Hello,
I have a question for you that know more than I.
I did a clean W7pro64 install this week on a home build PC replacing XPpro32.
Amazing OS!
I would like to install XPpro32 on an old P4 in the house using the original OEM disc / XP key I purchased.
Is this acceptable?
I would like to know before I try so I don't have problem after the trouble of the instal.
thanks,
fmg
i take it your windows 7 key was for an upgrade copy. because of this the xp key can no longer be used. also OEM keys are tied to the motherboard of the system they are initially installed on, i know there are work arounds to both of these issues but the EULA says no so thats what i'm going to go with.
Like said above, if the copy of Windows XP was an OEM copy then legally speaking, no it can't be done.
The fact that the XP OS was used as a basis for the upgrade is the one thing that makes it illegal to use it now (unless you have more than one XP license), but OEM was not defined in the same fashion as it is now. I have moved XP OEM all over the place, without any problems reactivating it. It is not hardwired to the hardware.
OEM then with XP & now with 7.....what's the difference?
fmg
All that I know is that I had to reinstall XP OEM many times with a lot of hardware changes, and never had a problem. From what I have read about OEM now, once you install it on one computer, it is never reinstallable on another. This could also occur with major hardware changes in the same computer.
thats because it wasn't until later that any of the oem xp disc became tied to the motherboard.
and yes you can use it for the upgrae but do clean install.
Not exactly, if you had to change the motherboard, you would have to reactivate the OS, and sometimes you would have to do so on the telephone, if there had been many reactivations before, but the phone activation was never a problem.
I bought a copy of WS2K8 from a member on another forum, not knowing that it was OEM, nor how the activation policy had changed, and when I merely added a harddrive to the system, it popped a dialog saying that I could not reactivate it again, because of there having been too many activations before. I had activated it only once on the initial installation. Therefore, the money that I spent on that OS is now wasted.
like i said it wasn't always implemented on the OEM xp disc, i'm not sure when it began, but the early disc were not tied down, except by the EULA which is another story.
if i understand the OP then they want to use the oem disc but NOT the key this is legal, rather or not he can use the OEM disc to install it depends on when the disc was orginally made and rather or not it's locked to the hardware. but legally speaking as long as it's not the key he used for the upgrade everything is fine.
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