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About Windows XP license

Turkish

Turkish

Lifer
Hi all,

I have an IBM laptop that came with Windows XP Pro. I want to sell the laptop, but would like to keep my Windows XP license (by removing the serial from the back of the laptop). Is this legal? Yes, I know I can always do it and they will never find out but I am just wondering if this is legal? I want to sell the laptop with no operating system installed and use the XP serial for another computer I am building if this is all legal.

Thanks.
 
It's not legal. The OS is married to the pc that it came preinstalled on.
 
Originally posted by: John
It's not legal. The OS is married to the pc that it came preinstalled on.
Click to expand...

Hmmm.

So it would be illegal for me to remove the serial label when selling it. What happens if the PC breaks for good and cannot be fixed? Your XP license is indefinitely gone?
 
Originally posted by: Turkish
Originally posted by: John
It's not legal. The OS is married to the pc that it came preinstalled on.
Click to expand...

Hmmm.

So it would be illegal for me to remove the serial label when selling it. What happens if the PC breaks for good and cannot be fixed? Your XP license is indefinitely gone?
Click to expand...

Yup.

OEMs (and therefore you) pay much less for windows than you would at retail.

On the other hand, no PC really breaks for good, and you *could* always replace the parts to create substantially the same system. But as a general rule, once you substantially change or upgrade the motherboard, you have a new system.
 
part of the purchase price of the laptop was the xp license, that computer owns the software it came with pre-installed and it would be wrong to remove the key from the back as it would screw the purchaser of said laptop
 
Hmmm. So best way for me to get an XP license at this stage is to buy a cheap piece of hardware that comes with XP Pro OEM? I got a Vista Upgrade as a gift and want to install it on the new desktop I am building.

Thanks for the info guys.
 
Originally posted by: Turkish
Hmmm. So best way for me to get an XP license at this stage is to buy a cheap piece of hardware that comes with XP Pro OEM? I got a Vista Upgrade as a gift and want to install it on the new desktop I am building.

Thanks for the info guys.
Click to expand...

There's an exploit that allows you to install Vista fresh and then do an upgrade installation, so all you need is a copy of Vista upgrade. Check around the OS forums.
 
Originally posted by: oldman420
part of the purchase price of the laptop was the xp license, that computer owns the software it came with pre-installed and it would be wrong to remove the key from the back as it would screw the purchaser of said laptop
Click to expand...

That doesn't make any sense (the second part). The purchaser knows what they are purchasing. Period.

But the license is tied, and you can't take it with you.
 
the key is needed to re-install xp should it fail and if the lappy comes with OS disk or recovery media the new owner would not be able to install without the CD key "which is located on the sticker" and would therefor have to buy a new copy of xp
 
Originally posted by: oldman420
the key is needed to re-install xp should it fail and if the lappy comes with OS disk or recovery media the new owner would not be able to install without the CD key "which is located on the sticker" and would therefor have to buy a new copy of xp
Click to expand...

You are not required to sell the laptop with or without anything it came with.

If he wants to sell it sans OS, he's perfectly allowed to do that. But the OS license is not transferable, so there's nothing to be gained by doing this.

It doesn't make sense to sell the laptop without the OS, but as long as that's what the buyer is expecting, there's no problem.
 
Originally posted by: Extelleron
Originally posted by: Turkish
Hmmm. So best way for me to get an XP license at this stage is to buy a cheap piece of hardware that comes with XP Pro OEM? I got a Vista Upgrade as a gift and want to install it on the new desktop I am building.

Thanks for the info guys.
Click to expand...

There's an exploit that allows you to install Vista fresh and then do an upgrade installation, so all you need is a copy of Vista upgrade. Check around the OS forums.
Click to expand...


I'll verify that the workaround does work and it's a good thing- I went back to XP. Had I did it the right way, I wouldn't have been able to go back to XP.
 
Microsoft kills the license to maintain your money going to the trash. The OEM license is tied to the computer.
The next time you buy an OS, tell to your computer to go and buy it by itself, it's licensed to him, not for you...
This is an industry of waste of licenses.
licenses = your money, not theirs !!!
 
licenses = your money, not theirs !!!
Click to expand...

If you want to pay for a full-price retail license, you can transfer it wherever you want. You get a significant discount on OEM copies of Windows that come on prebuilt systems or laptops. In many cases, if you look at what the raw hardware for a low-end OEM box costs in order to build it yourself, the Windows license is more or less free. Even the 'retail OEM' version is noticeably less money than the full retail package.

Basically -- Microsoft's position is that you can't keep the OEM license if you sell the hardware it is tied to. If the hardware breaks and cannot be fixed (and it's too old to replace with something identical or nearly identical), you can replace it with something else and keep the license. Although I don't know if you could transfer a license from a laptop system to a desktop. These provisions have also not been tested thoroughly in court, in case you feel like establishing some legal precedents...
 
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