Windows 7 on refurbished hardware - what is legal

TechUK · 13 Mar 2012

Looking for new (second hand) Lenovo laptop on ebay a seller has told me when I queried - the Windows and Office versions and how I could reinstall in case of a crash

"Yes I can confirm the windows 7 and office 2007 are licensed. The windows 7 is an ultimate version which is a volume upgrade license(several volume upgrades) and hence I can't give out serial keys or media for both the software"

I thought the COA normally on the laptop base and its registration number was required in case of a reinstall.

Anyone know the current legal / Miscrosoft rules on this?

Cheers Chris

zigzag3143 · 13 Mar 2012

Dont buy Licenses from eBay. Volume licenses are for large corporations that have purchased site lic and if you ever need support you may not be able to get it with one of those.

Buyer be ware on eBay

seavixen32 · 13 Mar 2012

Welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

If the vendor cannot or won't provide you with a Windows or Office DVD I wouldn't touch the deal with a barge pole.

You are correct in that the laptop should have a product key on the COA sticker because without it how would you activate Windows if you have to reinstall it?

It sounds like this laptop probably belonged to a company hence the volume upgrade license and I'd be inclined to report the vendor to eBay as the deal sounds decidedly dodgy.

Leave well alone is my advice. Like everything these days, if the deal sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

whs · 13 Mar 2012

The PC was obviously upgraded with a volume license. It is normal that the seller will not give that key. But the key on the COA sticker is still valid - although probably not for the Professional distro but for e.g. a Home Premium.

With the OS you do not run too much of a risk because you can download a legal Win7 iso from the internet, install that and activate it with the key on the COA sticker.

The Office is more problematic. That you can probably not reinstall so easily. You may be able to capture the key with e.g. Belarc Advisor. But I am not sure how that would then work with a volume license key.

In any case what you could do is make an image of the whole system (e.g. with free Macrium) as soon as you get the PC. Then you can always fall back to that image. And if you make periodic subsequent images, you will stay up-to-date.