Would Orange Product Key Label Appear on Retail Windows 2003 Server?

[Will]

We received a software license for a single Windows 2003 Server Standard
Edition that I believe is either pirated or some kind of misrepresentation
about the type of license. The license we received has the product key on
an orange Product Key sticker. I have seen such stickers used on MSDN
software and on evaluation or promotional software that Microsoft
distributes, but I have never seen this orange product key sticker on the
retail products. The orange sticker has near it a bar code that says "CD
SET: X09-22117". Unfortunately, a Google search on that part number
shows nothing, so I am hoping someone from Microsoft can use that number to
trace the manufacturing part number to some actual product, and help me
definitively identify what we received.

What would be great would be a web site where I could plug in a product key
and get back at very least identification of whether this is a retail, OEM,
open license, etc, but per an earlier thread Microsoft apparently doesn't
give buyers any tools for identifying any piece of information about product
keys.

I don't want to go nuclear on the seller until I have my facts in place, and
I would appreciate some help.

 

[Guest]

Microsoft uses "orange" product key stickers on most of thier products,retail
& evaluation cd software...If you think its a pirated product,microsoft would
love to know about it,call them via land-line:800 936 4900 Or try:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/contact.mspx
The url is microsoft security page with options....

 

[Will]

Microsoft uses "orange" product key stickers on most of thier products,retail
& evaluation cd software...If you think its a pirated product,microsoft would
love to know about it,call them via land-line:800 936 4900 Or try:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/contact.mspx
The url is microsoft security page with options....

I looked at that page, but how utterly useless is this service to the
consumer. Microsoft isn't offering to share information about the specific
product I need help with. Instead they are just taking reports on the
sellers, I guess in an attempt to develop a statistically significant
profile of particular sellers across many calls.

I don't want to charge someone with a crime when I don't have enough
information to know if they committed one. And it's very frustrating that
I cannot just give a product key to someone at Microsoft and have them
confirm "Yes it's a retail license" and "No its not previously activated."

If the answer came back "Its academic" and "It was also previously
registered" then I have evidence of fraud, and I would be happy to report
the seller.

 

[DL]

Personally I've yet to see a retail MS win cd that doesn't have an
orange/yellow sticker

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

The orange sticker is normal on retail software.
I also see it on trial software.
OEM on the other hand, I normally see the multi colored sticker with
more information than just the Product Key.

Take a look on this page:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/en/re/4271ea85-f9e5-4986-80ec-5f53ade3740d.mspx
You may need to click "View Previous Versions"

"...would be a web site where I could plug..."
And if I dealt with stolen/generated keys, I would also love such a
site.
It would make business so much easier.

If you still have doubts, Email or call Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/Reporting.mspx

 

[Guest]

We received a software license for a single Windows 2003 Server Standard
Edition that I believe is either pirated or some kind of misrepresentation
about the type of license. The license we received has the product key on
an orange Product Key sticker. I have seen such stickers used on MSDN
software and on evaluation or promotional software that Microsoft
distributes, but I have never seen this orange product key sticker on the
retail products. The orange sticker has near it a bar code that says "CD
SET: X09-22117". Unfortunately, a Google search on that part number
shows nothing, so I am hoping someone from Microsoft can use that number to
trace the manufacturing part number to some actual product, and help me
definitively identify what we received.

What would be great would be a web site where I could plug in a product key
and get back at very least identification of whether this is a retail, OEM,
open license, etc, but per an earlier thread Microsoft apparently doesn't
give buyers any tools for identifying any piece of information about product
keys.

I don't want to go nuclear on the seller until I have my facts in place, and
I would appreciate some help.

 

[Will]

"...would be a web site where I could plug..."
And if I dealt with stolen/generated keys, I would also love such a
site.
It would make business so much easier.

Microsoft would probably require registration with a street address for use
of such a site. In fact, you might even charge the person asking the
question and force the answer to come in by snail mail to prevent problems
associated with stealing credentials. As long as you prevent anonymous
usage, you should reduce 95% of the use of the feature by miscreants.

In addition, the feature I am asking for in fact helps Microsoft to identify
the bad guys, because if they have the name and address of someone who is
asking for status of keys, and 95% of those keys end up getting sold to
multiple buyers, or being previously registered, then Microsoft has a clear
trail leading back to the culprit, or at least a good list of people it can
ask who was the original seller.

Finally, 90% of these licensing problems get resolved the day Microsoft puts
the activation for one machine on their servers and create a process for the
user to self manage where that license is applied. Prevent two users from
registering the same product key on different machines, without an explicit
consent to transfer from the original owner, and watch duplicate
registrations disappear overnight.

Instead, Microsoft goes for a cheap easy solution (for them and for no one
else) that surrounds every product key in mystery, limits activations to
such an extent that you need to buy multiple licenses just to re-install on
a single computer after you use two activations, etc.

 

[Jordan]

If it is an orange sticker and it did not come in some retail box, then you
probably have an MSDN or Action Pack subscription sticker. These usually
have a old fashioned skeleton key for a logo and say "PRODUCT KEY: product
xxxx" and the next line has the key followed by a bar code on the bottom.

These MSDN and AP keys are similar to Acedemic versions where they operate
exactly like the retail and OEMs however you are only able to install two
times and they are exclusively for testing or specific business purposes for
MS Partners.

I have not seen an OEM version of Windows 2000 or higher that did not have
one of the highly decorated CoA labels so my guess is that they gave you one
of their Not for Retail Sale copies from one of these sources.

 

[Will]

If it is an orange sticker and it did not come in some retail box, then you
probably have an MSDN or Action Pack subscription sticker. These usually
have a old fashioned skeleton key for a logo and say "PRODUCT KEY: product
xxxx" and the next line has the key followed by a bar code on the bottom.

Mine has the exact skeleton key followed by PRODUCT KEY: but under that is
the key and there is no bar code.

These MSDN and AP keys are similar to Acedemic versions where they operate
exactly like the retail and OEMs however you are only able to install two
times and they are exclusively for testing or specific business purposes for
MS Partners.

Well these days even buying retail software Microsoft is limiting the
activations so much that it practically feels like demo software. But no
matter: I wanted a legal license, not an MSDN, and certainly not an
academic.

I have not seen an OEM version of Windows 2000 or higher that did not have
one of the highly decorated CoA labels so my guess is that they gave you one
of their Not for Retail Sale copies from one of these sources.

Exactly right, which is why I am not understanding what I got.

Is there nothing I can surmise from the product key itself, without
activating it, that would clue me in that this is MSDN or academic and not
retail or open license? If I do activate it, then I guess the System
Properties | General tab will have a number that would start with an MPC
that is coded to tell you if it retail, OEM, or evaluation. But that
requires me to use the activation, and if the software ends up being the
wrong license type, how can I then try to return it in good faith? Sure,
the seller may have represented something incorrectly, but they could
validly object to the fact that I used up some of the value in determining
that fact.

Quite frustrating to me that I want to do the right thing and I have no
tools to help me reject this application other than intuition.