am i screwed?

[ViRam]

2 monthes ago i bought a copy of windows xp home edition at my local store. i didn't give much attention to the fact that they sold me an OEM version, the one that supposed to be sold with a new pc only.
i installed it that day, and now i got a new rig and i want to install it on that, but my microsoft support says i can't move the os to a new pc because it's oem, and if i try to activate it it'll "get locked" (?)...
is that possible? now i'm stuck with a windows xp cd that the store claims they sold it legaly, and i don't want to take the chance that it'll get locked for good.

what am i supposed to do now?

 

[MrChad]

If you read the OEM license, the operating system is tied to the PC it was sold with. New PC = New OS. The retail license ties the OS to the buyer, so you can transfer it from PC to PC (only installed on one at a time) as many times as you like.

 

[ViRam]

i know this, and that's what stinks here, the store sold me the oem os standalone - i didn't buy any hardware at all!!
i just walked into the store, said something like "give me one windows xp home edition please thank you very much kind sir". i did not say the letters O-E-M at all...
the writing on the cd - "for distribution with a new pc ONLY" - microsoft support agrees with me that it wasn't very legal to sell me oem software without hardware.

does this mean that if i'll try to install it it'll lock?

 

[FinalFantasy]

You should be fine. If anything happens, just install Windows as normal and if you run into trouble just call MS support and tell them that you uninstalled XP on one computer and you are installing it on a new one.

 

[ViRam]

what the hell... on with the format!!

thnx guys

 

[SimsFreak]

I just skip the registration, then when 30 days is over I complain to the computer store and M$, they do give in and re-activate it, but it's not fair since I re-formatt every few months.

 

[daveshel]

Several months ago I bought an OEM WinXP from newegg and activated it on a comp that I built for my brother. The comp got smashed up in transit and my brother ended up buying another. Last week I used the OEM XP again on another box, and was able to activate it without even having to call M$. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[Mermaidman]

I had the same problem with MS Office, Dell OEM CD. I bought the CD, installed without problem on my home-built desktop. Weeks later, I uninstalled Office, got rid of the desktop, and bought a laptop. When I installed Office in my laptop, I was unable to activate it. I read the fine print and looked it up online and found out that OEM Office can only be installed in one machine. EVER.

I called MS support and the CSR (in India) said that I was out of luck. Strangely, after I hung up, MS Office seemed to be activated, as in it never asked to be activated again. I guess the CSR activated it for me after all.

I learned my lesson: Read the fine print of the EULA, especially with Microsoft OEM software.