Do I have a licensed copy and will I have trouble reiinstalling?

[mm]

Do I have a licensed copy and will I have trouble reinstalling?

Is it common for it to reject the internet registration but accept on
the first try a phone registration 5 minutes later?


I need to do maybe a Restore REinstall because, as in another thread,
XP will not fully boot.

I bought my copy of XP at a hamfest about a year ago, for less than
retail (when it was getting hard to get a retail copy at a store), in
the original fancy windows folder, and it had the sticker on the back
with the number on it, and the seller told me it was good and gave he
his business card (in South Carolina, when we were in Baltimore at the
time, but a lot of people come from far away for this big hamfest.**)

When I installed it three months ago, I didn't register it for 3
weeks***, and when I entered the numbers and letters in the webpage,
it rejected it. I verified that I had copyied it correctly and I had,
and the page came back with a phone number. I called the phone number
and did what I was told, and it didn't complain and I've been using
windows xp for a total of 3 months with no complaints by ms.



**And his other webpage is ibuysoftware.com , so he does go looking
for software, although how would he know if the license is good or
not? Someone could lie to him. Or he did look for software, because
both of the webpages are gone. I have a phone number and an address
and a name, but I have no reason to complain yet.

***Which was a mistake in case I woudl have had to go get a license, I
woudl have had to rush and also maybe pay more.

TIA

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Do I have a licensed copy and will I have trouble reinstalling?

No idea. I cannot see you, your copy of Windows XP, your proof of purchase,
your CoA, etc.

Is it common for it to reject the internet registration but accept
on the first try a phone registration 5 minutes later?

Common? No.
Possible? Yep.

I need to do maybe a Restore REinstall because, as in another
thread, XP will not fully boot.

A restore reinstall? Wha?

Do not 'refer' to other threads without linking to them. ;-)

I bought my copy of XP at a hamfest about a year ago, for less than
retail (when it was getting hard to get a retail copy at a store),
in the original fancy windows folder, and it had the sticker on the
back with the number on it, and the seller told me it was good and
gave he his business card (in South Carolina, when we were in
Baltimore at the time, but a lot of people come from far away for
this big hamfest.**)

When I installed it three months ago, I didn't register it for 3
weeks***, and when I entered the numbers and letters in the webpage,
it rejected it. I verified that I had copyied it correctly and I
had, and the page came back with a phone number. I called the
phone number and did what I was told, and it didn't complain and
I've been using windows xp for a total of 3 months with no
complaints by ms.



**And his other webpage is ibuysoftware.com , so he does go looking
for software, although how would he know if the license is good or
not? Someone could lie to him. Or he did look for software, because
both of the webpages are gone. I have a phone number and an
address and a name, but I have no reason to complain yet.

***Which was a mistake in case I woudl have had to go get a
license, I woudl have had to rush and also maybe pay more.

You likely got taken - but...

http://www.microsoft.com/howtotell/
http://www.microsoft.com/howtotell/windows/

 

[mm]

No idea. I cannot see you, your copy of Windows XP, your proof of purchase,
your CoA, etc.


Common? No.
Possible? Yep.

If it happened, would that imply that the number was good and will
continue to work? Or that's bad and it likely won't work the next
time if it asks for the number during the reinstall.

Is it likely to ask for the number during a repair, not a recovery
reinstall?
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

A restore reinstall? Wha?

Sorry. I meant a repair reinstall, a la the link above.

Do not 'refer' to other threads without linking to them. ;-)

Sorry, I think all that matters is that I have to do a repair
reinstall.

You likely got taken - but...

http://www.microsoft.com/howtotell/
http://www.microsoft.com/howtotell/windows/

After viewing the urls, I'm convinced I have a real CD, but not that
someone else isn't using the numbers already. Is it possible to
check on that without the MS Police coming to get me?

 

[sandy58]

Do I have a licensed copy and will I have trouble reinstalling?

Is it common for it to reject the internet registration but accept on
the first try a phone registration 5 minutes later?

