On Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:43:14 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:

"default" wrote:

My wife and I have some four desktops and one laptop, Four computers
have XP mounted on them, all are off-lease corporate computers and the
ones with XP are "refurbished," with what was a clean install of XP .

Does "off-lease" mean your company sold off their old hardware to its
employees? If so, did they actually include a *license* for Windows?
That's not always the case. They don't wipe the hard drives and are
really only selling off the hardware. They are NOT allowed to slice out
instances from their volume license when they sell off the hardware.
ALL instances of a volume license are to remain with the same entity or
organization that purchased the volume license. Not only do some
companies screw this up and think they can dole out licenses from their
volume license but you'll see boob/scammers doing the same at eBay.

The instance of Windows that was installed on those computers which were
the company's property were likely from a volume license. That means
when they sell off that old hardware that NONE of them come with a legit
license for Windows. The buyer has to get their own license. Only if
your company gave you your own COA (certificate of authority) and only
if it was for a SINGLE license (not part of their volume license) did
you get a legit license for Windows.

Sometimes when I hire onto a new company, I'll add a perk into the deal
that I get a copy of Windows, Office, or any other software that will
facilitate me working at home to do work for them. While I have
sometimes used their laptop with their software to work from home, any
software that goes on *my* home computers is my property, not theirs.
That means either they give me the hardware/software platform to work
from home, if needed, or they get me a SINGLE-user license for the
software (i.e., they have to go buy a single license).

I whipped out my trusty "WXPsp3 for refurbished PCs" (says so right
on the label)

And where did you BUY that from? Did it come with the old hardware your
company sold/gave to you? Did you ask them if it was part of their
volume license or a single-user license? Companies don't like to buy
single-user licenses (too expensive, they don't need multiples of the
installation media, they don't want to have to track single license on
which workstations).

Both boxes hers and mine, are identical case mother board etc. Came
from the same source. Both have XP (and Vista underneath) license
stickers on them and came from "directron.com." as refurbished with XP
pro SP-3 (same as the disk I have) the disk is genuine (part number
X14-66865), 2008. Holograms and packaging etc. is real MS.

But you also said they came "off-lease" from your employer. Unless you
BOUGHT the Windows to install it, or there was stipulation in the "sale"
from whomever pre-built the computers for you that a single-user license
was included with each computer, you don't know that any of those
instances of Windows are legitimate.

The telephone robot activation tells me I have an illegal copy. I
haven't tried getting a human on the phone...

The sysprep image used in a corporation to build their workstations uses
the product key for the volume license purchased by the company. Volume
license, all instances of them, are to remain with the SAME entity.
They can't go "floating" out somewhere outside the organization that
purchased the volume license. Individual licenses cannot be sold off
(even if the price is free) from a volume license. It is suspect that
you have a legit license for any of those instances of Windows.

Because the product key used in a sysprep image used to build multiple
workstations is different than the sticker slapped onto a host, there is
a mismatch on the product keys. You don't have the product key for the
volume license. Even OEMs that are fabbing thousands of computers use
an image. The instance of Windows that they install is already
validated (i.e., their consumers don't have to go through the validation
process after buying the pre-built computer); however, the product key
on the sticker won't match the one for the pre-validated copy of Windows
that the OEM put on thousands of computers.

You can get Microsoft's Genuine Advantage Diagnostics tool at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52012. It generates a report
showing the license of an installed instance of Windows. You might be
able to tell if you have a single-user license from its report. I
haven't used this on a workstation (i.e., company host) to see what it
says when a volume license is involved. I believe you want to see
"Windows License Type: Retail" to know you have your own legit license
to Windows. If it says OEM, that instance of Windows cannot be
installed on any other computer. OEM licenses permanently stick to the
first computer on which they are installed. Doesn't matter if the
computer is stolen, lost, burned up, or lost in a divorce settlement.
You can't use an OEM version on any other computer; however, that
doesn't obviate you so upgrading the computer that it becomes basically
a new computer. It's "Windows License Type: Volume" that you do NOT
want to see. If you see Volume, you never got a legit license of
Windows when your company pawned off their old hardware on its employess
rather than pay a jobber to haul it away.

Unless you are working for a very small company, like 20 employees or
less, it is very likely they bought a volume license to install Windows
on all their computers. It's cheaper to buy and easier to manage. Only
very small companies might buy multiple single-user licenses but that's
because they don't know about buying volume licenses (5 instances, an
up). Talk to your employer or from whomever is the "corporate" entity
to which you refer from where you obtained the computer. Even some
not-so-small companies phuck up the handling when getting rid of their
old hardware and mislead the recipients to believe they're getting
software with it.

If it was a "corporate" workstation as you stated, most likely all you
got was hardware. No software was included. You got only hardware that
included a polluted hard disk. They were too lazy or ignorant to wipe
the hard disk before redistribution. Contact them to find out if they
indeed included a SINGLE-user license of Windows with the hardware or if
they left an instance of Windows that is part of their volume license on
their workstations (i.e., they sold off polluted hardware).

What are my options? I have my wife able to "reactivate" the 30 day
limit but that is pushing the envelope as far as her geek skills go.
Thankfully the laptop allows us to email.

There is no "reactivation" of the 30-day trial period. If you don't
validate an instance of Windows, it will remain full functional during
the first 30 days after installation but thereafter will cripple or
disable itself. You don't reactivate. You use a self-expiring trial
version that you have to activate before the 1-month trial expires.

I'm a retired electrical engineer and not wealthy. I want to keep XP
and not "upgrade" to another OS. I can use Linux, but would rather
not, and my wife wouldn't adapt as easily. I can't be there to hold
her hand. Needless to say I don't want to give MS money...

Contact whomever sold you the computers. Find out if they truly
included a SINGLE-USER license of Windows with EACH computer. If you
got them from a corporation, most likely no license was included. They
still own the volume license used to install those instances of Windows.
They are not permitted to slice out instances of licenses from their
volume license. All instances remain within the entity that purchased
the volume license.

You could try calling Microsoft to get telephone activation of your
install of Windows. They will ask for the old product key (the one on
the sticker). If it's a volume license, they'll reject your request to
get a new product key.

In the case of Dell or any OEM using the same image to lay onto
thousands of computers, and because the product key on the sticker
doesn't match the one in the image, you get stuck having to call the OEM
to get a new product key instead of using the one on the sticker if you
use their same image to restore your computer. You could call Microsoft
to find out what they say but you should first call whomever you got the
computers to find out what they say. If it's an OEM license, you get
the product key from the OEM'er. If retail, you get it from Microsoft.
If it is a volume license, YOU had to buy the volume license. The
corporation from whom you got the hardware is not allowed to dole out
instances of Windows from their volume license.

As I already said, the computers came from directron, a reseller of
used computers, surplus hardware, etc... It is supposed to be a
single license. I did some on line investigating and found the (small
niche) company that assembled it originally sells to schools. Big,
too loud,extra fan, Intel mobo, better than average video card, high
quality case, etc..

Not a branded bios or OS. I won't buy Dell for that reason.

OK, call I will (for wife's machine)

Plan B letter to FTC