Windows XP Pro with NO Activation required

[R3LIC]

My legitimate copy of Windows XP Pro was purchased at a local college.

I have never had to activate it nor does it even have a link/icon anywhere to do it thru.

The original MS disc is Windows XP Pro without any service packs. (slipstreamed SP2 when it came out, much easier for re-install.)

I'm just curious if this is typical and how many other people have this type of Windows disc.

 

[Markbnj]

It's typical for certain distributions. Corporate volume licenses of XP don't require user activation at the desktop. Not sure about colleges, but I wouldn't be surprised if the academic volume licenses don't either.

 

[ProviaFan]

It must depend on the type of academic license that your college gets. My academic copy of XP must be activated, and seems to have a very limited number of activations compared to a normal copy of XP. I say that because I've installed it only twice that I can remember in the past on my desktop, the second time with some hardware upgrades (same motherboard though), before I installed XP x64 on that system instead; when trying to install it today on an older machine I threw together (it isn't on any other system currently), it was going to force me to enter a new product key - didn't even prompt me to call MS about activation, so I had no recourse (and my college won't let me buy another - you're limited to one per student, forever). Needless to say, I realize now that some academic licenses suck, contrary to what you would think at first when buying that $10 copy of XP. :frown:

 

[RebateMonger]

Academic Volume Licenses for XP, like ALL volume licenses, are only intended for UPGRADES on computers that already have a licensed operating system. You should already have Windows 98, Windows XP Home Edition, or another eligible operating system installed on the system (or have an OS license that came with the system). Volume-licensed XP is not intended for installation on a newly-built computer that didn't come with an operating system attached.

 

[spyordie007]

That is correct; if you have a volume licensed version it will not need to be activated. If you have a retail academic license than it will require activation.

 

[corkyg]

Just like R3LIC, I have an academic edition - no upgrade required - no activation required - it passes all the Microsoft legitimacy tests. I conclude that there are academic versions and there are Academic Versions.

 

[stash]

A large number of consumers have versions that don't require to be activated. The large OEMs (Dell, HP, etc) all use SLP installs that don't require activation. Which is why the activation rants that pop up here and there are really pointless. 90% of Windows users never need to activate.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: stash
A large number of consumers have versions that don't require to be activated. The large OEMs (Dell, HP, etc) all use SLP installs that don't require activation. Which is why the activation rants that pop up here and there are really pointless. 90% of Windows users never need to activate.

It would be nice if there were actually some place that had a straightforward explanation of the limits of activation on the various types of Windows licenses/CDs, so those of us who haven't been trying to do anything wrong but somehow manage to bump up against the "we refuse to activate this key any more, get another one" message would have a clue what's going on.

 

[MadRat]

I thought academic licenses were time limited, too.

 

[bendixG15]

Originally posted by: ProviaFan
It would be nice if there were actually some place that had a straightforward explanation of the limits of activation on the various types of Windows licenses/CDs, so those of us who haven't been trying to do anything wrong but somehow manage to bump up against the "we refuse to activate this key any more, get another one" message would have a clue what's going on.

Unfortunately, Microsoft does not make known all the rules of the games and that just leads to suspision and anger when we have to jump thru hoops to activate.

Its hard not to feel that somehow or other, you are getting screwed by MS.

And that is all for tonight.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: MadRat
I thought academic licenses were time limited, too.

Supposedly not (at least mine says that you're allowed to keep using it after you graduate), but given how few activations you're allowed, even if you reinstall Windows little more than once a year with minor hardware changes, it looks like you're screwed.

 

[corkyg]

Possibly different rules for faculty copies - which is what I have.

 

[stash]

It would be nice if there were actually some place that had a straightforward explanation of the limits of activation on the various types of Windows licenses/CDs, so those of us who haven't been trying to do anything wrong but somehow manage to bump up against the "we refuse to activate this key any more, get another one" message would have a clue what's going on

I honestly don't know. I've only ever heard that there are no limits to how many times you can activate a particular license on the same computer. But I admit that I am not completely familiar with all of the different types of licenses and what restrictions there might be.

So yes it is confusing. But again, most people don't run into these issues.

