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Windows XP License


Glenn9999

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I have an old Windows XP Professional OEM license.  Main question is if there's a way that it's legal to sell.  The machine that it was on has long since failed and I've long since moved on to something else.  The language I'm seeing when I search this question is kind of sketchy.  Any ideas?

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Licenses like that are not transferable.  If it was a new license unopened w/ unused sticker and meadia you could sell a OEM license with accompanying hardware only like a CPU or a motherboard or just a graphics card..  Provided that it is not past some sort of date that MS has set.   But if its a old license no.  You can only sell that license with the computer it is on.  So if you still have the computer like even if it is broken you could technically sell the broken computer /w license.m  ofcourse he person who buys such a thing could do anything they want with the lcense at that point but it is illegal to specify that.

 

My guess is there is not a lot of demand for such a thing, and an XP license is worthless pretty much even if its a legit license.  I cannot say why that is on here but I think most people just pirate XP at this point and don't care.  It's like the person who goes on antique roadshow and thinks they really have something only to find out there are billions of copys of it and is also faked a lot.

Edited by Destro
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Is it on a sticker on a PC?

I would say it's not legal to sell, BUT people would still buy it (like me because I'm getting a new ThinkPad that probably won't come with one.

I'd say it's probably worth something, especially if it's at least an SP2 license!

Most people wouldn't want to bother with anything older.

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theres no difference between a SP2 license and a vanilla license.  A license for XP is a license for XP provided that it is not a blocked license due to piracy reporting.  Service packs install or slipstream regardless.  There is a difference in  the media only by changing the pid in the setupp.ini you can convert like a retail disc to accept OEM keys or a OEM disc to accept retail keys etc.  

Edited by Destro
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I always thought that the license had to match the installation medium.  For example, you can't use a RTM license with a Windows XP SP2 CD.

I didn't know about the setup.ini hack however!  That could definitely come in handy — thanks! :)

Edited by ThomasW
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The License has to match the XP Version (home, professional, etc.) not the service pack level. The Service Packs are free so you could always upgrade later if you started with older Media.

Read the exact License terms on the CD. You may be able to sell the License legally if you destroy all your copies installed with that License.

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That's really strange — I always thought they had to match the service pack level.

Websites like eBay don't like when people try to sell software licenses, but you can always try this method!

s-l300.png

Edited by ThomasW
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AFAIK, @rloew and @Destro are correct.  The license has to match the version.  The SP level is totally immaterial.  And as Destro also said, it is possible to change the version of the source you have in order to match the license you have access to.  But again, the SP level has nothing to do with that.  You might be thinking of the Upgrade discs that were sold, for XP SP2 for example, but the license that went along with that was only required if you were "upgrading" from a non-XP OS such as Win2K.  If you already had a licensed version of XP, then SP2 was available for download for free, and would install with the original XP license you already had, as rloew explained.

Cheers and Regards

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8 hours ago, ThomasW said:

Is it on a sticker on a PC?

 

Actually it's the original installation media (SP3) and accompanying paperwork, but I preserved the sticker too.  I saw on E-bay that people had "just media" OEM copies for sale, so that's probably the answer.  As long as I don't include the key or the sticker, I probably could sell the media.  But I may just hold onto it just to be sure (or destroy it).

9 hours ago, Destro said:

Licenses like that are not transferable. 

This is what I originally thought.  But some of the things I was reading when I searched the question made it so I wasn't too sure.  Especially with the question of an end-user reselling a used copy as opposed to an OEM provider of parts.

7 hours ago, ThomasW said:

I always thought that the license had to match the installation medium.  For example, you can't use a RTM license with a Windows XP SP2 CD.

 

The others are right.  The Service Pack build of the original install media is irrelevant.  If I can patch a RTM XP image to SP3 and then install it, then that really should make no difference in comparison, if I can get an original SP3 image from Microsoft.

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Media and paperwork are absolutely wothless without the sticker because You should enter CD-Key from this sticker during Windows installation and automatically activate Windows via Internet (or manually activate Windows via telephone) after installation.

