardless of partition, if you meant, what about if you need to reinstall windows, well, i'd just boot up a recovery cd/usb key and write all the data to dvd before reinstalling

hrmm, that makes me think I could just buy one laptop, and then use the key on another machine to install vista! .. anyway, i'm happy with the laptop key working, shall install away, (also i have the SP1 vista dvd, and I don't know why i just prefer to have it preinstalled than install it later)

 

i usually make it two partitions. one big enough to contain all my apps and the OS.. the others is data files like music, videos and pictures. so if the windows crash for watever reason. only the first partition is affeected. of coz if the hdd fails then that;s a different story.

 

It makes sense, and I used to do it, but with the insanely huge size of programs these days I like to keep it as one big drive, well have the c as at least 100 gig anyways!

Well I've reformatted the laptop and repartitioned, from what I can tell the recovery partition is still there as I can only use 137 of the 160gb drive...and i'm sure the formatting doesn't take away 23 gb!

annoyingly the hotkeys no longer work, volume control works, but the media player ones do, I'll go check the forum for the answer before more than likely editing this post to ask here

 

i removed the media partition..think i used powerquest partition magic to do that.

 

i was thinking of getting the full xp with sp 3 oem and then use my cd key from sp2. will that work?

if not, would slipstreaming sp3 with a sp0 make my key work?

 

yes, that should work.

i'm not sure the 2nd option would work. I slipped 2 / 3 the other day and it seems like there was some sort of requirement, but I've sleep since then...

i like 2 partitions also, but after I get the OS and all my fav programs and data copied over, I create an image of the hdd on a usb hdd as backup. I love acronis true image, v 10 or 11. Simple to use and you can back up to just about any media and acronis is not picky about where it is re-installed to.....

 

oh i have heard people done it with sucess...but mayb they din state clearly that they slipstream the SPs one by one..

they got the SP0 from MSDN.

 

Sorry to jump in here. When I bought my Novatech laptop, the guy I was living with had an XP Pro disc and the product key that came with it (you can use it a certain number of times, yes?), so I opted not to buy any OS with the machine, since it was cheaper that way. Since then I've needed to fix a problem, which involved re-installing XP, this time using a spare version of XP Pro that a local business was willing to give me.

That was 2 years ago and my computer is getting pretty slow with all the extra crap accumulated (yes, I de-frag and use disc cleanup, as well has having anti-spyware software) so I'd really like to save all my stuff and re-install. If I find someone to lend me an XP disc, can I use the Product Key I've recovered using Innobate software?
I'm not sure if the Key is an OEM or not - the Product ID has the letters OEM as part of the string - and if it'll work with a random version of XP. There is no 5x5 Product Key on the bottom of my laptop, only a Product Code (XXX-XXX) and Serial Number (XXXXXXX-XXX).

Alternatively I could just ask around for a version of XP complete with Product Key, and not pester you guys for help...
Thanks.