Legality of buying a pc with just the XP Pro sticker

I've been buying a few machines for friends and family from an auction site.
They PCs always come with the winxp pro or home oem sticker on them but no
cds. I make a copy of my original xp cd and use that to install it on their
machine using the license key on the sticker. It activates every time no
problems and I give them the burnt cd with the PC. Is this technically
legal? I'm not overly fussed, just curious really. I'm presuming the PCs are
purchased under some corporate license where media is not supplied.

Thanks
Michael

Brend name computers come with image file of HD on cd. It is cheeper: no win
cd no drivers and so on.
Boba Vancouver

"Michael C" <me@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:4326694a$0$18650$14726298@news.sunsite.dk...
> I've been buying a few machines for friends and family from an auction
> site. They PCs always come with the winxp pro or home oem sticker on them
> but no cds. I make a copy of my original xp cd and use that to install it
> on their machine using the license key on the sticker. It activates every
> time no problems and I give them the burnt cd with the PC. Is this
> technically legal? I'm not overly fussed, just curious really. I'm
> presuming the PCs are purchased under some corporate license where media
> is not supplied.
>
> Thanks
> Michael
>

On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:01:17 +1000, "Michael C"
<me@nospam.com> wrote:

>I've been buying a few machines for friends and family from an auction site.
>They PCs always come with the winxp pro or home oem sticker on them but no
>cds. I make a copy of my original xp cd and use that to install it on their
>machine using the license key on the sticker. It activates every time no
>problems and I give them the burnt cd with the PC. Is this technically
>legal? I'm not overly fussed, just curious really. I'm presuming the PCs are
>purchased under some corporate license where media is not supplied.


No they're purchased under an OEM license if it's an OEM
sticker. The license is not tied to the media... it's tied
to the certificate. If it is a genuine certificate
"sticker" on the box, it matters not whether you have a CD
or burn one, BUT you should be clarifying with the auction
site what has happened to the accompanying discs for these
systems, as just about anything does come with *some kind*
of discs when there's a sticker on the box, even if they're
not original Micrsoft-produced OS discs.

The issue might be one of your convenience but also whether
there's any chance of another party still using the license
by copying down the key and using it on another system.

"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
news:b18di1laea9iru202pn1i8dun44p1cmaub@4ax.com...
> No they're purchased under an OEM license if it's an OEM
> sticker.

That's correct, one sticker says "windows xp professional oem" and one says
"windows xp home hewlette packard".

> The license is not tied to the media... it's tied
> to the certificate. If it is a genuine certificate
> "sticker" on the box, it matters not whether you have a CD
> or burn one, BUT you should be clarifying with the auction
> site what has happened to the accompanying discs for these
> systems, as just about anything does come with *some kind*
> of discs when there's a sticker on the box, even if they're
> not original Micrsoft-produced OS discs.

They probably just don't collect them I guess.

> The issue might be one of your convenience but also whether
> there's any chance of another party still using the license
> by copying down the key and using it on another system.

So far they've all activated fine but I guess it's the same with any second
hand copy of xp, someone could be out there with a copy of the serial no and
have activated it.

Michael

> So far they've all activated fine but I guess it's the same with any
> second hand copy of xp, someone could be out there with a copy of the
> serial no and have activated it.

I believe software serial numbers are tied to the machine they are first
installed on, so if you are selling the PC, then the licenses go with it,
but you can't (aren't supposed to) move a license to a different machine.

"GT" <ContactGT_remove_@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4326c778$0$5487$9a6e19ea@unlimited.newshostin g.com...
>> So far they've all activated fine but I guess it's the same with any
>> second hand copy of xp, someone could be out there with a copy of the
>> serial no and have activated it.
>
> I believe software serial numbers are tied to the machine they are first
> installed on, so if you are selling the PC, then the licenses go with it,
> but you can't (aren't supposed to) move a license to a different machine.

This was discussed at length here when I asked here about oem versions of
xp. I believe the outcome was that microsoft themselves can't agree on what
constitutes another pc. Some staff say that a new motherboard means a new PC
while others don't. I actually phoned MS and asked them what their
definition of a new pc was and they became very evasive and wouldn't give me
any sort of answer, basically because I don't think they have one. Although
what you say is true in that moving it to a completely different machine is
not allowed, but they wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't an upgraded machine
in the same case.

One other thing that came out of the discussion was that all records of
activation are reset after 2 months so you can install and activate XP on a
new machine every 2 months.

Michael

"Michael C" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:432aa423$0$21914$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
> "GT" <ContactGT_remove_@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:4326c778$0$5487$9a6e19ea@unlimited.newshostin g.com...
>>> So far they've all activated fine but I guess it's the same with any
>>> second hand copy of xp, someone could be out there with a copy of the
>>> serial no and have activated it.
>>
>> I believe software serial numbers are tied to the machine they are first
>> installed on, so if you are selling the PC, then the licenses go with it,
>> but you can't (aren't supposed to) move a license to a different machine.
>
> This was discussed at length here when I asked here about oem versions of
> xp. I believe the outcome was that microsoft themselves can't agree on
> what constitutes another pc. Some staff say that a new motherboard means a
> new PC while others don't. I actually phoned MS and asked them what their
> definition of a new pc was and they became very evasive and wouldn't give
> me any sort of answer, basically because I don't think they have one.
> Although what you say is true in that moving it to a completely different
> machine is not allowed, but they wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't an
> upgraded machine in the same case.
>
> One other thing that came out of the discussion was that all records of
> activation are reset after 2 months so you can install and activate XP on
> a new machine every 2 months.
>
> Michael

Every 120 days, not two months.

Cody
>
>