Q re buying setup disc

[Begentle]

I'm looking out for bona fide original win2000 setup disc/s via ebay.
Most seem to be legitimate discs from legit sellers, usually 'surplus
to requirements' and not vast sums of money. However, having trawled
through listings I 've noticed a few things I don't really understand.

Firstly, there seems to be slighlty different versions up for grabs.
Some are marked as
'win98-win2000 upgrades' while others are 'OEM' or 'FULL'. There are
also student versions. I do undersatnd versions that come with
different service packs.

If it's an upgrade does that mean that I can't do a clean install???

I've also noticed many that don't have a 'COA' is this not needed?

There are listings advertising 'Installation Keys, Product keys and
registration keys'
are these not all the same thing?

Some come with an 'encryption floppy'???

Some seem to be 'computer branded' or 'locked to one computer
make'?????

Are there 'country of origin' issues????

Obviously most sellers push the fact that theirs comes with a 'product
key' or is not
'OEM' or is a 'hologrammed disc'

But one I saw said ' No box no packaging just disc an Original copy, if
you lost your disc but still have the key' is this not dodgy????

I've also seen somewhere that someone bought win 2000 which arrived
with no product key which was later supplied in an email, is this not
suspect??

TIA

Tim W

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The only way to acquire a legitimate, genuine, version of
Windows 2000 is to make sure it includes the original
holographic Microsoft Windows 2000 CD, the
original Certificate of Authenticity (COA), and the
original licensing documentation. A "retail version"
is what you should be looking for.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

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

:

| I'm looking out for bona fide original win2000 setup disc/s via ebay.
| Most seem to be legitimate discs from legit sellers, usually 'surplus
| to requirements' and not vast sums of money. However, having trawled
| through listings I 've noticed a few things I don't really understand.
|
| Firstly, there seems to be slighlty different versions up for grabs.
| Some are marked as
| 'win98-win2000 upgrades' while others are 'OEM' or 'FULL'. There are
| also student versions. I do undersatnd versions that come with
| different service packs.
|
| If it's an upgrade does that mean that I can't do a clean install???
|
| I've also noticed many that don't have a 'COA' is this not needed?
|
| There are listings advertising 'Installation Keys, Product keys and
| registration keys'
| are these not all the same thing?
|
| Some come with an 'encryption floppy'???
|
| Some seem to be 'computer branded' or 'locked to one computer
| make'?????
|
| Are there 'country of origin' issues????
|
| Obviously most sellers push the fact that theirs comes with a 'product
| key' or is not
| 'OEM' or is a 'hologrammed disc'
|
| But one I saw said ' No box no packaging just disc an Original copy, if
| you lost your disc but still have the key' is this not dodgy????
|
| I've also seen somewhere that someone bought win 2000 which arrived
| with no product key which was later supplied in an email, is this not
| suspect??
|
| TIA
|
| Tim W

 

[philo]

I'm looking out for bona fide original win2000 setup disc/s via ebay.
Most seem to be legitimate discs from legit sellers, usually 'surplus
to requirements' and not vast sums of money. However, having trawled
through listings I 've noticed a few things I don't really understand.

Firstly, there seems to be slighlty different versions up for grabs.
Some are marked as
'win98-win2000 upgrades' while others are 'OEM' or 'FULL'. There are
also student versions. I do undersatnd versions that come with
different service packs.

If it's an upgrade does that mean that I can't do a clean install???

<snip>

you can do a clean install with the upgrade disk
but you will need a cd from a previous version of windows
a win9x or NT4 cd should work ( i think even NT3.51 is ok)

 

[Ben Tupper]

Responses interlinear:

I'm looking out for bona fide original win2000 setup disc/s via ebay.
Most seem to be legitimate discs from legit sellers, usually 'surplus
to requirements' and not vast sums of money. However, having trawled
through listings I 've noticed a few things I don't really understand.

Firstly, there seems to be slighlty different versions up for grabs.
Some are marked as
'win98-win2000 upgrades' while others are 'OEM' or 'FULL'. There are
also student versions. I do undersatnd versions that come with
different service packs.

Avoid the upgrades and student/academic versions. For the former you need
to install/reinstall a lower form of Windows before you can use it. Get's
to be a real hassle if you have to reinstall later for some reason or
other. The Registry can get tangled up and actually prevent you from
reinstalling short of starting out clean on a different hard drive.
Student/Academic versions often have some reduced functions. You might not
know what is missing until you need it.

If it's an upgrade does that mean that I can't do a clean install???

Not without a previous version of Windows installed.

I've also noticed many that don't have a 'COA' is this not needed?

It might actually be included--just not mentioned. But see below re PK.

There are listings advertising 'Installation Keys, Product keys and
registration keys'
are these not all the same thing?

Not necessarily all the same in all cases, but all you really need is the
Product Key. Everything else you need can be derived from that.

Some come with an 'encryption floppy'???

Some seem to be 'computer branded' or 'locked to one computer
make'?????

Some computer vendors, such as Compaq and Dell, released modified versions
of the OS specifically tailored to their own machines--usually included
proprietary software extensions. I would stay away from those.

Are there 'country of origin' issues????

Yes, but the only serious ones have to do with encryption. The language,
currency, date/time variations can all be changed at will through the
Control Panel. If you don't need the higher level of encryption available
for U.S. consumption, the country of origin is not to worry about/

Obviously most sellers push the fact that theirs comes with a 'product
key' or is not
'OEM' or is a 'hologrammed disc'

But one I saw said ' No box no packaging just disc an Original copy, if
you lost your disc but still have the key' is this not dodgy????

Probably not a legal copy.

I've also seen somewhere that someone bought win 2000 which arrived
with no product key which was later supplied in an email, is this not
suspect??

The same product key will work with almost all OEM versions of W2k Pro.
This is a separate issue from having a legitimate license to use the
software.

TIA

Tim W

Ben

 

[DL]

Avoid the upgrades and student/academic versions. For the former you need

to install/reinstall a lower form of Windows before you can use it. Get's

Not correct

Student/Academic versions often have some reduced functions. You might not
know what is missing until you need it.

Not correct

Not without a previous version of Windows installed.

Not correct