I need to do maybe a Restore REinstall because, as in another thread,
XP will not fully boot.

I bought my copy of XP at a hamfest about a year ago, for less than
retail (when it was getting hard to get a retail copy at a store), in
the original fancy windows folder, and it had the sticker on the back
with the number on it, and the seller told me it was good and gave he
his business card (in South Carolina, when we were in Baltimore at the
time, but a lot of people come from far away for this big hamfest.**)

When I installed it three months ago, I didn't register it for 3
weeks***, and when I entered the numbers and letters in the webpage,
it rejected it. I verified that I had copyied it correctly and I had,
and the page came back with a phone number.  I called the phone number
and did what I was told, and it didn't complain and I've been using
windows xp for a total of 3 months with no complaints by ms.

**And his other webpage is ibuysoftware.com , so he does go looking
for software, although how would he know if the license is good or
not? Someone could lie to him.  Or he did look for software, because
both of the webpages are gone.   I have a phone number and an address
and a name, but I have no reason to complain yet.

***Which was a mistake in case I woudl have had to go get a license, I
woudl have had to rush and also maybe pay more.

TIA

Is it common for it to reject the internet registration but accept on
the first try a phone registration 5 minutes later?

Yes. Regularly. Some people boast about never having to re-install
Windows or format their hard drive. They must live sheltered 'net
lives.

 

[Bennett Marco]

Yes. Regularly. Some people boast about never having to re-install
Windows or format their hard drive. They must live sheltered 'net
lives.

No... they know how to maintain their computers, and they don't play
around with P2P file sharing or warez downloading.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

If it happened, would that imply that the number was good and will
continue to work? Or that's bad and it likely won't work the next
time if it asks for the number during the reinstall.

Is it likely to ask for the number during a repair, not a recovery
reinstall?
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Sorry. I meant a repair reinstall, a la the link above.


Sorry, I think all that matters is that I have to do a repair
reinstall.


After viewing the urls, I'm convinced I have a real CD, but not that
someone else isn't using the numbers already. Is it possible to
check on that without the MS Police coming to get me?

*You* cannot tell if someone else is using the product keys. It is also
highly unlikely that Microsoft can tell - especially if things are done with
a certain timing.

In any case - all it means (having to call instead of activating over the
internet) is that the product key was used for installation in a given
number of days before you tried to activate it. If you had waited long
enough - you could have activated over the Internet (since the phone
activation worked in the end.) If you wait more than 1/2 a year before
re-installing (although I have machine I have not done a clean install on in
8+ years) - you could probably activate over the internet again.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

<snip>

Yes. Regularly. Some people boast about never having to re-install
Windows or format their hard drive. They must live sheltered 'net
lives.

No... they know how to maintain their computers, and they don't play
around with P2P file sharing or warez downloading.

I agree with Bennett Marco here, except I would go a step further...

"They know how to maintain their computers" is all that needs to be said.
Beyond that - everything else can be handled.

 

[Daave]

I would like to echo Shenan's remark. The *only* person in this
newsgroup that would know whether or not you have a license to run XP on
your PC is *you*! What is the make and model of your PC? Does it have a
COA sticker on it? If so, what is it for? You may already have an OEM
license. And if that's the case, it would have made more sense to
purchase an OEM installation CD, rather than a Retail one!

Did you in fact purchase a Retail CD? (If your PC doesn't have a licnese
to run XP, at least the Retail CD provides you with such a license.)
Keep in mind if it wasn't shrink-wrapped, at least one other person
knows the Product Key! You very well may have made a big mistake buying
that. :-(

Typically, if it has been less than 120 days since the last activation
or if you made a certain combination of hardware changes, automatic
Internet activation doesn't occur. Of course, the telephone method
should work in this case. Then again, if someone else is using your
Product Key, you will eventually run into problems!

If it happened, would that imply that the number was good and will
continue to work? Or that's bad and it likely won't work the next
time if it asks for the number during the reinstall.

Is it likely to ask for the number during a repair, not a recovery
reinstall?
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Sorry. I meant a repair reinstall, a la the link above.


