Ok, simple question. I purchased a new computer back in Febuary from Emachines that came with windows XP preinstalled. The system restore disc that came w/ the computer was a windows only disc, so in other words it didn't have all the drivers for my particular pc. So I contacted Emachines and explained what problems I had during a reinstall and they sent me a new disc, this one having been made specifically for my pc (windows plus drivers) So now I have two disc. The one made for this pc and a standard MS WIN XP HOME OS EM MEDIA R O5/05 disc as well... Now my question is: Can I use the disc not in use on another pc, or do they invalidate the old disc key or whatever when they send you another disc? My next question is will that disc only work on an Emachine computer? I would have given it a try before posting but I see no need to back up a bunch of stuff only to find out it didn't work. It's really not a life and death matter I don't guess but curiousity is getting the best of me... not to mention my daughter would rather have XP than 2000 just for the looks no doubt.
If it's an OEM CD, it's tagged for use on your original machine. Legally speaking you cannot use it for any other installation. If it were Retail or an Upgrade CD, all you'd have to do is purchase another key. If you want to check the disk to verify it is OEM, put the disk in the computer, go to the I386 folder, open the setupp.ini file in Notepad and look at the PID number. If the last three digits are OEM, there ya have it.
Pid=76477OEM Thanks, I was just curious... I noticed a site not too long ago that was selling OEM disc so I wasn't sure.. If the OEM disc cannot be used on just any machine shouldn't they warn people of that before trying to sell them? Ill try and find the site I'm speaking of.. I'll get back to you on that. I do appreciate the feedback and the time saved none-the-less. Thanks
Any software vendor that has a license to sell OEM software can sell it for use on your system. Dell, NewEgg..HP to name a few. To clarify what the OEM user license means, is that the installation key used to install XP on that machine is tied to that machine. If you purchase another OEM key from a vendor (which usually costs the same as getting the disk along with it) then you are free to use the disk to install on a second machine using the new key. Retail or Upgrade keys can be transferred to another installation but you will have to remove the installation from the first machine. Keep in mind that software support for OEM titles are bound to the vendor that sold it to you. Ex: OEM versions of XP sold to you preinstalled or from a disk by Dell, is supported by Dell and not Microsoft. I personally don't believe in that kind of support, but that's how it goes. I believe that you should support your software regardless of who sells or resells it for you.
