I was building my system and purchased a MSI motherboard that came with a
free copy of 64 bit Windows XP. I lost the product key that was sent to my
old email at (e-mail address removed) and was wondering how to obtain another
copy of the product key. I do have the original email with the order ID, it
is: (please contact me)
Thank you for your assistance
You will have to get this information from the third-party which sold you
the MSI motherboard, since Microsoft does not provide support for OEM
Microsoft software (other than the initial install). If you want support
from Microsoft, you will have to pay $35/incident for support after that.
Unless the company which sold you the OEM software is willing to provide you
with another CD key for free or at a reduced rate (they actually don't have
to), you are SOL.
Many third-party OEMS do not keep records of the Microsoft licenses they
sell, and therefore, are not even able to provide the original COA
("Certificate of Authenticity"), even if they were inclined to do so. It's
just too much record-keeping for them. As far as I know, Microsoft produces
exactly ONE COA (which contains the CD key/license) for each product.
Whether THEY keep a record of which COAs are provided to which third-party
sellers or not, I don't know. But I am inclined to believe that they don't.
Nor does Microsoft itself keep a record of which person has purchased which
product (since MS licenses are sold indiscriminately, and anonymously, to
anyone), unless a perchaser actually registers the license under his own
name.
The Activation servers DO keep a record of CD keys (or at least which ones
have a current legitimate Activation), but from what I understand, even the
Activation records themselves are erased 120 days after a legitimate license
is activated, and rebuilt each time a legitimate license is successfully
activated. So the longest Microsoft will keep a record of your license is
120 days, and this license will STILL not be associated with a person's
name, unless that person actually registers (as opposed to "activates") his
copy of XP.
--
Donald McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup,
So that the conversation may not be interrupted.
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