[Question] - vlk and oem?

[Ven]

what the difference between the 2 versions of XP pro?

Title Edited - Please follow new posting rules from now on.

--Zxian

Edited December 12, 2005 by Zxian

[redxii]

OEM comes from a computer manufacturer (Dell, ...) or from a retailer which you are supposed to buy hardware to go with.

OEM has activation. Volume license does not, but is NOT licensed to home users. You can't just buy one license for one computer you have to buy it for many. Illegal versions are usually volume license.

[Zxian]

Pretty much what he said.

OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer

In terms of software, it usually means that the software comes with something else. For Windows, this means that it comes with hardware (i.e. a computer). Pretty much all licences of XP that are purchased along with a computer are OEM. This also means that the copy of Windows that you just purchased is tied to that particular computer (can't transfer the licence to another computer).

VLK - Volume Licence Key

This is a key that is meant for large corporations. Basically, if you don't know what it is, you shouldn't be dealing with it.

[Ven]

sorry.. i have not visited this forum for some time.. so the vlk can be used as many times as u want and on as many computers u want while the oem ones can be used only once and on one cmputer..

[Zxian]

For OEM, it can only be used for one computer. However, you can re-install Windows on that computer as many times as you want.

For VLK, what you said is half-correct. A VLK can be installed on an infinite amount of computers, since there is no activation required. However, doing so is illegal. I just made that bold and red to emphasize rule #1 on the MSFN rules (see link at top of page). Like I said, unless you know the ins and outs of VLKs, you shouldn't be using them.

A VLK is given to a company by Microsoft with a certain number of computers that it is allowed to be installed on. If the VLK is licenced for 1000 computers, and the company installs it on 1001 or more, they are breaking their contract with Microsoft (which can lead to serious legal action).

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

A simple question that would require tons of reading, but I'm sure you can give me a YES/No answer:

some government institution is holding an auction on used laptops (obviously VLK) along with OS (XP Professional) installed. If I buy one, is the license transferred to me automatically?

[Kelsenellenelvian]

I would say only for that one installation...

If you were to reformatt you would need to provide a new media and key.

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

some government institution is holding an auction on used laptops (obviously VLK) along with OS (XP Professional) installed. If I buy one, is the license transferred to me automatically?

VLK licenses cannot be transferred and if the agency installs a VLK licensed XP Pro, they have to remove it before selling it (its part of the VL agreement)

however, they may not be VLK even if the institution has a VL agreement if the laptops shipped with an OEM install (most do) if the machine still has the COA sticker on it you can reinstall the OEM OS using the recovery partition/disc.

[cluberti]

Note that most VL installations under Microsoft license agreements are *upgrade* licenses, in that they can only be installed on top of a machine that has an OEM or retail install of Windows on it. Now, as PC said, part of the agreement is that if you ever transfer ownership of that machine to any other entity, you MUST remove the VL install and restore the previous installation of Windows (or at least wipe the hard disk clean and provide the new owner of the machine all of the OEM media that shipped with the machine when purchased). If you get the machine and suspect the install is not an OEM install or retail install, you would probably want to wipe the install and do a clean install from the media that shipped with the machine (assuming it's an OEM computer - if it's retail, and you purchased the retail copy of Windows with the machine as part of the purchase, you should have the retail packaging, and if you do not the install of Windows is technically illegal).