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volume license keys?


colemancb

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hey, i have a question.

well two, actually.

first off, my school has over 400 PCs, and they bought seperate licenses for each one, wouldn't they just get a volume license key?

and secondly, i remember reading somewhere that i can change a value to get my XP cd to accept a volume license key, and therefore, not require activation. can someone tell me if there is any truth to this?

thanks.

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#1 it depends on what type of contract they have for the hardware usually, in the case of the school, i'd expect it'd be different machine each time they buy, sometimes dell, sometimes another manufacturer, and because they are a school, they get the XP license for an educational price so it would probably be cheaper the way they do it now, different license for each machine, the only downside is that keeping control of the licenses could be a nightmare, considering kids could get the sticker from the machine and just use it at home, VLK are for corporations with thousands of machines and so they get a VLK and declare to MS how many machines they are using it for and then get billed accordingly, VLK usually go hand in hand with a CHP (Common Hardware Profile) but not always, it's all designed to make life easier for the corporate tech's, one type of computer one type of OS, one problem one fix for all, If only it really worked that way huh guys!!! ;-)

#2 asking questions like this won't win you many friends around here, piracy is not something MSFN is about, it's more a community about squeezing XP for every last ounce of CPU cycle.

Hope this $0.02 helped.

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what is a volume liscence key?

i think my school used like a single windows xp cd....because they did it with the typing program for keyboarding class. (they installed it onto a server...so every time you do something, it will say that it cannot read from drive D (the cd drive))

Edited by Wolf_Demon
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OKay, I know it's piracy, but since when does anyone care about that around here? Don't BS me and say you have bought every piece of software you own.

Not a big deal, however, I was most interested in my first question. They did buy ALL Their PCs from Dell. I Wasn't sure if they could just buy one key for every PC and pay like around $1,000 (maybe I'm shooting a bit low) or what. And, I know they didn't do this, so I couldn't use their key anyway.

I wasn't asking for a CD Key or a pirated version, just if it was possible to allow my copy to ACCEPT these keys, therefore circumventing activations. Didnt say anything about copying, downloading or the like.

Thanks for the input.

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my school has a bunch of computers that they have bough in the last 5 years and half of them came with xp on them but they installed 2000 on all of them. this year they bough a vlk and installed windows thru the lan. so maybe ur school did something like that, the oem key that is on the sticker on the case wont work for a regular install of xp and they come with the comp anyways so who rly cares. they are pretty much useless.

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@Wolf Demon

VLK = Volume License Key = Single Windows XP key used to activate X amount of Windows XP Install's AKA "Corporate Key", OEM's use them to install their standard build on each PC and corporations use them to manage their windows Licensing easier.

@Superlevel

I'm not totally sure about this as i've never worked in an academic IT dept, but for educational institutes they can get their licenses cheaper anyhow and i'm not sure if MS provide a VLK for academic institutes although it'd certainly make life easier for them. as for your school situation the IT dept might not be in the know about the full licensing options, or just might not care too much about it, there are a lot of contributing factors involved both pro's and con's to VLK and multiple Key's, to be honest you'd be real surprised by how many IT dept's that don't know about VLK's or evan that asking a tech to install a piece of "known" illegal software on a PC ( in the US at least ) is criminal for both the tech and the person asking and does have harsh repurcusions (SP?).

As for piracy yes it happens but that's no reason to fluant it on this board and attract unwanted attention from the powers that be. (as it were!)

P388l3s

Edit: and just to add to this the keys that you find on OEM equipment (IE Dell, Hp, Gateway etc ) are now subject to telephone validation only thanks to piracy and MS big crackdown on the whole thing, which is just another reason why it's better for businesses to buy VLK's for their IT Dept ( if they take their IT seriously that is )

Edited by p388l3s
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Why can't we have an adult and meaningfull discussion on a topic without some folks getting their panties all in a wad and poking accusations of "Piracy" at someone?

It's a fact of life like hemorroids.....get over it! :realmad:

As long as no-one is offering to sell you a pirated version of some "Holy" software what's the big deal anyway?

If this or any forum dies, it will be because of you "Holy'er than thou" guys that run off the rest of us by refusing to engage in a meaningfull dialog on some topic you feel is "verboten".

