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Hello.
I noticed 64-bit Windows 7 OEM are much cheaper than the retails in online stores like Amazon.com. Can I buy, install, and use it on formatted/new HDDs? Also, I do major hardware upgrades every two or so years and was wondering if this will affect activations in OEMs (does editions matter and does this cause limited numbers of reactivations like in XP?)? Thank you in advance.  -- "Don't step on ants... they're people too." --a quote from ANTZ movie. /\___/\ Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site) / /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net | |o o| | \ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link. ( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed. Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer. |
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On 11/13/2011 5:57 AM PT, Stan Brown typed:
>> I noticed 64-bit Windows 7 OEM are much cheaper than the retails in >> online stores like Amazon.com. Can I buy, install, and use it on >> formatted/new HDDs? > > Possibly. You don't give any details about these "OEMs", but you > want to make sure that they aren't tied to a particular brand or > model of computer unless it's the same as yours. Or are these gray- > market disks that will fail the Windows Genuine Advantage test? I have no idea. I didn't know there various OEM versions that are orderable online. Bascially, this is for my custom built computers. I am trying to get off my very old XP Pro. SP3 machine from early 2000.  -- "The sun's just a big glass, we're all ants, I LOVE YOU." --"Magnified" song by the Failure band /\___/\ Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site) / /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net | |o o| | \ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link. ( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed. Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer. |
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On 13/11/2011 12:14, Ant wrote:
> Hello. > > I noticed 64-bit Windows 7 OEM are much cheaper than the retails in > online stores like Amazon.com. Can I buy, install, and use it on > formatted/new HDDs? > > Also, I do major hardware upgrades every two or so years and was > wondering if this will affect activations in OEMs (does editions matter > and does this cause limited numbers of reactivations like in XP?)? > > Thank you in advance. OEM Windows can be very dodgy in my experience. On a Packard Bell machine you had to tattoo new HDs with a system that was about as incomprehensible as it was long-winded. On my current Acer I restored the C drive from a third-party backup after a couple of weeks, and that provided great trouble with the installation of SP1. Beware and be wary! And if those two mean the same, then be double careful. Ed |
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Ant wrote:
> On 11/13/2011 5:57 AM PT, Stan Brown typed: > >>> I noticed 64-bit Windows 7 OEM are much cheaper than the retails in >>> online stores like Amazon.com. Can I buy, install, and use it on >>> formatted/new HDDs? >> >> Possibly. You don't give any details about these "OEMs", but you >> want to make sure that they aren't tied to a particular brand or >> model of computer unless it's the same as yours. Or are these gray- >> market disks that will fail the Windows Genuine Advantage test? > > I have no idea. I didn't know there various OEM versions that are > orderable online. Bascially, this is for my custom built computers. I am > trying to get off my very old XP Pro. SP3 machine from early 2000. Unbranded OEMs are used by "System Builders", that guy in your neighborhood who builds computers locally. When you install that disc and activate it, the disc is tied to that machine. That's why the price is low, because in theory, you can't reuse it. If you change the hardware significantly, by upgrading, it's pretty hard for Microsoft to tell you're not installing the same software on two computers. An example of how the scheme works, is here. http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm And that's why Activation is present, to try to sort out tiny changes to hardware (all hardware same, amount of RAM doubles), to major ones (onboard NIC MAC address changes, might be entirely different computer). A retail version of the software, leaves no doubts. You're free to upgrade your machine. But again, if two machines show up using the same license key, on Windows Update or otherwise, Microsoft has the option to do what it pleases. And if the software has any "call home" capability, with a high enough frequency of calling home, that can catch duplication as well. Branded OEM, the content that comes with Dell, HP, Acer, can use various additional schemes. On the one hand, Activation may be unnecessary, as it's automated. (When you restore from the recovery partition, there is nothing to do.) But then, some additional checks must be in place, like the OS checks the BIOS string on each start, such that taking your Dell and putting an Asus motherboard in it, is going to cause problems. And as Ed mentioned, in the past they also had a scheme for tattooing the hard drive. In some instances, on those older machines, the media accompanying the machine was an actual installer CD, so fairly close to being useful. In other cases, what's provided is just an image of something suited for restoring to the machine, which means you may be missing the ability to use certain features you might have had, with real installation media. