Cheapest Legal Way To Have XP on 300+ Machines / Month

[Redhatcc]

We have a computer store that is pretty large considering the town that we are located in. And right now we normally take all the computers that is not picked up in two months, load them on a pallet and sell them on ebay as is. As of lately we want to clean them back up and sell them back to the public, and this has been working alot better than expected. But the problem that we are facing, even though these computers are basically free, we generally put XP on all of them. I have a few questions, and i feel i know most of the answers but still unsure, and searching google draws blanks in every direction.

1. If we had a Dell machine with a XP COA on it, would it be ok to reload that machine using that sticker and resell to the public or by law you have to purchase a new XP COA for each machine that is sold? Also could a Dell XP Home sticker be legally used on a HP tower if it does not have a XP Home sticker on it?

2. We also ran across a company online that leases computers, and is a rather large international company we purchased from in the past, and their machines are preloaded with a imaged XP ( I assume a VLK ). Is that legal?! I highly doubt what they are doing is the right thing, but i though i would ask.

3. Our computers generally are 3-4+ years old, and we try and sell them for cheap since they are used recycled and what not. To purchase a key for each computer is quite a good bit since we sell these with 17" crt's old keyboards and run around $150, but is there a cheaper alternative to buying XP keys for used 2nd hand computers to resell? I read somewhere about a resellers agreement but they were asking for a company to purchase like 5000 or more keys a month.

We sell around 5-10 used computers per day for cheap, we just want them off our hands. We are going to do it completely legal, my boss wants to know they cheapest way possible so we dont have to spend alot of money and time into doing it? What is my best options?

[cluberti]

1. If we had a Dell machine with a XP COA on it, would it be ok to reload that machine using that sticker and resell to the public or by law you have to purchase a new XP COA for each machine that is sold? Also could a Dell XP Home sticker be legally used on a HP tower if it does not have a XP Home sticker on it?

If you are selling the machine, and not just the copy of XP, it's legal to reload the Dell with the Dell royalty OEM XP CD and Dell COA license that is affixed to the chassis. XP is tied to the OEM machine, not the owner - if you sell the machine, you have to sell the CD, but it has a nice converse - when you resell it, you can reload with the OEM license key on the sticker legally. As to your question about the Dell XP Home sticker on an HP, no, that is not legal. You would need the OEM license that shipped with that HP to reload XP on that (unless you buy a retail copy, of course).

2. We also ran across a company online that leases computers, and is a rather large international company we purchased from in the past, and their machines are preloaded with a imaged XP ( I assume a VLK ). Is that legal?! I highly doubt what they are doing is the right thing, but i though i would ask.

If the machine is owned by the leasing company, and they have a license with Microsoft that allows this, it certainly is legal.

3. Our computers generally are 3-4+ years old, and we try and sell them for cheap since they are used recycled and what not. To purchase a key for each computer is quite a good bit since we sell these with 17" crt's old keyboards and run around $150, but is there a cheaper alternative to buying XP keys for used 2nd hand computers to resell? I read somewhere about a resellers agreement but they were asking for a company to purchase like 5000 or more keys a month.

You should talk to a Microsoft sales rep, you can likely get volume discounts if you need to be buying thousands of copies a month.

[Redhatcc]

i think in the past we asked a rep with microsoft about it, but lead to a dead end. They wanted to sell us way more keys than we would ever use and only discounted us about %30.

But about the leasing company, i had questioned it a few times with myself is what they are doing legal, and limited my buying from them to hardware and not systems until i figured out more about the legal side of the situation. Best way to find out is to ask them? But if the computer needed to be reloaded hope is lost on that situation doing it legally correct?

As far as using the key that is attached to the computer, i always though you had to purchase a new key each time the computers ownership changed, but thank you for enlightening me once again cluberti

I would say only about 75 - 125 machines per month that we get do not have OEM keys attached to them. But the only legal way to sell these is purchase a new key from microsoft for retail unless we work a deal with a sales rep from microsoft?

EDIT:+++++++++++++++++++

By that last line i mean the computers come loaded / broken with Windows 2000 or Windows ME keys stuck aside them. Buying and using a XP Upgrade package be a less expensive, but legal way of doing it?

[jaclaz]

EDIT:+++++++++++++++++++

By that last line i mean the computers come loaded / broken with Windows 2000 or Windows ME keys stuck aside them. Buying and using a XP Upgrade package be a less expensive, but legal way of doing it?

