WinXP Pro SP2 OEM Clean install possible?

[Guest]

Hello,

I bought a computer from someone else; harddrive has been reformatted prior
to my purchasing it. I wanted to install a Win XP Pro SP2 on this machine
cleanly. Bought it off Ebay; turns out its a OEM version not the full retail
version I thought. Everything about the disc looks legit : checked on MS and
it looks like the real thing. Anyway, am I going to have any problems with
doing an install, and using this software down the road or will i not know
until i try it and try to validate/activate the product.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

No one here knows exactly what you have.
You may find out when you attempt to install and activate.

If it is not as advertised,demand your $ back.
The willingness of the seller to comply will be an indicator as to the
legitimacy of the product.

Perhaps you should contact Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/YourPC_Reporting.mspx

 

[Guest]

No one here knows exactly what you have.
You may find out when you attempt to install and activate.

If it is not as advertised,demand your $ back.
The willingness of the seller to comply will be an indicator as to the
legitimacy of the product.

Perhaps you should contact Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/YourPC_Reporting.mspx

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
http://www.dts-l.org





At this time I'm not so much wondering about the legitimacy of the product (i'll figure that out soon enough), but more about installing an OEM version on a newly formatted harddrive. My understanding (correct, or not) is that an OEM version is tied to a particular machine out in the computer world and if that's still functioning out somewhere then when I try to activate the product i purchased Microsoft won't allow the validation on my machine. Anyone know if I am understanding this correctly?

 

[Guest]

An OEM disc is fine, but you will need an OEM licence key to go with it. Is
there a sticker on the computer? If so you may be able to use it as in this
case the computer can legitimately have XP on it. (of the same version
home/pro as originally, of course)

If there is no XP sticker or keynumber then you need to buy a licence.
Having a disk doesn't give you a licence in itself, unfortunately.