Installing windows xp is it legal/possible?

Hi,

I have got my new laptop with vista on it, which i have now decided to get rid of and install xp.

On one of my old computers i have windows xp that came with it, this computer is not going to be used anymore.

I have also got a xp oem cd that i brought seperatly for my other computer, this computer is still in use

my question is is it legal/possible to install window xp on my laptop with the oem windows xp cd and use the xp key from my other old computer that will never be used again.
thanks

 

yes do it, just make sure the key is for same version of xp as the cd (home/pro)
and it would be wise looking for the notebook specific xp drivers beforehand

 

Possible? Yes.
Legal? No.

 

An OEM license is only good on the computer it was originally installed on.

 

oops missed the oem part

 

Hi.

As long as you only use the XP on one computer, i cannot see a problem with that, It does not make a difference what computer it was sold with.

1 serial to 1 computer

Regards

John.

 

In some circumstances it does matter what machine the copy was sold with. OEM royalty copies are generally locked to the system on which they were installed at the factory, and cannot be moved to a different system. In this case, the fly in the ointment is likely to be the XP key from the old system that's going to be retired - that key is likely identified with the manufacturer of that old system and, if that's not the manufacturer of the new system on which the OP intends to use that old key, it's likely that it will refuse to install.

 

The thing is though (now I have no knowledge of this), he bought the OEM CD separately.

I tried installing XP from a Medion OEM on an old Asus - also formatted the drive for me - couldn't activate, so went back to ME - continued crahsing, and since broke.

Basically - if it was sold with your computer it will be locked to this manufacturer.
But say he wipes his desktop, so that the OEM no longer exists on that harddrive.
Then he has one OEM disk, and wnats to use the disk on one computer his laptop.
Is there a legal problem?

Also - if it stayed in his desktop, say he wants to upgrade everything wouldn't it stay the same computer?

I think we need a legal expert here.

It may be however a good idea to completely wipe the desktop's hdd - just in case. You can always instal Linux for free.

What you could do though - not sure if its legal - buy and upgrade disk with XP professional for your laptop...

 

And I don't think that using the OEM copy he bought to get a copy-set of the necessary files onto the computer would present a problem; I think the problem would crop up when the OP tried to use the key from the old system (assuming it's a royalty key from a different manufacturer).

 

Because he uses a self-bough OEM it can't be maufacturer loked.

By the way:
I reinstalled an XP professional update that often on my old Medion that I nowadays have to phone Microsoft to get an activation key.

I suppose you can always wipe your old hdd, instal it on your laptop, then phone Microsoft.

You can say that you have installed it on one computer only.
And you can claim you upgraded your whole computer.
Basically - don't lie - just don't say too much.

This should be legal - or phone Microsoft and ask them.
Stress thouh that you would wipe your old hdd - or maybe even invite them in to sit in when you wipe your hdd.

 

It still won't be in conformity with the licensing agreement the OP agreed to when he purchased the old system whose key he wants to use. I'm open to being corrected by the text of the license itself, but I believe that the license states that it can only be used on the machine with which it was sold and cannot be transferred to a different machine - since the actual files are fungible (they can be endlessly copied), the license is more directly concerned with using the key on a different machine and not with the actual exes and dlls that are copied onto that old system.

 

Hi.

I installed Vista64 on my Vista32 desktop and i used the same key, now that computer was sold to me by the manufacturer with Vista32

Are you saying that is dubious legally as well?

Regards

John.

 

Does anybody have the license handy?

- and still - he didn't buy the disk with the system, but bought it seperately, this is the twist.

A manufacturer supplied OEM disk doesn't work, finished.

Not quite:
I haven't read the licnse, but several people have said before, that if you have a legal 32 Bit license you can upgrade to 64 Bit on the same license.

 

MS was a bit stringent regarding the OEM thing with XP. The OEM licensing info gets hard-coded into one of the ACPI tables on the first OS install, and gets tied to the mobo. And normally the license does not activate the XP install when used on a different motherboard, but there are exceptions.

(One can make an excuse that the BIOS got screwed up, or the mobo caught fire, and the user had to reinstall XP, when activating by phone)

 

But that's lying... and thu not really legal, is it.

Even if you wipe off your old installation.

Or buy an upgrade... and use the OEM disk as the "original installation"CD, that should work.

 

No, because you used the key with the same chunk of physical hardware with which the key was originally issued.

The whole point here is that the OP intends to use a key from System A, presumably from Mfr A.Co, to install a copy of XP onto System B, presumably from Mfr B.Co. Since the key was paid for through MS' royalty licensing agreement with A.Co, it is quite likely that one of the terms of the licensing agreement is that the A.Co key cannot be used to install a copy of XP on any non-A.Co system, including a system manufactured by B.Co.

In your case, the key was initially used to install _Vista 32bit on a machine built by, say, Mfr C.Co, and was then (successfully) used to install _Vista 64bit on the very same machine built by Mfr C.Co.

 

But the provenance of the disk, and the file copies the OP would be getting from them, isn't the issue - since digital files are the essence of a fungible commodity (they can be copied ad infinitum, and each copy is precisely identical to the original and each other copy, and therefore, like electrons, essentially indistinguishable from each other), using the OEM disk the OP purchased separately to get a copy-set of the installation files copied onto his new system is not the problem; the problem is his intention to use a product key that was never associated with that OEM copy, and was in fact associated with a completely different chunk of physical hardware.

 

Was that for me ?

Ideally, if the motherboard is the same, the OEM key works, and when reinstalling, activation is not required, as the OS picks up the licensing info from the ACPI.

But when you install the OS with an OEM key, on a different machine, the OS finds no info in the ACPI regarding the license, and requires activation. If activation fails, one should consider themselves lucky if MS gives out an activation code for XP on the phone.
Sometimes, they refuse activation and offer a small discount on a Retail version of Vista.

 

No. It's illegal.

OEM can be used only in one computer. When you change motherboard you lost your license. Period.

If you want unlimited times to install Windows on various computers you need to buy retail version (Full Packaged Product (FPP)). Off course before you install retail version on new computer, you need to uninstall on the old one. Period.

P.S.
OEM Windows can't be bought separately as is only sold for OEM partners, but here is legal to buy in retail shops (as copyright act allows it, and law is above MS), but still what I wrote above apply .

 

wow, lots of posts.

So bassically i can install windows with the disk but the key may/will require the motherboard manufacturer to be the same. Cheers everyone, after reading through all the posts i think the best option will be to go and buy a new oem xp from my local store as they sell it for £60, although you do have to buy a component with it so im getting a tv tuner card

is the only difference between oem and retail the support you get?

 

Basically, yes, other than the limitations on transferrability (check to see exactly what the EULA says).

 

The "best" option would be to buy a retail boxed copy of XP - if you can still find one, that is - that way you'll be able to transfer it as much as you want as long as you're wiping the old machines.

Or go back to Vista, install SP1, turn off the fancy gadgets if you don't like them, and you'll find it's not as horrible as people make it out to be.

 

Mainly negative - but also some positive opinions can be found here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4065290#post4065290

(Off topic section, however, mainly negative deosn't mean its bad)