Sorry, I think all that matters is that I have to do a repair
reinstall.


After viewing the urls, I'm convinced I have a real CD, but not that
someone else isn't using the numbers already. Is it possible to
check on that without the MS Police coming to get me?

Not that I know of.

In the future, only purchase something shrink-wrapped by a reputable
retailer! If that means you can only get a generic OEM CD (rather than a
Retail CD), that's what you should do (provided you have absolutely no
plans to transfer the license to another CD).

Also, you should always post before making such a purchase. For
instance, you might even have a hidden recovery partition on your
mystery PC, and we would be able to help you determine this and how to
perform the procedure.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Some people boast about never having to re-install
Windows or format their hard drive. They must live sheltered 'net
lives.

I have often stated here that I have run almost every version of
Windows since 3.0, usually on two or three machines here (at the
moment, there are four), and I have *never* needed to reformat or
reinstall Windows

And no, I don't live anything at all like a sheltered net life.

I don't boast about it at all, and even calling attention to myself is
not my point; my point is a matter of advice not to reformat and
reinstall unless all other attempts to fix a problem fail. Anyone who
is reasonably careful about what he does should be able to do the same
thing as I do.

 

[Jose]

Do I have a licensed copy and will I have trouble reinstalling?

Is it common for it to reject the internet registration but accept on
the first try a phone registration 5 minutes later?

I need to do maybe a Restore REinstall because, as in another thread,
XP will not fully boot.

I bought my copy of XP at a hamfest about a year ago, for less than
retail (when it was getting hard to get a retail copy at a store), in
the original fancy windows folder, and it had the sticker on the back
with the number on it, and the seller told me it was good and gave he
his business card (in South Carolina, when we were in Baltimore at the
time, but a lot of people come from far away for this big hamfest.**)

When I installed it three months ago, I didn't register it for 3
weeks***, and when I entered the numbers and letters in the webpage,
it rejected it. I verified that I had copyied it correctly and I had,
and the page came back with a phone number.  I called the phone number
and did what I was told, and it didn't complain and I've been using
windows xp for a total of 3 months with no complaints by ms.

**And his other webpage is ibuysoftware.com , so he does go looking
for software, although how would he know if the license is good or
not? Someone could lie to him.  Or he did look for software, because
both of the webpages are gone.   I have a phone number and an address
and a name, but I have no reason to complain yet.

***Which was a mistake in case I woudl have had to go get a license, I
woudl have had to rush and also maybe pay more.

TIA

Think of it this way:

One single generic copy of an XP installation CD could serve the
world.

It is the license part that you pay for - not the CD.

The End User License Agreement (EULA) in or on your box of stuff is
between the person that paid for the license and Microsoft. The
understanding is you will be honest and not use that same license to
install another copy of XP on some other hardware.

You certainly can do so if you want.

When you activate/authenticate after installing, MS collects and
stores a little about your computer hardware and your license
information and stores it away as a set. If a second attempt to
activate the same license comes along later, the MS process will
decide if it looks enough like the same hardware or not and you get a
thumbs up or a thumbs down on your activation.

If you did some big hardware upgrade or just bought all new hardware,
MS would still have the old info from the original activation and may
complain that this license does not match the hardware info stored and
refuse to activate even though you are not trying to be a software
pirate. You are prompted to call and explain yourself. Convince them
of your legitimate situation (your word against their suspicion) and
you are all set.

This is why you can reinstall XP on the same hardware with no problem
- things still match. Put in a new motherboard though and use your
old CD, it really doesn't match anymore - and could be an issue
assuming Microsoft accumulates and really checks. Do they check
periodically even when you are not installing and just surfing just to
be sure to try and catch you? Opinions vary.

One person could pay for one CD and one license and then make 100
copies of the CD and 100 copies (on a piece of paper) of the license
and sell 100 CDs with the same license. What a smart guy! Things
will look fine, maybe, until activation time or (heaven forbid) you
need to talk to a real person at Microsoft. You can install all 100
copies on 100 different machines if you want, it is the activation
part that you have to get past (or get nagged about on your monitor).

