Downgrading and COA/EULA legal question

[Ulfwald]

If I have Win XP Home edition, can I use that liscence to downgrade to W2K pro and do it legally? I have heard that this can be done without facing legal issues from the almighty MS.

 

[AndyHui]

Corporate licences allow you to do that within certain restrictions.

As far as I can see from the chart though, holding a Win2K Pro licence does not qualify for a WinXP Home upgrade, so, given MS can be real pricks at times, I would assume that it doesn't work backwards either.

FAQ: Upgrading to WinXP, which products qualify?

 

[Workin']

If you have any FULL (not upgrade) version of WinXP Pro, you can downgrade to Win2k Pro, Win Me, or Win 98. There aren't any downgrade provisions for XP Home.

 

[Ulfwald]

We have a W2K Corp Liscence, but all the HP computer we are receiving have XP home on them, I need to downgrade the XP HOME to 2K pro. Judging from what I have read, I should be able to do this with no fear of legal ramifications?

 

[Workin']

Going from Windows XP Home to Windows 2000 Pro is NOT a downgrade, it's an upgrade! You can not legally do that - the EULA for XP Pro says you can downgrade to 2k Pro, Me, or 98 - XP Home's license doesn't allow you to run anything but XP Home - there are NO downgrade provisions. So you can't go from XP Home to 2k Pro for free! Whoever ordered the HP computers with XP Home on them for use in a business environment should be fired (unless it was you 😉)

 

[lowtech1]

Like everyone have said, going from XP-home to Win2k-Pro is ilegal.

See link for more info: MS Windows - Business Desktop Product Life-Cycle FAQ

"Q. How does Microsoft reconcile the fact that the Windows Desktop Product Life-Cycle Guidelines state that Windows 2000 Professional will be available at least until March, 2004 and the Volume Licensing 6.0 states that you can only purchase Windows XP Professional beginning November 1, 2001?

A. Microsoft worked to make sure their volume licensing and Microsofts Product Life-Cycle policy worked together efficiently for customers. Volume Licensing 6.0 only publishes the most current Desktop operating system at any one time. Beginning November 1, 2001 this will be Windows XP Professional. This does not mean that you can not purchase other product through non-volume licensing channels. Volume Licensing also allows full downgrade rights to Windows Professional, Windows NT, Windows 95, and Windows 98."

What you can do is return the computer & ask for XP-Pro OEM licensing PCs. And, only if your corporate version allow for downgrade. Your company may have to absorb the cost of the XP Home Edition purchase additional Win2k Pro licences for the new PCs. Another avenue to look at is to order OS-Free PCs, but the saving could be too small to worth the hassle with the returning of the PCs.

 

[Ulfwald]

Originally posted by: Workin'
Going from Windows XP Home to Windows 2000 Pro is NOT a downgrade, it's an upgrade! You can not legally do that - the EULA for XP Pro says you can downgrade to 2k Pro, Me, or 98 - XP Home's license doesn't allow you to run anything but XP Home - there are NO downgrade provisions. So you can't go from XP Home to 2k Pro for free! Whoever ordered the HP computers with XP Home on them for use in a business environment should be fired (unless it was you 😉)

The machines were already in place when I got hired. They downgraded the machines to Win 98 SE, and I am trying to control the desktops as much as possible. I need to be able to lock down the home page in IE 6.0, and I was going to do this through Win2K since we are on a 2K domain.

Thing is, this company is going to .net soon, so they do not want to fork out the money to purchase the W2k Pro.