license agreement and sharing

[cardo71]

I purchased my computer with XP Home edition and upgraded
to XP proffessional. I would like to give my copy and
license of my home edition to a friend. Can I do this?
Will there be registration conflicts when she goes to
register this copy? Or did my registration switch when I
registered the proffesional edition? How does this work?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Question:

"I purchased my computer with XP Home edition and upgraded
to XP Professional. I would like to give my copy and
license of my home edition to a friend. Can I do this?"

Answer:

No. When you upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro, the license
for XP Home is combined with the upgrade license for XP Pro
and forms one license. The only exception is if one were to
upgrade XP Home using a "Full Retail Version" of XP Pro
and not upgrade using the "Retail Upgrade Version" of XP Pro.

Additionally, new computers that have Windows XP preinstalled
are "OEM Versions" of Windows XP and that license is non-
transferable to a different computer.

Please open XP's "Help and Support Center" and type: EULA
in the Search box, then click on "Questions and answers about
the End User License Agreement".

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

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:

| I purchased my computer with XP Home edition and upgraded
| to XP proffessional. I would like to give my copy and
| license of my home edition to a friend. Can I do this?
| Will there be registration conflicts when she goes to
| register this copy? Or did my registration switch when I
| registered the proffesional edition? How does this work?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I purchased my computer with XP Home edition and upgraded
to XP proffessional. I would like to give my copy and
license of my home edition to a friend. Can I do this?
Will there be registration conflicts when she goes to
register this copy? Or did my registration switch when I
registered the proffesional edition? How does this work?

What you can/cannot do depends greatly on some information you neglected to
include.

You purchased your computer with Windows XP Home edition. Does this mean it
came pre-installed? Did you receive a boxed retail version of Windows XP
Home edition or did the number (for installation) come on a sticker likely
stuck to your machine? Was the machine a Dell, Gateway, HP or other type?

** If it came with it installed and you did NOT receive a boxed retail copy
of Windows XP Home edition (like one you would purchase from Best Buy,
Circuit City, etc) then it is part of the original machine and in a strict
"agreed to the EULA" sense, it MUST stay with that machine, even if that
machine ceases to function.

You "upgraded" to Windows XP Professional edition. Did you purchase and use
an Upgrade (retail) edition of Windows XP Professional? If you did use an
"upgrade edition", then in a strict "agreed to the EULA" sense, you used the
license of the Windows XP Home edition in order to upgrade to the Windows XP
Professional edition and now the two licenses are tied together. If you
purchased Windows XP Professional OEM/Retail edition (not "upgrade
version") - AND you freshly installed the OS - erasing everything on your
computer and starting over with the new CD - and you Home Edition is not
OEM/part of the computer as explained previously - then you can give it/sell
it to whom ever you want.

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

If your computer came pre-loaded with WinXp Home, then you cannot transfer
it to a friend. If you ever have to format your drive and reinstall, you
will need the disc(s) that came with the computer to upgrade with the WinXP
Pro disc. An upgrade disc cannot do a clean install. Your friend will be
better off buying his.her own copy.

Bobby

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

No, you cannot transfer the WinXP Home license to anyone else.

First of all, based upon the description you've provided, you have
an OEM license for WinXP Home. An OEM version must be sold with a
piece of hardware (normally a motherboard or hard rive, if not an
entire PC) and is _permanently_ bound to the first PC on which it's
installed. An OEM license, once installed, is not legally
transferable to another computer under _any_
circumstances. You can remove or replace it, if you like, but you can
neither reuse it on a different computer or resell it.

Additionally, If you use an Upgrade version of WinXP Pro, the
license for WinXP Home will be subsumed (became an integral part of)
by the WinXP Pro Upgrade license. Basically, you have no license to
use the Upgrade version without there also being an earlier qualifying
license _permanently_ in place.


Bruce Chambers
--
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