Anyone else here buy winXP through their university?

[Special K]

I bought winxp pro through my university and the IT rep that sold it to me insisted that it did not need to be activated (as the retail versions do). I noticed that on the CD it says unlicensed software, which leads me to believe it is different the retail version. When I did a format and installed it however, it prompted me for activation. I went ahead and activated it anyway, but emailed the guy back and he still insisted that the version they sell does not require activation unless installed as an upgrade from a previous version, and that I should try doing a clean install again and if that did not fix it I should sent it back to them and they will sent me a new CD on the chance that I was somehow sold the wrong one the first time. A friend who bought it from the same store also reported not having to activate it. Before I send it off and wait for a replacement, I thought I would ask here to see if anyone can confirm that these versions of XP do not require activation. The first time I installed it i booted from the CD, deleted my old partition, and installed winxp from there. It then prompted me for activation. I just finished another install where I deleted the partition, did a quick format, and installed it again, and it again prompted for activation. Is there some special setup procedure I have to go through for this? Do I need to do a zero-fill on the HD or something?

 

[TheWart]

i bought mine at the bookstore, it said "Academic version" in yellow letters, but i had to activate.

 

[Special K]

Mine must be different then because all I got when I bought it was the CD inside a plastic sleeve that had the MS stickers on it.

 

[bacillus]

Originally posted by: SpecialK
Mine must be different then because all I got when I bought it was the CD inside a plastic sleeve that had the MS stickers on it.

 

[Special K]

Why the face? AFAIK its legal because I get my license through the university (MSCA agreement), which is legal.

EDIT: OK, n/m, I didn't realize what it was for.

 

[bacillus]

Originally posted by: SpecialK
Why the face? AFAIK its legal because I get my license through the university (MSCA agreement), which is legal.

the face is one of embarassment as I didn't fully read your original posting & made a pointless inquiry in my post so edited it & put the embarass face on for my stupidity!

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: SpecialK
Why the face? AFAIK its legal because I get my license through the university (MSCA agreement), which is legal.

right... my university sells XP Pro media (with cd key) for $10. it is regular xp pro. requires activation. same for office XP.