OEM Upgrade Workaround: Kosher?

[Setchell]

I'm trying to upgrade to WinXP from an OEM disk I just bought. I
appreciated everyone's feedback on my original post, thank you.

What do people think of the following solution?

Although everyone agrees the OEM disk _cannot_overwrite or upgrade from
Win98se without erasing the HD's contents, I did receive the following
suggestion:
*If I can find someone with a retail upgrade to WinXP, borrow and use their
disk to upgrade from Win98se, and type in the product key from my XP OEM
disk. Return person's upgrade and from then on, activate/register and use
the XP OEM disk.

Being a novice, I'm skeptical. Does anyone see a problem with this (besides
the obvious fact that it seems somewhat shady although I did indeed purchase
WinXP); that is, will it work? What do you think?

Thanks again.

Steve

 

[Jim Macklin]

He did purchase hardware and an OEM CD. He needs to either
buy a retail upgrade, perhaps the dealer will exchange. But
he can save his data (backup) and do a clean install.


|
| >I'm trying to upgrade to WinXP from an OEM disk I just
bought. I
| >appreciated everyone's feedback on my original post,
thank you.
| >
| >What do people think of the following solution?
| >
| >Although everyone agrees the OEM disk _cannot_overwrite
or upgrade from
| >Win98se without erasing the HD's contents, I did receive
the following
| >suggestion:
| >*If I can find someone with a retail upgrade to WinXP,
borrow and use their
| >disk to upgrade from Win98se, and type in the product key
from my XP OEM
| >disk. Return person's upgrade and from then on,
activate/register and use
| >the XP OEM disk.
| >
| >Being a novice, I'm skeptical. Does anyone see a problem
with this (besides
| >the obvious fact that it seems somewhat shady although I
did indeed purchase
| >WinXP); that is, will it work? What do you think?
| >
|
| Product Keys are coded so as to identify the specific
version of
| Windows XP that they belong to. An OEM key will not work
with a
| Retail CD (Upgrade or Full Install) and vice versa. An XP
Home
| product key will not work with XP Pro even though the
product versions
| (OEM, Retail, etc) are the same.
|
| Good luck
|
|
| Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
| --
| Microsoft MVP
| On-Line Help Computer Service
| http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
|
| "The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't
eat much."

 

[Bob S]

Sure you can use a OEM to upgrade. All the files are on
the cd it's just the setup file that determines what key
it will accept. You have to burn a bootable cd that is a
retail cd that will use a OEM key.

 

[Jim Macklin]

Now we are talking about violation of the federal DMCA and a
vacation in a federal resort. One other penalty is you get
banned from owning or using a computer for several years.

Take the OEM back if you don't want to do a clean install
and exchange it for a retail upgrade or full CD.

Personally, I'd do a backup of data files (to CD-R or
another partition) and then do clean installs of my
programs.


| Bob: How exactly would I do this? If this would work, why
not just use a
| friend's retail upgrade disk initially, rather than burn a
copy? (thanks
| again, being a novice I'm slow on these things).
|
|
| | > Sure you can use a OEM to upgrade. All the files are on
| > the cd it's just the setup file that determines what key
| > it will accept. You have to burn a bootable cd that is a
| > retail cd that will use a OEM key.
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| > >-----Original Message-----
| > >I'm trying to upgrade to WinXP from an OEM disk I just
| > bought. I
| > >appreciated everyone's feedback on my original post,
| > thank you.
| > >
| > >What do people think of the following solution?
| > >
| > >Although everyone agrees the OEM disk _cannot_overwrite
| > or upgrade from
| > >Win98se without erasing the HD's contents, I did
receive
| > the following
| > >suggestion:
| > >*If I can find someone with a retail upgrade to WinXP,
| > borrow and use their
| > >disk to upgrade from Win98se, and type in the product
key
| > from my XP OEM
| > >disk. Return person's upgrade and from then on,
| > activate/register and use
| > >the XP OEM disk.
| > >
| > >Being a novice, I'm skeptical. Does anyone see a
problem
| > with this (besides
| > >the obvious fact that it seems somewhat shady although
I
| > did indeed purchase
| > >WinXP); that is, will it work? What do you think?
| > >
| > >Thanks again.
| > >
| > >Steve
| > >
| > >
| > >.
| > >
|
|

 

[Alex Nichol]

I'm trying to upgrade to WinXP from an OEM disk I just bought. I
appreciated everyone's feedback on my original post, thank you.

What do people think of the following solution?

Although everyone agrees the OEM disk _cannot_overwrite or upgrade from
Win98se without erasing the HD's contents, I did receive the following
suggestion:
*If I can find someone with a retail upgrade to WinXP, borrow and use their
disk to upgrade from Win98se, and type in the product key from my XP OEM
disk. Return person's upgrade and from then on, activate/register and use
the XP OEM disk.

It is not a matter of a means of providing evidence. One of these OEM
CDs will *not* go an upgrade install; and the key that comes with them
will *not* work with a different 'series' of CD

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Although everyone agrees the OEM disk _cannot_overwrite or upgrade
from Win98se without erasing the HD's contents, I did receive the
following suggestion:

*If I can find someone with a retail upgrade to WinXP, borrow and use
their disk to upgrade from Win98se, and type in the product key from
my XP OEM disk. Return person's upgrade and from then on,
activate/register and use the XP OEM disk.

Besides being a clear violation of the license agreement, it
won't work. The retail version CD and OEM version product key are
not compatible.