is the posting of OS license number under laptop a bad idea

seriously they have been doing it for ages but I think its kinda risky isnt it? whats to stop people picking up my laptop while im away from the desk for a minute and using my code for their OS

cant they put it at least in the concealed location covered by the battery?

 

Some companies do that.

 

Nothing really stopping anyone. I know that my Dell Latitude E6400 hides my COA under the battery, though.

 

Its an OEM licence. It wont activate since the key is tied down to that machine. They would need at least a similar machine to get it working.

 

Off topic... But is it normal for this to rub off? I mean on the sticker?

With all my laptops, Most of the writing always rubs off/fades/blurs badly (unreadable) on the Licence Sticker. Im thinking this is normal, to verify its Geniune that its normal to rub off... but ive always wondoered.

 

If your talking about the burnt/faded part of the sticker where you can see hologram strips. Yes that is normal its to prove its authenticity.

 

really? but wasnt there something about getting a windows dvd from microsoft with your OEM license. plus some computer parts companies sell OEM licenses and OEM windows. techanically cant you install windows and register with an OEM license since they only ever ask for names etc so wouldnt that work on any machine

my sticker never rubs off. its pretty much in the same state as new. the windows and intel sticker on the other hand.... they were completely rubbed off to a shiny reflective sticker state. i peeled them off by now.

 

Try using your licence on another machine, it wont activate because that licence is tied down to the hardware ID in your notebook, well for Vista anyway.

XP on the otherhand, ive seen OEM licence work on other machines, even though its not supposed too.

 

I thought OEM was only tied down to the company.

Like I think (it's been a while) I can use my Inspiron 6400's XP CD on my Inspiron 710m (don't worry I have XP Home licenses on both).

edit: I'm talking about the CD though... not the serial. For the serial, I think the OEM CD just uses some general Dell key for installation and you never actually type in your own key. But the OEM keys don't work on retail version of Windows do they...?

 

They will fail online activation. You'll be given a looooong code and told to call Microsoft for over the phone activation. Technically, your OEM key cannot be used to activate a retail disk...whether Microsoft cares enough to ask for that information on the phone remains up in the air.

 

not really true there (well technically by the book it is but...) actually it will work fine hate to say. yes it will fail online activation but all they have to do is call the 800 number and say something like the motherboard failed etc.. ms will say ok and give you the code. i repair pc's and notebooks every day and go through this with ms on a regular basis when i have to replace mobo's or even almost gut and rebuild an older dell or hp with totally different hardware (i do it as long as they will be reusing the system i dont reuse the oem keys on different machines but when i have spoke with ms on numerous occasions re-using it for a repaired machine they say is fine even if it is oem). the customer can simply re activate the key no matter the hardware most of the time ill help them with that step. and a while back a few freinds i have who work at local best buy's and office depot's etc told me all there display machines had now started to say they were no longer activated and all of them said the keys were already in use... turns out office depot caught a couple people coming in writing down and taking pics of the actual stickers on the systems on display. now they try to watch this more careful or even try to cover them on display machines at my local store but no real way to prevent this.

if it happens to you and your machine at some point says your lic is already in use and you have a non valid lic key simply call ms and explain to them you have the machine in front of you and go through online activation. also let them know someone must have got a hold of your lic key because you are the only user of that machine etc...


vista uses a point structure for its activation on oem store bought copies like the ones from newegg etc. so once you re activate you basically start over. as you add or remove components or update say the bios it will add the the point total. once you hit a certain number it will need to be reactivated. normally a mobo swap or a bios flash can trigger it right then without anything else. but say you replace a video card that will simply add points etc...off the top of my head i dont remember the exact number it uses though ill look it up when i get a few minutes

now to add factory installed type of oem activations (dell, hp, etc) use a slic table installed into the systems bios along with a cert file that is installed into windows and the oem volume lic key. what this means is the oem disc you got (lets say dell) has the proper cert and volume lic key already on it to match the slic table inserted into the bios from the oem. these types are dell, hp, msi, lenovo etc.. each brand has its own different certificate and lic key but what a lot of people dont know is take asus for example all asus machines use the same certificate in vista. also they technically all use only one of a few volume lic keys no matter what the label under the system says. if you try to install a oem dell copy of vista on a say asus brand motherboard it will fail activation this is due to the oem copy you just installed not seeing the proper asus slic in the bios of the new mobo. and once again you can simply call the 800 number and get it activated on the phone only thing is from that point out that is how it will have to be activated..if the cert file matched the slic and product key it would be activated once it installs you would not even have to do online activation its just automatically done after the first reboot.

hoe that shed a bit of insight as to how it works