It does work as I have done that. I bought a Dell which came with a CD for XP. Dell PC is now scattered amongst my other computers as I pulled it apart and used parts on various computers. I used the CD on one of the computers and worked fine.
Only hesitation I had was with the activation and the confusion about the legallity of it. I had bought a PC and came with a XP CD. Now it's no longer in existance and I had paid for the software as no one can buy a Dell without an operating system and it didn't say that it was OEM so it should be perfectly legal. If we look at Dell site now it still doesn't say the operating system is OEM.
Posted by: Kim at December 20, 2004 7:04 PM
mine is the reverse. an unused xp home edition on to a dell.. window says it is already activatedbut every day it says the same thing as it continues to count down the days
Posted by: dave at May 19, 2005 2:54 PM
Someone gave me an IBM Netvista with a bunk version of XP Pro. I have XP Home Edition install CD from Dell with a valid product key. So far when I insert the CD it accepts the product key, but I haven't gone through with the installation. Will this work on this IBM?
Posted by: dave at January 4, 2006 2:44 AM
I have a recovery cd from Toshiba that has XP home on it, I don't have the laptop anymore and wanted to see if I could use the recovery cd to install XP on a Dell without an OS. Can that be done? Thanks
Posted by: Mike at January 20, 2006 9:46 AM
I don't know if anyone reads this still since this post is REALLY old but I can provide some relatively accurate information on this process. While it "may be" possible to install software that came with a computer (OEM) onto another computer (either from the same manufacture or a different one), you may run into some small conflicts with OS configuration and driver stuff and more importantly (OK, that depends on your personal perspective...) you would be in violation of the EULA (or the legally binding, and sometimes controversial agreement you make when you use a Microsoft, and almost any other non-freeware product). OEM software is only authorized to be installed on the computer system it is distributed with. While there are some weird exceptions, (like faulty motherboard replacement blah, blah, blah...)in general you are only allowed to (re)install OEM software on the computer it was sold to you on. Like I said, I this may not "stop" you, and the activation process may not either, but as far as "rules" go, there you have it. Hope it helps!
Posted by: pooks at January 20, 2006 10:00 AM
Thank for you the quick response. The laptop I have is going to the junk yard. So I am going to wipe everything clean. Since I bought the XP software when I bought the laptop I wanted to see if I could put the OS on a another machine that doesn't have an OS since the OS on the laptop will be deleted. It sounds like that is possible to do. Is that something that is hard to do? Thanks
Posted by: Mike at January 20, 2006 10:09 AM
Well, I've not been able to install OEM software on a Dell Dimension 1000. It gets down to about 20 minutes and hits me with a stop screen...and won't correctly copy all the files off of the disk.
Some OEM will do fine, but not usually on a Dell...
Posted by: Robert at February 5, 2006 10:00 PM
Alright, another question:
If I own a copy of windows 2000, how many computers THAT I OWN could I legally install it on? Is it 1 copy of windows per computer or is it OK to install your copy on, say, 3 computers?
As for the OEM windows, often manufacturers will configure their windows to recognize certain tags in the motherboard bios. When windows is ready to install, it checks for the tags, and if it doesn't find them, refuses to copy to the HD.
So if its the same motherboard with a different CPU/GPU/RAM/HD it shouldn't matter, but otherwise its iffy.
Posted by: Ishan at February 8, 2006 10:21 AM
You need to check the licensing agreement that comes with, or is displayed on install, for Win2k. I *believe* it's one computer per copy, but I could be wrong.
Posted by: Leo at February 8, 2006 11:18 AM
i have 2 diffrent models of emachine computers one has a manufacturers CD. could i use that cd on the other computer to fix missing system files?
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It does work as I have done that. I bought a Dell which came with a CD for XP. Dell PC is now scattered amongst my other computers as I pulled it apart and used parts on various computers. I used the CD on one of the computers and worked fine.
Only hesitation I had was with the activation and the confusion about the legallity of it. I had bought a PC and came with a XP CD. Now it's no longer in existance and I had paid for the software as no one can buy a Dell without an operating system and it didn't say that it was OEM so it should be perfectly legal. If we look at Dell site now it still doesn't say the operating system is OEM.
Posted by: Kim at December 20, 2004 7:04 PMmine is the reverse. an unused xp home edition on to a dell.. window says it is already activatedbut every day it says the same thing as it continues to count down the days
Posted by: dave at May 19, 2005 2:54 PMSomeone gave me an IBM Netvista with a bunk version of XP Pro. I have XP Home Edition install CD from Dell with a valid product key. So far when I insert the CD it accepts the product key, but I haven't gone through with the installation. Will this work on this IBM?
Posted by: dave at January 4, 2006 2:44 AMI have a recovery cd from Toshiba that has XP home on it, I don't have the laptop anymore and wanted to see if I could use the recovery cd to install XP on a Dell without an OS. Can that be done? Thanks
Posted by: Mike at January 20, 2006 9:46 AMI don't know if anyone reads this still since this post is REALLY old but I can provide some relatively accurate information on this process. While it "may be" possible to install software that came with a computer (OEM) onto another computer (either from the same manufacture or a different one), you may run into some small conflicts with OS configuration and driver stuff and more importantly (OK, that depends on your personal perspective...) you would be in violation of the EULA (or the legally binding, and sometimes controversial agreement you make when you use a Microsoft, and almost any other non-freeware product). OEM software is only authorized to be installed on the computer system it is distributed with. While there are some weird exceptions, (like faulty motherboard replacement blah, blah, blah...)in general you are only allowed to (re)install OEM software on the computer it was sold to you on. Like I said, I this may not "stop" you, and the activation process may not either, but as far as "rules" go, there you have it. Hope it helps!
Posted by: pooks at January 20, 2006 10:00 AMThank for you the quick response. The laptop I have is going to the junk yard. So I am going to wipe everything clean. Since I bought the XP software when I bought the laptop I wanted to see if I could put the OS on a another machine that doesn't have an OS since the OS on the laptop will be deleted. It sounds like that is possible to do. Is that something that is hard to do? Thanks
Posted by: Mike at January 20, 2006 10:09 AMWell, I've not been able to install OEM software on a Dell Dimension 1000. It gets down to about 20 minutes and hits me with a stop screen...and won't correctly copy all the files off of the disk.
Some OEM will do fine, but not usually on a Dell...
Posted by: Robert at February 5, 2006 10:00 PMAlright, another question:
If I own a copy of windows 2000, how many computers THAT I OWN could I legally install it on? Is it 1 copy of windows per computer or is it OK to install your copy on, say, 3 computers?
As for the OEM windows, often manufacturers will configure their windows to recognize certain tags in the motherboard bios. When windows is ready to install, it checks for the tags, and if it doesn't find them, refuses to copy to the HD.
So if its the same motherboard with a different CPU/GPU/RAM/HD it shouldn't matter, but otherwise its iffy.
Posted by: Ishan at February 8, 2006 10:21 AMYou need to check the licensing agreement that comes with, or is displayed on install, for Win2k. I *believe* it's one computer per copy, but I could be wrong.
Posted by: Leo at February 8, 2006 11:18 AMi have 2 diffrent models of emachine computers one has a manufacturers CD. could i use that cd on the other computer to fix missing system files?
Posted by: chris stone at March 25, 2006 5:24 AMTo post a comment on "Can I install Windows XP using one manufacturer's CD on a different pc?", please return to that article's main page.