Question about reselling Vista Home Prem

R

riffwraith

Member
Hi - A few years ago, I purchased an OEM version of Vista Home Premium from a dealer. The installation DVD came with a box, MS pamphlet, ProdKey, as well as bar code and some other #s. I installed, registered, and have been using the OS with no problems.

I no longer need this OS on this machine, and I wish to sell the DVD, and of course the buyer will get the full package, including the ProdKey, etc. I called MS customer service, and inquired as to whether or not this would be possible, and was told that it would be, as long as the OS on my machine was uninstalled. When I asked how MS would know that the OS was unistalled, I was told that there was no way for MS to check, and that the buyer could simply install and use that ProdKey. That kinda doesn't make sense to me; if this were true, I could just give the DVD and ProdKey to 10 of my friends, all of them could install and register with that same ProdKey. Again, does not make sense.

What am I missing here? I want to make sure I do this right, and that my potential buyer does not get screwed.

Thanks!
 

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System One

You have got some conflicting information here. What they have said holds true for a RETAIL version, providing that the accompanying product key is only used on a single machine at a time, and if it is transferred to another machine that the OS is removed from the previous one prior to activation on the new one. OEMs are different - they are tied to the first system that they are activated on.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
    CPU
    Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.2GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
    Memory
    4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB)
    Graphics card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX770 Gaming OC 2GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0) Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2 Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0 WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0
    PSU
    XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular
    Case
    Gigabyte IF233
    Cooling
    1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust
    Mouse
    Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB)
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB)
    Internet Speed
    NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2)
    Other Info
    Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB) WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25 Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
Well, last i knew, OEM didn't come with a box... but yes, you can't transfer a OEM...Even a new mobo is technically a new system.
 

My Computer

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  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
Check out the following article: Licensing FAQ, particularly the transfer of license section. This reinforces what Dwarf said above - OEM software/licenses/Product Keys can be sold if you sell the entire PC on which it was originally installed with it, but cannot be sold separtely once it has been installed. At that point, it becomes permanently tied to that one machine.

I hope this helps (even if it may not be what you wanted to hear).

Good luck!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inc. MP061 Inspiron E1705
    CPU
    2.00 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory
    Motherboard
    Board: Dell Inc. 0YD479 Bus Clock: 166 megahertz
    Memory
    2046 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM) [Di
    Sound Card
    SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (17.2"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n SB2411SJGLLRMB, rev SB4OC74P, SMART Status: Healthy
    Case
    Chassis Serial Number: 5YK95C1
    Mouse
    Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1958 Kbps download ; 754.8 Kbps upload
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5540A ATA Device [CD-ROM drive] Dell AIO Printer A940 Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem 6TO4 Adapter Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter Microsoft ISATAP Adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Router Linksys / WRT54G -01
But do you know with absolute certainty that it is OEM? This is what Dwarf is implying. Are you sure that it is not a RETAIL copy, as everything else that you have described is for RETAIL, and so this makes us slightly unsure that it really is OEM.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300) Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0 1 x 1Tb (SATA 600) Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
If it is installed on your system, go to Computer / System Properties / Activation and the Product ID should have an "OEM" somewhere in it (not the Product Key, but the Product ID) if it an OEM.

You can also download Belarc Advisor Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit and see any OEM products installed on your system from the Product Id's (along with the Product Key - though that is probably the one from the manufacturer's image master copy if it was pre-installed and could not be used to re-install and would not match the key on the label on your machine (none of the other OEM products have Product Keys but other software you installed may and Belarc will show you those as well - it a handy little tool) - but that's just FYI since it doesn't seem to apply in your case where it appears you bought a computer with no OS (or you upgraded it) and bought the OEM Vista OS separately even though you say it was an OEM version which I suppose is possible).

For example, I have Microsoft Works installed and Belarc tells me it is an OEM version because the product ID has the letters OEM in it. Since I have a retail upgrade copy of Vista, it doesn't show that but it shows several other pieces of software with OEM in the product id (from the original factory installation which was with XP Professional). I'm not 100% certain (though I'd bet a lot of money on it), but I believe if you have an OEM version of Vista, the product ID will include OEM somewhere in it. Of course, if you KNOW it is an OEM copy (perhaps it says so on the disk), then that's probably true even if the product id doesn't show OEM in it and I'm wrong about that even though I really thought that to be true.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inc. MP061 Inspiron E1705
    CPU
    2.00 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory
    Motherboard
    Board: Dell Inc. 0YD479 Bus Clock: 166 megahertz
    Memory
    2046 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM) [Di
    Sound Card
    SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (17.2"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n SB2411SJGLLRMB, rev SB4OC74P, SMART Status: Healthy
    Case
    Chassis Serial Number: 5YK95C1
    Mouse
    Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1958 Kbps download ; 754.8 Kbps upload
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5540A ATA Device [CD-ROM drive] Dell AIO Printer A940 Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem 6TO4 Adapter Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter Microsoft ISATAP Adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Router Linksys / WRT54G -01
Hey guys.

The EULA in the link provided above says:

"After an OEM software license has been installed on a PC, the license may not be installed on or transferred to another PC. "

But this is for system builders, that buy OEM copies to be distributed with PCs that they build. That is not the case here.

Lorien said:
If it is installed on your system, go to Computer / System Properties / Activation and the Product ID should have an "OEM" somewhere in it (not the Product Key, but the Product ID) if it an OEM.
Click to expand...

Yes it does. It is in fact an OEM version - says so right on the box and the DVD.

I just called MS again - and they again told me that this can be resold. it was explained to me that the disc that comes with a computer can not be resold - that license must remain with that computer, but that any OEM version purchased from a retailer that comes with it's own upc code is an individual purchase and is not tied to a computer. I hope they know what they are talking about...

Cheers.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

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