:whistle:

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Now, I'm no lawyer, but the last time I checked, asking questions wasn't illegal. Not even when the topic of the question is itself illegal. If it was, schools, or even parents, wouldn't be allowed to teach drug awareness classes for fear of legal action.

Secondly, knowing how to commit a crime does not make you a criminal. For example, I'm sure I could figure out how to throw a brick through a window, but that doesn't make me a looter.

Thirdly, again admitting that I am no lawyer and haven't read every line of the Windows EULA, I suspect in the strictist sense of the law, much of what we do openly discuss is also illegal. I find it hard to believe that there is nothing in the EULA that prohibits users from modifying the Windows files, but how many people here do not make use a "patched" tcpip.sys file to allow more simultaneous connections, or a "hacked" uxtheme.dll to allow un-MS-signed themes to be implemented? I bet, if any, it is a relatively small minority. Seems to me that makes slamming Superlevel for his question and labeling him a pirate not only ignorant but also hypocritical.

There, I've said my piece. Now, since amidst all the flaming that went on here I don't think it ever got answered, I will post what I know on the topic.

hey, i have a question.

well two, actually.

first off, my school has over 400 PCs, and they bought seperate licenses for each one, wouldn't they just get a volume license key?

and secondly, i remember reading somewhere that i can change a value to get my XP cd to accept a volume license key, and therefore, not require activation.  can someone tell me if there is any truth to this?

thanks.

I would tend to agree with you that a VLK would serve them better, Superlevel. It would certainly make managing the licensing paperwork a much simpler task. However, I'm guessing that we are talking about a public school system here and, let's face it, the government has never been known for a tendancy to keep things simple. ;)

I'm not entirely certain about your second point. I know that there is a particular file on the CD that identifies which type of license it should recognize (OEM, consumer or VLK) and therefore what key it should accept. I know it is possible to change that file to have it accept a different type of key. However, I have always been under the impression that it is something else entirely that determines whether or not activation is mandatory. Meaning that if you were to crack a VLK CD to accept a consumer key you would not need to register, and if you were to crack a consumer CD to accept a VLK key it would still require activiation. Again, I'm not completely sure though.

No, I don't know what file(s) need(s) to be modified, and no, I don't know a link to somewhere that does. And no, I wouldn't post one even if I did, because I am quite certain that it is a topic that violates this site's rules of conduct.

So, while it is possible, I think the community as a whole would prefer if you kept further inquiries on this topic away from this board.

Hope this helps.

Edited by Cartoonite
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Thanks for the help, Cartoonite. Yes, it is a public school, and yes, the tech people don't really know what they're doing, so they probably didn't even think of a VLK.

And, I didn't even think of the activation that way, it makes sense that even if I did change what type of key it accepted, it would still require activation because of other files in the Home edition vs a VLK edition.

Thanks for the help.

(lock please.)

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OK Look so far i've been willing to provide information within the bounds of this boards rules, so slam away if you like but i'm trying to keep a clean nose here get it?

as far as keys go it's like this, yes you can change an oem to a VLK by editing a file to make it recognize a VLK key ( although i'm not sure if you have to delete some extra stuff too or not ), but even if you do this your still foobar'd by the WGA - windows genuine advantage, by making a copy of XP accept a VLK you effectively sidestep the Windows activation portion of windows setup, hence the reason for WGA, now all of this i know is correct for XP Pro but i'm pretty sure that XP Home is a different kettle of fish.

As for how to do this well google is your best friend isn't it. armed with the knowledge you gotten from this thread a search term shouldn't be hard to work out.

you are right information in and of itself isn't breaking the law, but i wish not to get my IP and username banned for discussing piracy issues against board rules, as it is i find this website to be very helpful for Windows hacking and automation info.

as always just my $0.02

Edited by p388l3s
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After all is said, done and questioned, It IS much easier all round

to simply purchase a valid os from a msft valid supplier...Keep it and

if windows dies, simply format and reinstall...no mystery...we all are

running out of time on the planet; accordingly, as Einstein once said...

"Everything should be made as simple as possible--not simpler."

:thumbup

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