 

[halfadder]

I was a student when WinXP came out. My university was part of a microsoft campus software program, although I don't recall which one. Initially, we were able to download a WinXP updater (update a previous version of Windows to XP) that did not require activation. Later we were able to download a CD image of WinXP that would install cleanly and did not require activation, as long as you used the campus CDKEY. This was eventually replaced by CD images of WinXP SP1 and WinXP SP2, both of which require activation and can only be re-activated a few times. I work at a university today and our campus-wide volume license still requires activation, although it's a very simple process and each department has its own volume license CDKEY.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: stash
I honestly don't know. I've only ever heard that there are no limits to how many times you can activate a particular license on the same computer. But I admit that I am not completely familiar with all of the different types of licenses and what restrictions there might be.

So yes it is confusing. But again, most people don't run into these issues.

That most people don't run into these issues doesn't seem like a good excuse not to properly document this stuff. Most people never run in to the kind of issues that are documented in the knowledge base, but everything else under the sun is covered in there.

It just pisses me off that Microsoft is so vague about licensing, and then it becomes the end user's problem when they're trying to "be legal" but for some failure of the system or just a misunderstanding in general, MS claims that they're not. From what I can tell, my academic license specifies one (1) computer... it doesn't say "tied to one motherboard" or anything like that, which is why I presumed that it was transferable, and thus why I'm upset that there was no way that I could plan ahead to avoid tons of wasted time and productivity over this BS.

Of course, I have to take my part of the blame for not planning ahead years ago and purchasing only hardware that was supported by open source drivers - if I had done that, I wouldn't even be posting in this thread right now.

 

[RebateMonger]

Microsoft Academic Licensing Details - Note that there are four kinds of Academic licensing agreements

(Note, also. that Microsoft says that its EULA is the final licensing agreement. Microsoft's web pages do NOT dictate Microsoft's licensing terms. Only the EULA does.)

The Academic Licensing Programs:

Academic Open (No Student Licenses)

Academic Select (k-12 and Higher Education)
(Student licenses available through Student Select Program) Upgrade license only; not a full license. Students who wish to acquire the Windows XP Professional Upgrade license through the Student Select program must first have licensed a qualifying operating system for their personal computer or workstation. For a list of qualifying operating systems, please refer to the Microsoft Volume Licensing Product List.

Campus Agreement (Higher Education)
Q. Can I use my Campus Agreement Windows Upgrade licenses and media for installing Windows on a computer that does not currently have an operating system?
A. No. To install the upgrade licensed through Campus Agreement you must have a fully-licensed version of Windows already installed on the computer. For example, if you currently run Windows 2000, your Campus Agreement Windows Upgrade license entitles you to upgrade to Windows XP. To run any version of a Microsoft Windows operating system licensed through Campus Agreement, you or your users must have a valid license for a Microsoft operating system on each PC on which the software runs. Please consult the Microsoft Volume Licensing Product List for more information about qualifying operating systems.

School Agreement (K-12)
Q. Can I use my School Agreement Windows Upgrade licenses and media for installing Windows on a computer that does not currently have an operating system?
A. No. To install the upgrade licensed through School Agreement, you must have a fully licensed version of Windows already installed on the computer. For example, if you currently run Windows 2000, your School Agreement Windows Upgrade license entitles you to upgrade to Windows XP. To run any version of a Microsoft Windows operating system licensed through School Agreement, you or your users must have a valid license for a Microsoft or Macintosh operating system on each computer on which the software runs. Please consult the Microsoft Volume Licensing Product List for more information about qualifying operating systems.

 

[ProviaFan]

Interestingly enough, the disks certainly don't enforce that (whereas the Windows 98 upgrade that I bought years ago to upgrade from 3.1 insisted upon actually seeing my 3.1 media if there was nothing on the hard drive). I'm also amused because the most of my friends that actually bought an academic license of XP did so because they'd built a new computer and needed an operating system (otherwise, it was because their system's OEM XP disk had too much crap on it and they wanted something cleaner).

 

[MadRat]

There is an old trick to it. You just needed one specific file under your Windows folder and surprisingly it could be zero bytes.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: ProviaFan
Interestingly enough, the disks certainly don't enforce that.

Nope. Volume-Licensed media doesn't "enforce" the "upgrade-only" rule.