It's really very simple.
ALL machines with OEM installs of Windows from Win95 to Win7 MUST have a COA sticker on them to be within the license terms.
ALL machines with OEM installs of Windows 8.x originally installed MUST have either the Win 8 or Win 8 Pro sticker - even if they've been downgraded to Windows 7 Pro (and these will NOT have a windows 7 sticker).
I bought a Dell Inspiron Notebook [straight from Dell] in March with Win8.1 installed and it has no COA sticker on it anywhere nor on any of the sparse documentation.
Now, to the original poster - since this is a school, there must be a server involved, no?
You can install the programs necessary to all computers using GPOs. Talk to whoever administers the school server, they should know how to do it.
Thank you so much Noel as I have been chasing this for well over two weeks on various threads that have sprung up for different reasons as I bought an Asus ROG G750JM with 8 on it sent it back for the 7 option as I tried an OEM on mine but it ended up a 7 driver problem - thinking he would be up for the ante if the BIOS had to be changed (see later in post *) and the seller installed 7 Pro on a SSD I put instead of the original and very slow spinner.
I spent a lot of time arguing the toss with him re the sticker and Greg did suggest this might be the case and you have just confirmed it. Pity the operator at Microsoft didn't know this when I contacted them as it would have saved a LOT of grief and frankly bad feelings between me and the seller, as they told me on the phone I had to have a sticker and so the grief with the seller carried on.
The only thing that niggled me was he put on build 7600 and it took me six hours of searching to find out I needed SP1 (which I didn't realize was not there) and consequently all the downloading of it and the flood of updates that followed as you can imagine.
*Mind you what they don't tell you (at least with an Asus) is that you cannot download any drivers for 7 unless you update the BIOS and we all know how scared (well I am ) of doing that. So as long as I have a sticker for 8 mine is a magenta to green (I think) hard to tell in room light as I know the stickers are different for the different version / editions of 8 I am ok. (see pic)
But thanks again for clearing the air I can breath easy now just wished the rules and regs for Windows agreements were not so complex and convoluted
Ok Noel now in hindsight I should have researched this a bit more as I have now (I think) an illegal machine as the 8 sticker is not a dark blue as I think I am right in saying is the colour for the 8 Pro. It is in fact a magenta sort of colour and why on earth Microsoft could not have just had a sticker that says 8 is Pro or not is beyond my (getting) limited comprehension.
Now if I go back to the seller with this information I think I shall be just brushed off with him saying the same old things that the install is legal and get nowhere and frankly I am now so sick of the banter I have had with him over the last three weeks I don't really want to go there it will be a fruitless and futile exercise.
I am not impressed with Microsoft either as they just advised me that it has to have the 7 COA sticker and part the reason I kept up the communication with that seller why didn't they know the rules??
Frankly and in hindsight I should have researched this a but more but like a lot of other buyers seeing the many sites on EBay out here doing the same deal for a nice semi high end machine at a bargain price ($1650) because it is a superseded model thought it was all above board. I actually asked re the sticker from other dealers and they all replied the same as the seller I have been dealing with.
If I had know the rules then I would never have gone near this deal and honestly feel like I have been hung out to dry and don't know which way to turn. In addition to all this nonsense I found to load the 7 drivers for this machine I have to update the BIOS - something that really gives me the jitters to be honest, and again makes my situation a very disappointed and unhappy one.
I do not know what to do next and I would appreciate it if you could say what would you do in my situation please - although you would not have got yourself into such a state in the first place.
I bought this this machine in all honesty and sincerity am very against any form of dishonest dealings plus because I have been with Microsoft products for many years and feel it is only right that one does the right thing and have done so all along.
But if you do not feel you can advise me then please do not think you are being pressured to do so, and I shall have to figure something out myself.
Thanks for the reply
John
The Win 8 Pro sticker does in fact state Pro - see here....
How to Tell â
(mouse-over the graphics)
Yep I just saw that as I showed my partner what they look like and well I am done like a dinner as they say and probably have to discard this 7 install put back that ruddy awful 8 and put it down to experience - I just don't know what to do or what I can do about it.
I am just so disappointed
Ok but I have it on two machines already and just find it hard to answer forum 7 queries because you cannot pull up pics of the Control Panel etc to show people stuff. Plus I prefer the GUI even if when the 8 is used with Classic Shell. It just means posting in the forum is that much more difficult and I don't go on the 8 forum much at all just because I am not a fan of the Windows 8 program.
But never mind I shall just have to put up with it on a very slow 1TB spinner as I cannot afford to clone it to a SSD of the same size or I just contact Microsoft and ask what I can do I suppose they might let me carry on with this install given the predicament I am in - one can only hope. I just have to find out who to contact because the phone service one as I said before is not that competent from my other experience.
I am b*****d any way I go it seems, and like I said in hindsight I have myself to blame for not knowing the rules and regs re Windows inside - out before I went ahead and shelled out all that money
I suppose the other alternative would be to sell the machine at a loss and buy something I know is kosher again I don't think I would get a machine of this ones specs for anything like what I paid for this one.
But thanks for your help I do appreciate it.
Quote