WindowsXP one month license

P

Patrick Wolf

Hi,

for a render farm we would need ~ 500 Windows XP64 licenses for one month.
Each one would run as a virtual instance within VMWare Player.

I have never heard about being able to rent windows licenses but as it might
be possible I wanted to ask about it.

So my questions:
* Is this legally possible?
* Where could I get more information?
* etc.

Thank you very much,
Patrick
 
P

Pirate

No it is not legally possible to have a license for only one month. However,
people in your situation could use a friend's CD that has got SP3. This CD will
allow you to use XP SP3 for 30 days without the need for a serial number. After
30 days, you will need to enter the serial number or wipe clean your system and
reinstall for another 30 days. You can continue this way indefinitely.

hth
 
P

Patrick Wolf

Thanks for your answer. I'll investigate if that's legally ok and then it
would be a great option.

All the best,
Patrick
 
P

Patrick Wolf

Thank you...

I did the chat but they couldn't help me very much except saying I should
call Pre-Sales support next week :)...

Anyway thanks for the link and I might call them next week,
Patrick
 
P

PA Bear [MS MVP]

You would need to obtain a 500-seat Volume License for WinXP 64-bit. Where
you'd be able to obtain it is anyone's guess: I'm pretty sure you couldn't
purchase it from MS.
 
H

HeyBub

Patrick said:
Thanks for your answer. I'll investigate if that's legally ok and
then it would be a great option.

All the best,
Patrick

It's not "legally" okay, simply doable.
 
H

HeyBub

XP said:
What is a render farm?

It's a collection of vats used to melt or decompose organic material, such
as fats, into other organic compounds such as fertilizer.

Quite smelly, really.
 
S

SC Tom

HeyBub said:
It's a collection of vats used to melt or decompose organic material, such
as fats, into other organic compounds such as fertilizer.

Quite smelly, really.
That was the other definition I was thinking of, but couldn't figure out why
they'd need 500 PC's for it, unless they were harnessing CPU and GPU heat
:)
 
T

Tim Meddick

This information may not be viewed in a very favourable light by any MVPs -
however, the 30-day licence in a VM Windows XP installation can be
circumvented by not shutting it down ever, but when you want to close it -
use the hibernate function (or the 'save state' function within the M$ VPC
software).

I have kept 'alive' a copy of XP nearly a year by doing this.

I have asked advice on he legitimacy of doing this and have been told that
if it ever came to a court of law that I stand a good chance because of the
legal definition of a PC (machine) - specifically - what a single machine is
defined as, and running in a VPC would [probably] qualify as just one.


==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :)
 
X

XP Guy

Top-Poaster "David B. said:
For someone called Xp Guy you seem to have very limited knowledge.

What -

You're saying that everyone that either uses or has some knowledge of XP
is supposed to also know what a render farm is?

Perhaps you can explain this special relationship between XP and render
farms.
 
M

Mark Adams

David B. said:
Actually I was referring to your posting in general, not this specific one.
Everybody knows what a render farm is. It's where Santa gets his render.
 

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