It might work just fine - or, if the check and balance matching thing
of hardware to first license activation really does work (does it???)
the activation may get flagged it and prevent any activation until you
get help/explain with Microsoft, or you can say uh-oh...I'm rally
caught now and I better really pay for this if I want it to work. A
lot depends on trust, ethics, naivety of the buyer, skills of the
seller and consciences.

If you buy from a hamfest (I'm KQU7917) you may never see that person
again. Could be legit, maybe not. Things may be just fine.

 

[mm]

Think of it this way:

One single generic copy of an XP installation CD could serve the
world.

It is the license part that you pay for - not the CD.

The End User License Agreement (EULA) in or on your box of stuff is
between the person that paid for the license and Microsoft. The
understanding is you will be honest and not use that same license to
install another copy of XP on some other hardware.

You certainly can do so if you want.

I'm not trying to do anything dishonest. I knew when I bought the CD
that there was a possibilty someone else was still using the license.
But the vendor said that wasn't the case, and not every vendor is a
liar, and people were already moving to Vista, and there certainly
were licenses somewhere that weren't in use and could be sold.

So I bought it, and what struck me as strange is that the internet
wouldn't accept the Product Key, and I tried more than once, but the
telephone would.

When you activate/authenticate after installing, MS collects and
stores a little about your computer hardware and your license
information and stores it away as a set. If a second attempt to
activate the same license comes along later, the MS process will
decide if it looks enough like the same hardware or not and you get a
thumbs up or a thumbs down on your activation.

I doubt my computer looked anything like the previous one. There are
so many possibilities for every part.

If you did some big hardware upgrade or just bought all new hardware,
MS would still have the old info from the original activation and may
complain that this license does not match the hardware info stored and
refuse to activate even though you are not trying to be a software
pirate. You are prompted to call and explain yourself. Convince them

Yes, it gave a phone number to call. When I did call, I got another
computer and no opportunity to explain myself, just another chance to
put in the Product Key.

of your legitimate situation (your word against their suspicion) and
you are all set.

But if they ask questions on some other occasion, I think I can
convince them if anyone can.

This is why you can reinstall XP on the same hardware with no problem
- things still match. Put in a new motherboard though and use your
old CD, it really doesn't match anymore - and could be an issue
assuming Microsoft accumulates and really checks. Do they check
periodically even when you are not installing and just surfing just to
be sure to try and catch you? Opinions vary.
Interesting.

One person could pay for one CD and one license and then make 100
copies of the CD and 100 copies (on a piece of paper) of the license
and sell 100 CDs with the same license. What a smart guy! Things
will look fine, maybe, until activation time or (heaven forbid) you
need to talk to a real person at Microsoft. You can install all 100
copies on 100 different machines if you want, it is the activation
part that you have to get past (or get nagged about on your monitor).

It might work just fine - or, if the check and balance matching thing
of hardware to first license activation really does work (does it???)
the activation may get flagged it and prevent any activation until you
get help/explain with Microsoft, or you can say uh-oh...I'm rally
caught now and I better really pay for this if I want it to work. A
lot depends on trust, ethics, naivety of the buyer, skills of the
seller and consciences.

If you buy from a hamfest (I'm KQU7917) you may never see that person
again. Could be legit, maybe not. Things may be just fine.

Even if I do see the guy again -- they were a couple actually --, I
probably wouldn't recognize either of them. I'm so bad with faces.
And their two webpages are gone, but that doesn't mean they were
dishonest. Being honest is an even harder way to make a livign
sometimes and they could have just gotten tired of working hard for
little money. They are like a lot of vendors at big hamfests, they
come from far away (South Carolina to Baltimore, 7:33 hours each way
according to Yahoo maps) Gas, motel (or gas for an RV), being away
from home, spending all day at hte hamfest for not that much money
afaict. many have full-time jobs during the week. What it amounts to
is some people work very hard for their money and are probably looking
for something not so hard or that pays better.

