OEM to Retail

[Jon Mitchell]

Hi,

I have a OEM copy of Windows XP Pro. If I was to buy a full Retail copy of
Windows XP Pro, could I install it over my OEM copy? Would it destroy my
current installation or would it update my current installation from it's
current OEM licence to the new copies Retail licence (Remembering, of course
that I would have to activate this copy.) Also, I have an OEM copy of
Office XP Pro. How would the upgrade from OEM OS to Retail OS affect this?

Thanks!

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi,

I have a OEM copy of Windows XP Pro. If I was to buy a full Retail copy of
Windows XP Pro, could I install it over my OEM copy? Would it destroy my
current installation or would it update my current installation from it's
current OEM licence to the new copies Retail licence (Remembering, of course
that I would have to activate this copy.) Also, I have an OEM copy of
Office XP Pro. How would the upgrade from OEM OS to Retail OS affect this?

Thanks!

I'm not sure what the object of installing Pro Retail over Pro OEM would
be - there isn't likely to be any practical benefit in terms of operation.
The two should be functionally identical. If you've also made major changes
to the hardware, yes, there could be a benefit if the OEM copy was tied to
the old hardware.

An in-place re-install typically reads the existing registry, but will not
include any service-pack updates or hotfixes not rolled into the install
set. You'll have to re-apply those.

In short, the term 'upgrade' doesn't really apply to this kind of OS
change - the change is to the license terms, not the OS itself (with the
possible exception of installer limits).

HTH
-pk

 

[Guest]

Why would you think that there is any difference in the
retail vs OEM as far as your system, they are the
identical except for the setupp.ini that tells the CD what
you can do with it. It's a waste of money, but if you have
too.

http://www.9software.com/ $156.00 for a full retail

 

[Jon Mitchell]

Thanks for both your answers. The reason why I want to install a retail
copy over an OEM is that I wish to update my mother board to an AMD64
compatible board sometime in the future. The licence that is provided with
an OEM copy of Win Xp Pro does not allow you to upgrade your motherboard.

 

[Guest]

The type of license has no difference as far as changing
your mother board. You will have to activate it after the
change. There is no restriction on a OEM to stop you from
changing it.

 

[cimex]

Did you actually see the term "motherboard" in the EULA?
You would be stepping into a grey area by changing the MOBO, but there is no
sharply defined line being crossed.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Thanks for both your answers. The reason why I want to install a retail
copy over an OEM is that I wish to update my mother board to an AMD64
compatible board sometime in the future. The licence that is provided with
an OEM copy of Win Xp Pro does not allow you to upgrade your motherboard.

Actually that's not quite correct. It's the Setup routine that may or may
not allow you to change the board. For example, Dell OEM CD's frequently
limit the install to systems where the motherboard has a DELL identifier in
the BIOS.

HTH
-pk

 

[Michael Stevens]

The type of license has no difference as far as changing
your mother board. You will have to activate it after the
change. There is no restriction on a OEM to stop you from
changing it.

Click on or copy and paste the link below into your web browser address box.
OEM clarification.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/oemeula.htm


--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
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[Michael Stevens]

Did you actually see the term "motherboard" in the EULA?
You would be stepping into a grey area by changing the MOBO, but
there is no sharply defined line being crossed.

Click on or copy and paste the link below into your web browser address box.
OEM clarification.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/oemeula.htm
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Michael Stevens]

Thanks for both your answers. The reason why I want to install a
retail copy over an OEM is that I wish to update my mother board to
an AMD64 compatible board sometime in the future. The licence that
is provided with an OEM copy of Win Xp Pro does not allow you to
upgrade your motherboard.

I am not sure what benefit you would get using 32 bit XP on a 64 bit MB.
Unless you use specific applications developed for the 64 bit architecture,
you will be wasting your money, and from what I understand will take a hit
on performance in other areas.
The only reason I could see to install retail over OEM would be if you
didn't receive a proper XP CD from the computer manufacturer and would like
to do a repair install to fix a problem or when moving to new hardware.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
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