Re: XP Pro SP3 OEM disc Question
- From: Ben Myers <ben_myers@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:14:31 -0400
Steve W. wrote:
Ben Myers wrote:Steve W. wrote:OK I have probably forgotten the answer to this,If you have a DELL OEM Windows XP installation CD, any version, you can
Looking on 'bay at the different OEM discs,
I see a few new Dell OEM SP3 discs,
I just picked up a VERY clean Latitude C840 (2003 build date)
Has XP Pro on it and correct COL for that.
However no software included (machine is former lease unit, looks like
it spent it's life on a shelf)
Am I thinking correctly that the new XP Pro SP3 discs are from a
different batch of COL numbers? Seem to remember reading/hearing that
somewhere. Or was that only for the retail versions?
Those will not work with the COL I now have correct?
Also wondering about a protector to place between screen/keyboard, Many
laptops I see have scuffs from keys and pointer, any recommendations?
install it on any Dell with a matching XP certificate of authentication,
and you do not need to worry about entering in the product key, as you
would do with retail versions of XP.
Know about that and that the retail versions require activation.
Yes, Micro$oft ran out of COA product keys in the late days of SP2, so
they needed to come up with a new algorithm for generating the keys...
This is the part that I don't get.
OK say I have a machine from 03, this would have come out before MS ran
out of numbers.
Will the discs made AFTER the numbers changed still work without
activation? Just like the pre number change Dell OEM XP disc?
What I'm wondering is if the number change means that the later discs
can only be used on machines from the later time period, after the
numbers ran out.
Ben Myers
"Will the DELL (!!!!!) discs made AFTER the numbers changed still work without activation?" Yes.
In short, if you have a system with a Dell BIOS and you have a Dell "reinstallation CD" from Windows XP or Vista, you can install it without needing to activate it. Does this violate Microsoft licensing agreements (if you care)? No, if the version of Windows being installed matches the one on the product key sticker on the case.
So you install Windows XP from a Dell SP3 CD on an older Dell P4 with matching XP sticker to save yourself the pain-in-the-ass work of installing SP3 separately. Does this meet the Microsoft licensing terms and conditions? I am not a lawyer, but I would say that it is close enough, and also that Microsoft would have a very hard time enforcing its license, if it even somehow decided that you were in violation.
The Dell "reinstallation CD" is nothing more than a standard Windows OEM installation CD with some secret codes added to match the Dell BIOS with the Dell-branded CD.
The other question is whether an XP OEM (non-Dell) SP3 CD will accept the product key from an earlier batch of Windows XP? My guess is probably not, but I have never needed to try it... Ben
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