 

[mm]

I would like to echo Shenan's remark. The *only* person in this
newsgroup that would know whether or not you have a license to run XP on
your PC is *you*! What is the make and model of your PC? Does it have a
COA sticker on it? If so, what is it for?

I assembled it myself from a variety of parts. It has no sticker, and
I first ran win98 on it, and later upgraded to win98SE.

I never had an OEM license.

You may already have an OEM
license. And if that's the case, it would have made more sense to
purchase an OEM installation CD, rather than a Retail one!

Did you in fact purchase a Retail CD? (If your PC doesn't have a licnese
to run XP, at least the Retail CD provides you with such a license.)
Keep in mind if it wasn't shrink-wrapped, at least one other person
knows the Product Key! You very well may have made a big mistake buying
that. :-(

It's in a 3 part glossy cardboard folder and is called Windows XP Home
Edition. The CD has a hologram and is labeled the same with a bunch
of drawings in two rows on the disk, each representing something XP
does like DVD, more than one image of a paper file folder, a 5-pointed
star, etc.. It's all silver or clear color and says Version 2002 on
the right side.

The disk is stuck on a foam rubber circle in the middle, and the right
third of the folder has a second piece of cardboard making a folder of
its own which held two matching brochures for Windows Home Edition
Version 2002.

TWo faces of the folder are green and the other four are orange. On
the back of the middle section is stuck one of those magnetic things
that merchants use to prevent theft, and below that is a sticker
called Product Key with the 25-character key. At the bottom is
another sticker that says "CD DET X08-26282".

So I think it's real and it was opened and like you say, one person at
least had likely used it between 2002 and 2008 when I bought it.

Typically, if it has been less than 120 days since the last activation
or if you made a certain combination of hardware changes, automatic

i possessed it myself more than 120 days before I tried to activate
it.

Internet activation doesn't occur. Of course, the telephone method
should work in this case. Then again, if someone else is using your
Product Key, you will eventually run into problems!

Not that I know of.

In the future, only purchase something shrink-wrapped by a reputable
retailer!

I know that is better, but I'm very short of money.

If that means you can only get a generic OEM CD (rather than a
Retail CD), that's what you should do (provided you have absolutely no
plans to transfer the license to another CD).

I do plan to upgrade the computer, with parts my friend gives me. He
has already given me a new mobo and cpu and he might give me other
things before I finish. Or I'll use stuff from the currents computer,
so that means I can't use OEM, right?

Also, you should always post before making such a purchase. For
instance, you might even have a hidden recovery partition on your
mystery PC, and we would be able to help you determine this and how to
perform the procedure.

No hidden partitions on this. I bought a new harddrive and did all
the partitioning. The HD is a part he never gave me until this last
time.

Thanks to you and to everyone who helped.

 

[mm]

*You* cannot tell if someone else is using the product keys. It is also
highly unlikely that Microsoft can tell - especially if things are done with
a certain timing.

In any case - all it means (having to call instead of activating over the
internet) is that the product key was used for installation in a given
number of days before you tried to activate it. If you had waited long
enough - you could have activated over the Internet (since the phone
activation worked in the end.) If you wait more than 1/2 a year before
re-installing (although I have machine I have not done a clean install on in
8+ years) - you could probably activate over the internet again.

Well, that would be fine. I don't mind using the phone. Thanks.

And thanks to everyone who helped.

 

[Bennett Marco]

<snip>




I agree with Bennett Marco here, except I would go a step further...

"They know how to maintain their computers" is all that needs to be said.
Beyond that - everything else can be handled.

And I'll add:

Proper maintenance includes making regular backups that can be used if
something in "everything else" can't be handled.

 

[Daave]

I assembled it myself from a variety of parts. It has no sticker, and
I first ran win98 on it, and later upgraded to win98SE.

I never had an OEM license.


