OEM CD's and Retail Product Key's

[Guest]

Hello,

My company has purchased dozens of pc's over the years and right now we have
30 or so that run Windows XP. They are all HP's and came with XP Pro and
restore CD's along with Windows CD's. For the most part the restore CD's suit
our needs fine for imaging and then we customize them as needed.

However over the years with different administrators we have only about half
of the restore CD's left. My question is, for the machines without the
restore CD's, if we need to reinstall them, can we use a retail CD and put in
the OEM key from the side of the pc? I know a volume license disk is out. I
can purchase the restore CD's from HP but I see no reason to if all I really
need is media.

My thinking is will the key work or not? And would I violate some form of
the license agreement because the OEM agreement is different the the retail
agreement?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

JD

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The Product Key affixed to HP computers are only valid
with HP's recommended restore method. They will not
work with a retail version of Windows XP.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User

Enjoy all the benefits of genuine Microsoft software:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.mspx

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­---------------------------------

:

| Hello,
|
| My company has purchased dozens of pc's over the years and right now we have
| 30 or so that run Windows XP. They are all HP's and came with XP Pro and
| restore CD's along with Windows CD's. For the most part the restore CD's suit
| our needs fine for imaging and then we customize them as needed.
|
| However over the years with different administrators we have only about half
| of the restore CD's left. My question is, for the machines without the
| restore CD's, if we need to reinstall them, can we use a retail CD and put in
| the OEM key from the side of the pc? I know a volume license disk is out. I
| can purchase the restore CD's from HP but I see no reason to if all I really
| need is media.
|
| My thinking is will the key work or not? And would I violate some form of
| the license agreement because the OEM agreement is different the the retail
| agreement?
|
| Any insight would be appreciated.
|
| Thanks
|
| JD

 

[Guest]

Shoot!!!

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

JD

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Assuming machines are identical or at least nearly so, you can use the
original CD from one computer on all identical HP computers.
If you have about half the CDs, you should have little to no problem.

As has already been stated, the OEM and retail are incompatible and will not
work together.

One problem I can foresee if/when it is time to sell, without the proper CD,
you may have problems since the buyer may not be able to reinstall.

 

[Guest]

If the machines actually have a MS product key like on the back or bottom,
then retial version will not work but a oem actually will, do it quite often
with machines at work when the recovery cds are not available. As with a
previous post sometimes the recovery disk can be used on other hp machines if
one they are similar and two if they are older. Hp now tattoos the recovery
disk on their newer machines.

Here is another possibility, do these machines have a recovery partition?
If so on reboot it can be accessed via f10. Again depends on the age.

Another option, if the machines are similar is to restore one of the pc's,
then use a ghosting program like norton ghost or acronis true image and make
your own disk.

 

[Jordan]

You can contact HP and get the media replacement. It is probably $30 per.