I was pleasantly surprised awhile back that HP did not charge for OEM restore disks. Had a PC that came as part of a "machine" for making carpet samples and we needed to reformat and reinstall due to some glitches in the software we used on the machine and we had no restore CDs. I did like you did and copied down the serial # and called HP. They sent me the restore disks free of charge.
From: Tammy Stewart [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 2:17 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: question about OEM Windows License Keys I had a machine a couple years ago Jimmy, Dell as well. Customer did not have the recovery CDs & the machine needed a new hard drive. I just called Dell, provided them with the model, serial, customer info etc & asked for a recovery CD set. Took me a couple attempts as the person who I talked to obviously did not put my request and such on record so delivery never happened. However after a few attempts finally got the CDs. No charge even though warranty was up. Install went w/o a hitch. I figure they must have a recovery CD set for your make/model available. In my case they did not charge for the CDs but if they do charge now I cant see it being that expensive for the customer. Cheers Tammy ________________________________________ From: Carl Houseman [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 1:43 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: question about OEM Windows License Keys So far all you've told us is that you have an OEM key, not a retail key. So having an OEM key means there is no point in downloading or trying to use retail media from any source. If you have an OEM media from another machine it *may* work with your Dell OEM key. From: Jimmy Tran [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 1:16 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: question about OEM Windows License Keys Ok, with that being said, is there a way to download retail media from MS if I already have a key? From: Carl Houseman [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 10:11 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: question about OEM Windows License Keys OEM media requires OEM key. Retail media requires Retail key. Etc. And I wouldn't trust any downloaded media unless it came directly from MS. Carl From: Jimmy Tran [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 1:06 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: question about OEM Windows License Keys So I have a Dell XPS laptop that needs the Vista reinstalled. The original OS version is Vista Home Premium. Since I dont have the OEM install disc from Dell, I decided to download a Vista Retail ISO (I think it was retail) So I ran the installer and it comes to the license key window. I put in the key from the COA label under the laptop but it doesnt like the key. So my real question is, does the OEM key on the Microsoft COA label work with any media type as long as it is not Volume Licensing Media and same OS version? Any clarification would be awesome! Thanks, Jimmy ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