It's in a 3 part glossy cardboard folder and is called Windows XP Home
Edition. The CD has a hologram and is labeled the same with a bunch
of drawings in two rows on the disk, each representing something XP
does like DVD, more than one image of a paper file folder, a 5-pointed
star, etc.. It's all silver or clear color and says Version 2002 on
the right side.

The disk is stuck on a foam rubber circle in the middle, and the right
third of the folder has a second piece of cardboard making a folder of
its own which held two matching brochures for Windows Home Edition
Version 2002.

TWo faces of the folder are green and the other four are orange. On
the back of the middle section is stuck one of those magnetic things
that merchants use to prevent theft, and below that is a sticker
called Product Key with the 25-character key. At the bottom is
another sticker that says "CD DET X08-26282".

So I think it's real and it was opened and like you say, one person at
least had likely used it between 2002 and 2008 when I bought it.


i possessed it myself more than 120 days before I tried to activate
it.


I know that is better, but I'm very short of money.


I do plan to upgrade the computer, with parts my friend gives me. He
has already given me a new mobo and cpu and he might give me other
things before I finish. Or I'll use stuff from the currents computer,
so that means I can't use OEM, right?

Wrong.

You *can* use a generic (System Builder's) OEM CD/license (as long as
you are absolutely sure you will never transfer it to another PC).
Upgrading parts in a PC does not constitute a transfer of license to
another PC.

Hopefully, you can continue to use your Retail license without future
hassles. But if you ever want to purchase the type of CD mentioned
above, here is one place you can still find it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116511

 

[mm]

You *can* use a generic (System Builder's) OEM CD/license (as long as
you are absolutely sure you will never transfer it to another PC).
Upgrading parts in a PC does not constitute a transfer of license to
another PC.

Good to know. Thanks.

Hopefully, you can continue to use your Retail license without future
hassles. But if you ever want to purchase the type of CD mentioned
above, here is one place you can still find it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116511

It occurs to me that since you can install XP in many computers from
one disk, why does MS make people run around looking to buy a CD in
order to get a license. Why don't they just sell licenses online.
Even if their price is high, some people would pay it so they didn't
have to go shopping.

 

[Bennett Marco]

Good to know. Thanks.

It occurs to me that since you can install XP in many computers from
one disk, why does MS make people run around looking to buy a CD in
order to get a license. Why don't they just sell licenses online.
Even if their price is high, some people would pay it so they didn't
have to go shopping.

You can buy your CD online, bozo. And then just wait until it's
delivered to your doorstep.

 

[ANONYMOUS]

mm,

When you ask questions about Windows License on these NGs, you are not
likely to get straight clear cut answer. The reason is there are
members of the pig society who think that anyone asking a question
here is a pirate unless he proves otherwise. So the burden falls on
the poster.

My answer to your question is you should always perform a clean
install of the OS and then try to activate it online. If it fails,
there is always a telephone method to activate.

If you want any assistance you can always search the web and download
a copy of XP that accepts Volume License Key but which requires no
activation. If MS wants to be difficult with customers, so be it.
There is always a way out.

By the way, I am very religious and highly ethical but I don't like
that antipodean by the name of S. Stanley or that Pig-Bear. In fact I
don't like anybody who is a member of the swine Society.

I am always available to help people who want to help themselves.

 

[mm]

You can buy your CD online, bozo. And then just wait until it's
delivered to your doorstep.

Until they and everyone else runs out, dingdong.

And they don't deliver everywhere.

 

[Chuck]

I'd have to mostly agree with you. The only times I've had to do windows re
installs involved hardware failure on my own systems, and what you would
refer to as replacement computers. Most of our computers have some form of
"retail" version instead of machine limited OEM versions.

What can get a bit scary is when the windows copy and key was obtained
directly from Microsoft under a promotional or other arrangement,
(Subscription, etc.)
and installation on a new machine or reinstall on an old one gives me grief.

Seems that non Microsoft key "generators" come into play, and may very well
generate codes that duplicate existing and heretofore valid keys.
China and Russia were major sources at one time.
Microsoft may then lock out whole key sequences, forcing a user to call.