Using someone's else installation disk w/ my own CD-key.

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Patrick Wolf
I"Honor" my ass. More like Microsoft trying to "stick it to the end-user." What reason does Microsoft have for justifing that "new motherboard, new license" rule? The word "money" comes to mind.

Um, they are in business to make money, not do you personal favors. Alienware probably got a very low price on that OS because it is not supposed to be transferred between systems. Hence why they charge more for the 'retail' version. Blame Alienware for selling you an 'upgradable' system that included an OEM licensed OS.

And it seems odd that it doesn't say if you use your OEM XP Home license on a new PC (new motherboard that is) for activation, your CD-Key will or will not work, because it does work.

They can't just make it flat-out not work, because they do allow you to change out the MB if it fails and must be replaced.

You are, according to the terms of their OEM license, not allowed to replace the MB (for purposes other than repairing a broken MB) and keep the same OEM copy of Windows. Like it or not, that's their licensing agreement, and you agreed to it when you installed the OS (legal questions about the enforcability of such EULA clauses notwithstanding).

Now, can MS tell? Not really. Are you going to go to jail? No. Is it technically against the rules? Yes.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Ha, I feel like a bad-ass now. Hehe, but not really.

Oh well, when Vista comes out I'll buy a full retail or whatever version, but until than, I will continue to use my OEM XP.

Yeah, Microsoft is out to make money, but that one rule is just flat-out greedy, and/or deceptive. Wonder if it will be the same for Vista...

 

[Navid]

There are lots of XP CDs out there that are identical.

If your father lends you his CD (not his license key), there will be no way for anybody to know that he did.

When you activate XP, two things will be sent to the company that keeps the database of activated systems, the hash that represents the hardware, and the license key. These two will be tied together in the database.
The next time a request is made to activate XP using the same license key, if the hash that is sent with it is not the same as the hash in the database, activation will be refused. So, only one hardware can be activated with each license key.

There is a flaw in the way this system works though. It seems like any entry in the database only remains there for about 4 months and then erased! After that, you can activate a different hardware using the same license and the system will not detect this since it has no record of the entry anymore.

All this has nothing to do with what is legal and what is not!


If I may say so (I hope you don't mind) all this said, if your father does not want to do something, you should respect his wishes. That is the least you can do for someone you call "Dad".

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Originally posted by: Navid
There are lots of XP CDs out there that are identical.

If your father lends you his CD (not his license key), there will be no way for anybody to know that he did.

When you activate XP, two things will be sent to the company that keeps the database of activated systems, the hash that represents the hardware, and the license key. These two will be tied together in the database.
The next time a request is made to activate XP using the same license key, if the hash that is sent with it is not the same as the hash in the database, activation will be refused. So, only one hardware can be activated with each license key.

There is a flaw in the way this system works though. It seems like any entry in the database only remains there for about 4 months and then erased! After that, you can activate a different hardware using the same license and the system will not detect this since it has no record of the entry anymore.

All this has nothing to do with what is legal and what is not!


If I may say so (I hope you don't mind) all this said, if your father does not want to do something, you should respect his wishes. That is the least you can do for someone you call "Dad".

So it's anonymous, but you are still requiring information about the make and model of my PC. To ensure the end user's privacy, Microsoft uses a one-way mathematical algorithm to create the hardware hash used by Product Activation to create the Installation ID. Once created, the hash information cannot be calculated back to its original values. Hardware information is sent through the algorithm in the software on the PC-not at Microsoft-to create the hash. The raw hardware information is not known or sent to Microsoft. Ensuring end user privacy is a No. 1 design goal for Microsoft with Product Activation.

The above taken from Microsoft.com. No, the hardware hash is not sent to Microsoft. I don't think any of this is illegal, it's just against the EULA.

Respect my dad's wishes...I do, but not when it involves listening to his son and doing something so menial as this. And he wasn't exactly a "nice" guy during the years of 1-8 of my life, I think he owes me a little something, and this is really not asking much.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Patrick Wolf
Uh oh :Q. But you don't know me. HA! "Can't touch this NA na na na!". :laugh:

Answer your phone and say that. :evil:

- M4H

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: Patrick Wolf
Uh oh :Q. But you don't know me. HA! "Can't touch this NA na na na!". :laugh:

Answer your phone and say that. :evil:

- M4H

:laugh: One day I'll be at my computer...."ringggg" Caller ID: Microsoft Co.. I run and hide.

 

[Jeff7]

Oh god, I smell a terrible ripoff of The Ring.

Install this operating system, and you get an e-mail saying that you'll die in 7 days.
But the spam filter deletes it, so you don't ever find out about it. Joke's on you!

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Oh god, I smell a terrible ripoff of The Ring.

Install this operating system, and you get an e-mail saying that you'll die in 7 days.
But the spam filter deletes it, so you don't ever find out about it. Joke's on you!

:laugh:



Has anyone heard of slipstreaming? Slipstreaming: Creating a WindowsXP Install CD with Service Pack 2

Well, I just did it with my Alienware XP disk, and it worked. It was said by someone at my local computer store the reason why I can't do a repair install of Windows is because my disk has SP1, but my computer has SP2 installed. He suggested slipstreaming. And the recovery console can be installed through Windows from the XP disk, which I did and that worked too.

I have yet to completely see if my newly created XP Home w/ SP2 disk has the "Repair" windows option like a normal XP disk because my computer is really messed up right now (Windows XP installed multiple times on the same partition, ect.) and needs to be formatted, but I can't do that untill I get my new HD tomorrow. Can't wait...

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Good news! My new HD is awesome (WD2500KS) and my new slipstreamed Windows XP w/ SP2 disk worked flawlessly. Before I created the desk I deleted everything on it that resembled Alienware, so now when I installed XP I didn't see anything that told me this is an Alienware product, so that's good enough for me. Unfortunately the Repair Windows option is still not available, but that means I just need to be a tad more careful about "hard restarting" my computer.