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4 hours ago, bphlpt said:

  The SP level is totally immaterial.

It is immaterial, BUT there is a slight difference.

Up to XP SP2 the install procedure *needed*  a (matching) product key to be typed in at install time.

Starting with XP SP3 it is possible to defer the entering of the key to post install.

It is a sort of "trial period" that may be useful to evaluate for 30 days,  expecially nowadays that support for newish hardware is - to say the least - flaky, the OS on the specific machine without having a serial number at all, only the install files/cd.

And - as a side note - "large" OEM's (such as an example HP or Dell) have often (largely senselessly and often in  very subtle ways) modified the install disc, introducing some changes that - besides possibly "linking" the install to a given hardware, may create issues when the install disc is used to create a PE.

 

@Glenn999

The whole point is that - in theory - the OEM license is granted to you exclusively for the given hardware, and it expires exactly the same moment the given hardware is disposed of/destroyed/etc.

It is not much about the fact that it may be illegal to sell the product key, it is more like the fact that a product key has not any legal value, and as such it would be silly to actually pay for it.

Of course on e-bay you will find tens or hundreds of such completely illegal sketchy items for sale, and of course there are hundreds of morons less experienced people actually buying them.

And now for some fun, an example of actually illegal (in the US) number :w00t::

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_prime

jaclaz

 

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The OEM Windows license may be transferred only with the PC on which the PC manufacturer installed it. The key pieces of the hardware are: the case (on which the PC manufacturer should attach the key sticker) and the motherboard (see Note 1). The end user should also keep the purchase documentation to prove that he buy Windows license with the PC.

End user can't resell OEM license w/o the PC. If you resell it with the PC, you should provide to the new owner the original purchase documentation and the installation/restore media received from the PC manufacturer (if any).

Note 1: any repair and/or replacement of the PC motherboard should be made by the PC manufacturer or authorized service to keep the OEM license.

Edited by Yellow Horror
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1 hour ago, Yellow Horror said:

The OEM Windows license may be transferred only with the PC on which the PC manufacturer installed it. The key pieces of the hardware are: the case (on which the PC manufacturer should attach the key sticker) and the motherboard (see Note 1). The end user should also keep the purchase documentation to prove that he buy Windows license with the PC.

End user can't resell OEM license w/o the PC. If you resell it with the PC, you should provide to the new owner the original purchase documentation and the installation/restore media received from the PC manufacturer (if any).

Note 1: any repair and/or replacement of the PC motherboard should be made by the PC manufacturer or authorized service to keep the OEM license.

Exactly there is legality differentiating "OEM" keys and "Retail" keys.  If it was a retail key you can just destroy the hardware and resell the license you own that out right. You can resell the OEM key provided that it appears to be unused and you can get around it with providing like a stick of ram (computer part) /w key and media. Otherwise the only way to resell the OEM key is to sell like the computer case with it.  

Note.

You asked about the legality of it, weather or not you would be prosecuted for it at this stage 2018 is entirely different. I am not a lawyer and I am not giving you legal advice but its my opinion as a end user you probably wouldn't.  I say this because there is no legal precedence for that.  MS generally goes after business not end users.

Edited by Destro
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2 minutes ago, Destro said:

You can resell the OEM key provided that it appears to be unused

No, you can't do this in a legal way. And if you try, the new owner don't acquire a legal Windows copy.

Basically, OEM Windows license legality is proved by two things:

  1. The key sticker on the case of the PC on which the copy of Windows is installed.
  2. The purchase documentation proving that the PC manufacturer (a company, not individual) sells Windows license with that PC.

The Windows version and level (such as "Home" or "Professional") must correspond with the key sticker.

It is better if Windows installation key matches with the key on the sticker and if you have original installation/restore media but this isn't really required.

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Saying about Retail Windows license, its legality is proved with two another things:

  1. The key certificate exactly matching the Windows installation key.
  2. The original installation media (even if in unusable state such as installation CD exploded in CD reader).
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