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS "Some BIOSes contain a "SLIC" (software licensing description table), a digital signature placed inside the BIOS by the manufacturer, for example Dell. This SLIC is inserted in the ACPI table and contains no active code. Computer manufacturers that distribute OEM versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft application software can use the SLIC to authenticate licensing to the OEM Windows Installation disk and/or system recovery disc containing Windows software. Systems having a SLIC can be preactivated with an OEM product key, and they verify an XML formatted OEM certificate against the SLIC in the BIOS as a means of self-activating (see System Locked Preinstallation). If a user performs a fresh install of Windows, they will need to have possession of both the OEM key and the digital certificate for their SLIC in order to bypass activation; in practice this is extremely unlikely and hence the only real way this can be achieved is if the user performs a restore using a pre-customised image provided by the OEM." On my WinXP machine (this one), I bought an unbranded (system builder) OEM disc. I changed the motherboard, CPU, RAM amount, over time, and the motherboard change required Activation to be repeated again. No phone call was required, and I was able to do it over the Internet. And one reason it worked, was there was a claim at the time that the rules had been loosened a tiny bit. Otherwise, the activation might have triggered a need for the phone call. Sufficient time had passed since the original installation, to not trigger any time related trigger. (If you OEM install on Tuesday with one NIC MAC address, and reinstall on Wednesday with a different NIC MAC address, that would be enough to trip a time trigger when both are activated. Too close together.) You can spend a lot of time tracing down all the options available now. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/02/...Home-Quarterly Dell gets their branded OEM license, for less than you'll pau for your System Builder unbranded license. But for people who upgrade hardware, they're equally crappy options. The SLIC check may not stop a motherboard upgrade on the unbranded install, but the motherboard identity still counts as an "item" in the voting scheme for activation. So you still might end up having to do phone activation, and explain you're "repairing a hardware failure by using a new, different motherboard brand". And that's a bit harder to explain, if you went from LGA775, DDR2, Core2 to LGA1366, DDR3, i7. That's no longer a "repair". And there is no way for Microsoft to know "you're using the same computer case for the build", as if that made it the same computer :-) Paul |
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On Sun, 13 Nov 2011 04:14:24 -0800, Ant <> had a
flock of green cheek conures squawk out: >Hello. > >I noticed 64-bit Windows 7 OEM are much cheaper than the retails in >online stores like Amazon.com. Can I buy, install, and use it on >formatted/new HDDs? > >Also, I do major hardware upgrades every two or so years and was >wondering if this will affect activations in OEMs (does editions matter >and does this cause limited numbers of reactivations like in XP?)? > >Thank you in advance. It installs & activates just like the retail version. Main difference is there is no tech support from Microsoft with the OEM versions, the installer must provide the tech support. The license says it's only to be installed on one computer, just like the OEM XP discs. -- Stephen Does fuzzy logic tickle? |
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On 11/13/2011 9:09 AM PT, Paul typed:
>>>> I noticed 64-bit Windows 7 OEM are much cheaper than the retails in >>>> online stores like Amazon.com. Can I buy, install, and use it on >>>> formatted/new HDDs? >>> >>> Possibly. You don't give any details about these "OEMs", but you >>> want to make sure that they aren't tied to a particular brand or >>> model of computer unless it's the same as yours. Or are these gray- >>> market disks that will fail the Windows Genuine Advantage test? >> >> I have no idea. I didn't know there various OEM versions that are >> orderable online. Bascially, this is for my custom built computers. I >> am trying to get off my very old XP Pro. SP3 machine from early 2000. > > Unbranded OEMs are used by "System Builders", that guy in your neighborhood > who builds computers locally. This is what I am going to do with my frequent hardware upgrades (big ones every two years or so). > When you install that disc and activate it, the disc is tied to that > machine. That's why the price is low, because in theory, you can't > reuse it. .... OK, so OEM is no good for me then. I will have to buy retail then. I was told that retail has limitations of five online reacativations and then requires phone activations? Is that true? Ugh, DRM is such a pain in the butt. -- "Don't step on ants... they're people too." --a quote from ANTZ movie. /\___/\ Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site) / /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net | |o o| | \ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link. ( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed. Ant is/was listening to a song on this computer: MessanyRecordings - Kr1z - Forever (NM Radio RMX) (ID: 455685) |
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On Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:40:17 -0800, Ant <> wrote:
>On 11/13/2011 9:09 AM PT, Paul typed: > >> When you install that disc and activate it, the disc is tied to that >> machine. That's why the price is low, because in theory, you can't >> reuse it. >... > >OK, so OEM is no good for me then. I will have to buy retail then. I certainly don't read it that way, but if you do you can still save some money by buying Upgrade versions rather than full Retail. >Ugh, DRM is such a pain in the butt. That's why some of us simply disable it. -- Char Jackson |
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