Windows 8 OEM and Hardware Failures - Can Windows 8 Be Re-Used?

I checked Newegg.com and bestbuy.com to try to find a "full retail"
version of Windows 8, but those sites only have upgrades or OEM versions.
I'm building my own computer with new parts. It looks like the OEM only
allows installation on one machine, which is fine because I only have one
computer. But suppose my motherboard or hard drive (with C:\) fails and I
have to get a new one and install Windows 8 on that. Will I still be able
to use the same disc, or will I have to buy a whole new OEM copy of the
same version of Windows? If I have to buy a new disc every time I have to
do a major hardware change that requires re-installing Windows 8, that's
going to really stink. I know a full-retail non-upgrade version of
Windows can be re-installed by the same user on a different machine as
long as it's the only machine running Windows, but this OEM stipulation
has me worried.

The problem now is I don't feel comfortable with another Windows Upgrade
disc because right now, all I have is a Windows XP Upgrade disc, and a
Windows 98SE Upgrade disc I got from Microsoft labeled "Not for retail or
OEM distribution". I don't think either of those would qualify me for a
Windows 8 upgrade disc. I don't think it did before, anyway. And the
only way I was able to get Windows XP to install on THIS machine was with
a very old Packard Bell Multimedia E154 disc that had Windows 95 on it, if
you could find the right directory to show XP where to check for the
upgrade qualification.

So I just need one full-version Windows 8 disc now, and then I can get
upgrades in the future. If "OEM" is the new "full version", that's fine.
I just hope I can keep using when I have to gut this case and put new
hardware in it in the future.

What's the story?

Damaeus

Damaeus wrote:
I checked Newegg.com and bestbuy.com to try to find a "full retail"
version of Windows 8, but those sites only have upgrades or OEM versions.
I'm building my own computer with new parts. It looks like the OEM only
allows installation on one machine, which is fine because I only have one
computer. But suppose my motherboard or hard drive (with C:\) fails and I
have to get a new one and install Windows 8 on that. Will I still be able
to use the same disc, or will I have to buy a whole new OEM copy of the
same version of Windows? If I have to buy a new disc every time I have to
do a major hardware change that requires re-installing Windows 8, that's
going to really stink. I know a full-retail non-upgrade version of
Windows can be re-installed by the same user on a different machine as
long as it's the only machine running Windows, but this OEM stipulation
has me worried.

The problem now is I don't feel comfortable with another Windows Upgrade
disc because right now, all I have is a Windows XP Upgrade disc, and a
Windows 98SE Upgrade disc I got from Microsoft labeled "Not for retail or
OEM distribution". I don't think either of those would qualify me for a
Windows 8 upgrade disc. I don't think it did before, anyway. And the
only way I was able to get Windows XP to install on THIS machine was with
a very old Packard Bell Multimedia E154 disc that had Windows 95 on it, if
you could find the right directory to show XP where to check for the
upgrade qualification.

So I just need one full-version Windows 8 disc now, and then I can get
upgrades in the future. If "OEM" is the new "full version", that's fine.
I just hope I can keep using when I have to gut this case and put new
hardware in it in the future.

What's the story?

Damaeus

I installed my $39.99 Win8 downloaded copy, with *no* OS present on the machine,
The installer did not ask for proof of a previous OS, meaning as an
"upgrade" version, it failed. (And the machine I placed the order from,
is a different machine from the one I installed on. That's so I could
order a 64 bit copy. I used my 64 bit laptop to place the order.)

The installation recipe is here. I used the "Refresh Your PC" method,
effectively a double-install (twice the install time).

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...8-upgrade.html

At $39.99, if it turns out later the OS can't be installed anywhere else,
or the Microsoft phone support for Activation are very strict, you're out
$39.99. Better to find out at $39.99, than at some higher price.

