legal product key - illegal xp?

[Bruce Chambers]

Situation here is that I bought a new laptop last week. This comes with a
certificate of authenticity with a product key from Acer. The version of
windows comes with a restore disc on a hidden partition. When I first
switched on the laptop I was prompted to create a restore DVD.
I then went to use the restore disc to sort out partitions and it turns out
the disc had missing files. This rendered my laptop useless as it had
overwritten my install but failed to install so I had no OS. It is supposed
to be possible to hold down alt+f10 at boot to get to the hidden partition
to reinstall but that did not work.

This would be the point at which you contact Acer's Technical Support
for assistance, particularly since you have a problem immediately
Out-of-the-Box. This is a warranty issue.

As an emergency I downloaded XP pro on another pc and managed to reinstall
onto the laptop.

It's not possible to download any legitimate versions of WinXP, so that
will be of very little help.

I have spoken to Acer and they are going to arrange for another restore disc
to be sent out but I am not sure I trust their restore disc setup anymore.

Then return the laptop to Acer and purchase a different brand. When
you decided to buy Acer, you decided to accept *their* recovery mechanism.

I am wondering if I download a copy of XP home can I use it legally with my
legal product key?

No. First of all, there is *NO* legitimate source from which you can
download WinXP Home, unless you have a very expensive MSDN subscription.
Secondly, your OEM Product Key won't work with any version of WinXP
other than OEM. Product Keys are bound to the specific type and
language of CD and/or license (OEM, Volume, retail, full, or Upgrade)
with which they are purchased. For example, a WinXP Home OEM Product
Key won't work for any retail version of WinXP Home, or for any version
of WinXP Pro, and vice versa. An upgrade's Product Key cannot be used
with a full version CD, and vice versa. An OEM Product Key will not
work to install a retail product. An Italian Product Key will not work
with an English CD. Bottom line: Product Keys and CD types cannot be
mixed & matched.

I don't want to be running illegal software on my laptop
but for some reason I am under the impression that when you get XP you pay
for the license key, not the software. Is this correct?

In effect, yes. Technically, you pay for the use of the license, and
the Product Key is a means of verifying that you're entitled to use that
license. But the Product Key that you have will work only with a
legitimate OEM installation CD, or the Acer Recovery CD.


--

Bruce Chambers

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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Bill Sharpe]

Hi

You can't legally download any OS - including XP. FAST is wrong.

Don't be so inclusive. You can surely download Linux legally.

Bill

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Don't be so inclusive. You can surely download Linux legally.

Bill

You're correct, of course, but, as this is a Microsoft newsgroup hosted
on a Microsoft server, Will was correct within that limited context.
I'm confident that by "any OS" he really meant "any Microsoft OS."


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Greg Rozelle]

Thanks for the help. I tried searching on Google for some assistance on
this matter but there's not alot of help in that area.
I have the line of thinking that you pay for the license/product key when
you get XP so it should not matter where it is sourced providing you use the
key you are licensed for. But then it may be a different case for restore
sets.

Another words he could get the install cd from a friend and use he key
to fix his machine. There is nothing wrong with that because he is
using his own key.

However, I would never trust download xp off the Internet. You can
actual order a restore cd from the company or Microsoft might be able
to send you a replacement cd for a small fee.

If any say this is wrong. Please post the part of the EULA here that
shows this.

Greg Rozelle

 

[Greg Rozelle]

Then return the laptop to Acer and purchase a different brand. When
you decided to buy Acer, you decided to accept *their* recovery mechanism.

Bruce.
I don't know if things have changed.
I have a windows xp sp1 emachine computer.
I was able to do a total clean install of xp.

I used the i386 folder from the original installation to get rid of
all the extra stuff I didn't want. It was a little difficult to do
because I didn't have another OS installed. I did download the
drivers for this system.

I was able to use the product key on the back of my machine. Which
was an actual oem key.


Greg Rozelle

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Bruce.
I don't know if things have changed.
I have a windows xp sp1 emachine computer.
I was able to do a total clean install of xp.

I used the i386 folder from the original installation to get rid of
all the extra stuff I didn't want. It was a little difficult to do
because I didn't have another OS installed. I did download the
drivers for this system.

I was able to use the product key on the back of my machine. Which
was an actual oem key.


Greg Rozelle

I expect that such a method would meet with varying degrees of success,
depending upon whether or not each OEM leaves the \i386 folder on the
hard drive, and precise which files are included or omitted from the
folder. However, even if all of the necessary files are present, this
is not the sort of technique that a novice would be able to pull off.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Sigmundur Jonsson]

You're correct, of course, but, as this is a Microsoft newsgroup
hosted on a Microsoft server, Will was correct within that limited
context. I'm confident that by "any OS" he really meant "any Microsoft OS."

Yeah probably, because there are many free OSes out there (Linux anyone?
)