Installing Win 2000 Pro on old unit

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4 computers(Dell w/Pentium II) were donated to our church by a company but
they wiped out all the data on the HD. We purchased 2 COAs from a company
on the Internet but tried to use a standard copy of Win 2000 & it would not
accept the key codes on the COA. We notified the company we bought the COAs
and they recommended that we purchase an OEM version of 2000. My main
question concerns the legal aspects of using an OEM version when we are not a
manufacturer.
Bob
 
Bob said:
4 computers(Dell w/Pentium II) were donated to our church by a
company but they wiped out all the data on the HD. We purchased 2
COAs from a company on the Internet but tried to use a standard copy
of Win 2000 & it would not accept the key codes on the COA. We
notified the company we bought the COAs and they recommended that we
purchase an OEM version of 2000. My main question concerns the
legal
aspects of using an OEM version when we are not a manufacturer.
Bob
Click to expand...


Generic OEM licenses and CDs can be legitimately purchased as long
as they're accompanied by a non-peripheral hardware component that is
to be installed into the same computer on which the OEM operating
system is to be installed.

What cannot be legitimately purchased, on the Internet or anywhere
else, are OEM Product Keys and CoAs that are not also accompanied by
the installation CD and the qualifying hardware component. In plain
English, you've been ripped off.

Further, you need to have a separate license for each computer.
If you have 4 computers, you need to have 4 licenses.

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having
both at once. - RAH
 
Is it possible to get a site license for this type of situation because the
donating company has several more computers like this? We are trying to get
them to leave the OS in place and wipe out all other files. I have tried to
buy these licenses from Dell but they only sell upgrades on Win 2000 & I
don't think that Microsoft is selling that version. They are only selling XP.
 
I believe MS has a section that deals with 'charities', and licensing. I
dont have url
Unless the doner also supplies the o/s cd's or restoration disks, you would
have a problem in updating or o/s related issues.
 
Bob said:
Is it possible to get a site license for this type of situation
because the donating company has several more computers like this?
We are trying to get them to leave the OS in place and wipe out all
other files. I have tried to buy these licenses from Dell but they
only sell upgrades on Win 2000 & I don't think that Microsoft is
selling that version. They are only selling XP.
Click to expand...


It's unlikely that you could get a "site license" for Win2K, as
that product is nearing its End-of-Life. Further, the minimum number
for Volume Licensing (known as "site" licensing to the uninitiated) is
for five licenses, and it is not inexpensive. Your best bet would
be to get the donor company to provide the OS along with the
computers, particularly if those computers originally had OEM OS
licenses when the company purchased them. The company cannot re-use
those OEM licenses on any other computers, so it might as well include
that as part of the donation.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having
both at once. - RAH
 
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