On my WinXP SP3 OEM install, I was able to change the motherboard
a year after the initial install, without having to phone anyone. But
whether this happens or not, is purely at the whim of Microsoft (the
policy for OEM WinXP was apparently loosened). And it's really a little
early, to get ideas as to what the activation server policy is on
Windows 8. No horror stories yet :-) I really should have been
forced to phone them, to get my WinXP activated again.

Paul

In news:alt.comp.os.windows-8, Paul posted on Tue, 25
Dec 2012 21:06:40 -0500 the following:

On my WinXP SP3 OEM install, I was able to change the motherboard
a year after the initial install, without having to phone anyone. But
whether this happens or not, is purely at the whim of Microsoft (the
policy for OEM WinXP was apparently loosened). And it's really a little
early, to get ideas as to what the activation server policy is on
Windows 8. No horror stories yet :-) I really should have been
forced to phone them, to get my WinXP activated again.

I've had to call Microsoft twice in the past to get XP activated after
building new systems. But I don't see how they can just stop selling
versions of Windows that allow you to rebuild your system and keep using
the same install disc. I don't think I should be "punished" by being
forced to buy another OEM copy of Windows 8 should a new hard drive happen
to fail after two months of use. And surely they would be investigative
enough to know that one guy calling with one license number is a lot
different than one guy calling twenty times in two months with the same
license number, always claiming a hardware failure or a system overhaul.

On this temporary rig, XP activated without a phone call. I wondered if
it was so old that perhaps they don't care anymore. But all my installs
have been legitimate, due to re-installs for freshness or system rebuilds.
That last XP install was used from November 2006 until upgrading my
monitor overworked an already-bad capacitor next to the PCIe slot I was
using for the graphics card. I didn't think to try this before, but I
should have tried using a different PCIe slot to see if the system would
still work. It would work fine until it turned itself off without so much
as asking for permission first. And there was a bulging capacitor right
next to that PCIe slot. Now that motherboard has been run through an
incinerator, so I doubt it would be salvagable. Heh. It was an Abit
Fatal1ty AN9-32x. I think the capacitor was bad since the day I got that
motherboard. It had always had a weird glitch in the graphics that caused
the animation in some games to be jittery, like the animation paging was
out of order. But since it didn't affect the game I mainly played, I just
lived with it. It was never a problem until I got a monitor that would
run 1920 x 1080, replacing a CRT that I ran at 1600 x 1200 @ 85Hz.

Damaeus

MSFT no longer distributes full retail versions (like they did in prior o/s - e.g. XP, Vista, Win7 that included both 32 and 64bit
CD/DVDs) for Win8.
- The only full version is the Personal Use System Builder version and comes in 32 or 64 bit versions (not both)

Windows 8 installed by an OEM manufacturer (Dell, HP, Asus etc.) are licensed to that machine.
Personal User System Builders are a different license.

Three licenses are available for Windows 8
- Upgrade
- OEM
- Personal License for System Builders

For an explanation of each type of license see the following:
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-radic...-8-7000002866/

http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-new-win...ou-7000003028/


....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

"Damaeus" wrote in message ...

I checked Newegg.com and bestbuy.com to try to find a "full retail"
version of Windows 8, but those sites only have upgrades or OEM versions.
I'm building my own computer with new parts.

In news:alt.comp.os.windows-8, "...winston" posted
on Tue, 25 Dec 2012 23:42:12 -0700 the following:

Three licenses are available for Windows 8
- Upgrade
- OEM
- Personal License for System Builders

Thanks for those links. I'll read them thoroughly.

Damaeus

Paul wrote in :

The installation recipe is here. I used the "Refresh Your PC" method,
effectively a double-install (twice the install time).

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...windows-8-upgr
ade.html


Ah, there's the link. As I said in the other thread my improvised work
around was to just put my Win7 image on the new drive and reinstall 8 with
the "keep nothing" option.