As far as the 2K/Me sticky is genuine, yes , you are eligible for upgrade packs.

But then which kind of media would you give the customers?

Would something like a Recovery partition capable of generating an install Cd or a "burned" install CD be allright?

jaclaz

Edited February 27, 2009 by jaclaz

[kingsc]

About the leasing company, if the CoAs are for XP, and they are imaging with a VLK of XP that they've paid for, they are fine.

If the product version is different(Vista CoAs) from what they are imaging with, they have to purchase downgrade licenses on each machine, or have purchased Software Assurance on their VLK of XP. *EDIT: And unfortunately, I could be wrong but I dont' think there's an effective way that you can verify this with them besides trusting what they tell you.

Licensing is a nightmare, I'm just getting into it and have had several discussions with Microsoft and only feel a *little* more knowledgeable from where I started.

A good link to alot of licensing info.

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/volbrief.mspx

EDIT2 - I think if you want to sell these computers you were mentioning.... what I would do is see what OEM stickers they came with, get ahold of one copy of the OEM OS(Yes, it's different from retail), and install it using the OEM key. Then you should be fine. That way you only need to buy 1 copy of the OEM software, and you don't need to buy any additional keys. If the machine does not have an OEM CoA on it... then I think you'd have to purchase a retail FPP or if you have alot of those.... a VLK, but I think that's a tad overboard for just trying to get rid of some old computers.

Edited February 27, 2009 by kingsc

[cluberti]

I would say only about 75 - 125 machines per month that we get do not have OEM keys attached to them. But the only legal way to sell these is purchase a new key from microsoft for retail unless we work a deal with a sales rep from microsoft?

Legally, if there's no COA affixed nor media purchased with the box, then yes, you *must* get media and a COA/license to legally reinstall Windows. If you're providing support, you could look into retail OEM packs (3, 5, 30, etc) for cost savings, but you'd have to ask Microsoft on the legality of reselling a machine with a *new* OEM license - I do not know if that is OK or not.

EDIT:+++++++++++++++++++

By that last line i mean the computers come loaded / broken with Windows 2000 or Windows ME keys stuck aside them. Buying and using a XP Upgrade package be a less expensive, but legal way of doing it?

Note that in the ME and 2000 EULAs, any OEM upgrade media had to be acquired *from the vendor*. So, if you wanted an OEM upgrade copy of Windows, you *had* to buy it from the vendor to be legal, or you had to go out and purchase an FPP retail copy of Windows from the retail channel. Also, there was one other quirk that existed at least through the XP OEM EULA (not sure about Vista, as I've not seen a Vista OEM EULA as of yet, but I'd bet it's there as well) - if you swap the motherboard in an OEM machine, you *have* to get a new copy of Windows (either from the OEM or from a retail channel). That was the only caveat/instance of an OEM machine with an OEM COA/license where said license was invalid, that if the motherboard is swapped it requires a new license. If the OEM repaired it, they were responsible for the new COA and license, but if the owner did so outside of warranty replacement they were technically in violation of the EULA if they reinstalled the OEM copy that shipped with the machine onto the machine with a new/different motherboard inside.

Again, just FYI.

[Redhatcc]

So far summed up...

For the machines with OEM keys already attached with original motherboard still intact, it is ok to reinstall a new copy of XP to the hard drive and resell to the public as long as it was used from the OEM cd (Dell with Dell, HP with HP and so forth).

For the machines without OEM keys attached to it, since its a low amount we are talking about and not 1000+ per month, the best way is to purchase an OEM from the vendor or the fully featured package product.

As far as the leasing company selling with VLK's, to stay on the safe side i will just deal with companies that supply an affixed key w/ software.

[Idontwantspam]

If the product version is different(Vista CoAs) from what they are imaging with, they have to purchase downgrade licenses on each machine, or have purchased Software Assurance on their VLK of XP. *EDIT: And unfortunately, I could be wrong but I dont' think there's an effective way that you can verify this with them besides trusting what they tell you.

Incorrect. Downgrading is free if you have a qualifying windows version, and impossible if you don't. You can downgrade from Windows Vista Ultimate and Business to Windows XP Professional, Professional x64 or Tablet PC. Microsoft has a PDF explaining downgrade rights here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/8...sion-020707.pdf