Second hand hard drive with COA and product key for Windows XP

[james.goetz]

I have a second hand hard drive with COA and product key for Windows XP Home
Edition OEM Software. I plan to reformat and reload the hard drive. Will this
product key work for me as the second owner and allow me to get all Windows
updates?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a second hand hard drive with COA and product key for Windows XP Home
Edition OEM Software. I plan to reformat and reload the hard drive. Will this
product key work for me as the second owner and allow me to get all Windows
updates?

It's not entirely clear to me what your situation is. Being the second
(or any other) number is irrelevant. You can reformat and reinstall
Windows as many times as you want, and by as many owners as it turns
out to be. The only relevant rule is that it may not be installed on a
different computer. If you want to reinstall it on a different
computer, no, you may not do that.

 

[james.goetz]

Thank you. You answered my question. I'll assume that this product key with
COA belongs solely to this hard drive and I'll reformat and reload it in my
name.

All I have to do is find the Win XP CD. I suppose I can find that on ebay.
Or do you know if Microsoft has replacement Win XP CD's (without COA and
product key)?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thank you.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

You answered my question. I'll assume that this product key with
COA belongs solely to this hard drive

No, it belongs to the computer, not to the hard drive, or to any other
component of the computer,

and I'll reformat and reload it in my
name.

There's really no person's name involved. You need to activate it, if
it's an OEM copy, on the original computer. It's the computer that the
activation pertains to, not the person who owns the computer.

All I have to do is find the Win XP CD. I suppose I can find that on ebay.
Or do you know if Microsoft has replacement Win XP CD's (without COA and
product key)?

Microsoft can replace CDs, but generally only for retail copies, not
OEM ones.

If you want to buy a copy, I *strongly* recommend that you buy a
retail Upgrade instead of an OEM copy. You would then use the retail
Upgrade's product key. OEM copies come with several disadvantages, the
biggest of which is that its license ties it permanently to the first
computer it's installed on. It can never legally be moved to another
computer, sold, or given away (except with the original computer).

The best value is a Retail Upgrade version. I recommend the Upgrade
over the OEM version, because it's only slightly more expensive, and
despite what some people think, *can* do a clean installation as long
as you own a CD of a previous qualifying version to show it as proof
of ownership when prompted. Most people have a Windows 98 CD around,
but worst case, if you don't, you can buy one inexpensively someplace
like eBay.