--

Pat

email: valid would be net

In news:alt.comp.os.windows-8, "...winston" posted
on Tue, 25 Dec 2012 23:42:12 -0700 the following:

For an explanation of each type of license see the following:
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-radic...-8-7000002866/

http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-new-win...ou-7000003028/

It appears that if I want to continue using Windows XP on a dual-boot with
Windows 8, I'd have to buy a full version of Windows 8. It says the
Windows 8 upgrade replaces the license for Windows XP and I'm not allowed
to continue using XP.

Damaeus

Damaeus wrote:
In news:alt.comp.os.windows-8, "...winston" posted
on Tue, 25 Dec 2012 23:42:12 -0700 the following:

For an explanation of each type of license see the following:
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-radic...-8-7000002866/

http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-new-win...ou-7000003028/

It appears that if I want to continue using Windows XP on a dual-boot with
Windows 8, I'd have to buy a full version of Windows 8. It says the
Windows 8 upgrade replaces the license for Windows XP and I'm not allowed
to continue using XP.

Damaeus

Believe what you will.

I have a Win8 and WinXP and Win2K triple boot right now.

Each on its own disk.

Any disk can be removed without upsetting the other.

System Restore on WinXP is turned off. And it all works.

In Win8, I do "powercfg -h off" and in Power options, disable
monitor power off or disk spindown, so everything remains powered
(disk setting is to avoid CHKDSK from running). That's about it
for customizations right now.

Disabling hibernation, is so I have some degree of control over
which OS boots next (via BIOS popup menu). I tested most
of this, with the preview version of Win8, so I had a
relatively good idea what needed doing when the real product
arrived.

The sound bug is still there - the speakers "pop" on shutdown
of Win8, but not with the other OSes (SoundMax AD1988B HDAudio
Sound Chip).

Win8 was installed to an empty disk, with only that empty disk
plugged in. Later, the other two disks were plugged in again.
The Win8 install to the empty disk, used the equivalent of
the old double install method.

Maybe it's time I test Windows Update :-)

Paul

In ,
Damaeus typed:
In news:alt.comp.os.windows-8, "...winston"
posted on Tue, 25 Dec 2012 23:42:12 -0700 the following:

For an explanation of each type of license see the following:
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-radic...-8-7000002866/

http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-new-win...ou-7000003028/

It appears that if I want to continue using Windows XP on a dual-boot
with Windows 8, I'd have to buy a full version of Windows 8. It says
the Windows 8 upgrade replaces the license for Windows XP and I'm not
allowed to continue using XP.

Damaeus

Yes, but there is a silly way out of this problem that Microsoft
supports. You can backup your XP before upgrading to Windows 8. And you
are allowed to go back to XP at any time. So when you want to go back,
make a backup of Windows 8 and restore XP. When you want to go back to
Windows 8, just restore again. Silly yes.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 4GB - Windows XP SP2

On Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:12:48 -0600, Damaeus
wrote:

It appears that if I want to continue using Windows XP on a dual-boot with
Windows 8, I'd have to buy a full version of Windows 8. It says the
Windows 8 upgrade replaces the license for Windows XP and I'm not allowed
to continue using XP.


Yes, but it's not a matter of the Windows 8 upgrade, it's a matter of
*all* Windows upgrades. After upgrading, you have one license, not
two. That's the reason an Upgrade version costs less than a Full
version.


--
Ken Blake

In news:alt.comp.os.windows-8, Ken Blake posted on
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 10:19:41 -0700 the following:

On Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:12:48 -0600, Damaeus
wrote:

It appears that if I want to continue using Windows XP on a dual-boot with
Windows 8, I'd have to buy a full version of Windows 8. It says the
Windows 8 upgrade replaces the license for Windows XP and I'm not allowed
to continue using XP.

Yes, but it's not a matter of the Windows 8 upgrade, it's a matter of
*all* Windows upgrades. After upgrading, you have one license, not
two. That's the reason an Upgrade version costs less than a Full
version.

Yeah, I know, which is why I'm getting the full version of Windows 8 so I
can continue using XP, too. I've been doing my homework.

Damaeus