XP OEM question...

campers · 16-04-2007 9:32pm #1

I have a sealed/unused OEM copy of XP Pro, which came with my Dell desktop. A product key is printed on the wrapping.

It was never used or activated, since my desktop was reformatted with a corporate image and site installation of XP.

Question is: can I now use this leftover OEM XP on a new laptop which I bought OS-free? Or is this OEM copy tied to its original PC?
The new lappie is not a Dell.

Thanks!

Ruu_Old · 16-04-2007 9:33pm

It would be tied to the other machine I think.

SeanW · 16-04-2007 9:47pm

The Win XP was probably pre-activated at the factory. So I think the license is lost.

seamus · 17-04-2007 8:49am

It's tied to the original PC. You can use that licence to reinstall XP on the desktop machine, but nothing else.

koloughlin · 17-04-2007 9:25am

Let me preface by saying that the Dell oem version of XP might have a more restrictive version of the eula than regular XP, I don't know. However the general xp pro eula does allow you to move the os to another machine. See here http://download.microsoft.com/documents/useterms/Windows%20XP_Professional_English_9e8a2f82-c320-4301-869f-839a853868a1.pdf. Look for bullet point number 4.

If you own the workstation personally then it looks like you should be able to transfer it to another machine that you also own. If your employer owns the workstation I don't think you can legally use the license on a personal machine of yours.

If your eula allows the transfer then the activation process may or may not work automatically for you when you install. If you are legally entitled to install the software and the automatica activation process isn't working for you then call microsoft and they should be able to activate it for you over the phone.