[quote author=“Drachen”][quote author=“tifosiv122”]Excuse me, MS, I was wondering…can I illegally install my copy of Windows 2000 using the same CD key on multiple units?
Actually, yes… assuming you have licenses for each machine. You can also install Win2k on a machine that has a legal WinXP Pro license too.
Yeah I guess if you have a multiple license key, but then you would know that.
I didn’t know about the XP thing though…your saying any XP Pro can have a Win2000 installation on it? What would you use as the CD key?
[quote author=“tifosiv122”]I didn’t know about the XP thing though…your saying any XP Pro can have a Win2000 installation on it? What would you use as the CD key?
An existing Win2k key. They did it as a changeover mechanism. In our case we used it for users that still needed the Nortel VPN client until we were able to get the XP-compatable version of the VPN client. It was pretty nice, so we didn’t need to pay to upgrade users up to XP later.
[quote author=“Drachen”][quote author=“tifosiv122”]I didn’t know about the XP thing though…your saying any XP Pro can have a Win2000 installation on it? What would you use as the CD key?
An existing Win2k key. They did it as a changeover mechanism. In our case we used it for users that still needed the Nortel VPN client until we were able to get the XP-compatable version of the VPN client. It was pretty nice, so we didn’t need to pay to upgrade users up to XP later.
I am confused, you can install 40 OS’s if you want, as long as you have a CD key for each…multi boot system. What’s the difference?
[quote author=“tifosiv122”]I am confused, you can install 40 OS’s if you want, as long as you have a CD key for each…multi boot system. What’s the difference?
The important thing is the license, not the CD key. Say you have two Win2k workstations, and buy an XP workstation from Dell or whatever and find that one of your programs doesn’t work with XP. You can use a Win2k disk and key for that new workstation and still be properly licensed. Then when you want to upgrade all three to XP, you will only need to purchase 2 XP licenses.
[quote author=“Drachen”][quote author=“tifosiv122”]I am confused, you can install 40 OS’s if you want, as long as you have a CD key for each…multi boot system. What’s the difference?
The important thing is the license, not the CD key. Say you have two Win2k workstations, and buy an XP workstation from Dell or whatever and find that one of your programs doesn’t work with XP. You can use a Win2k disk and key for that new workstation and still be properly licensed. Then when you want to upgrade all three to XP, you will only need to purchase 2 XP licenses.
Sorry I hate to be a PITA and feel like a noob but I am still confused. Ok, so assume the same senario but your program won’t run in anything over WinME…lets just say Win98. So you get your new XP box and make it a dual boot 98/XP with valid keys for both OSs…what’s the difference? Th final two systems need to be upgraded to XP and the first system came with XP so there is no need to pay again.
[quote author=“tifosiv122”]Sorry I hate to be a PITA and feel like a noob but I am still confused. Ok, so assume the same senario but your program won’t run in anything over WinME…lets just say Win98. So you get your new XP box and make it a dual boot 98/XP with valid keys for both OSs…what’s the difference? Th final two systems need to be upgraded to XP and the first system came with XP so there is no need to pay again.
I’m talking about “legal” licenses. With your dual-boot scenario, you’d need to have a license for that computer for both Win98 and WinXP. A key doesn’t equal a license. If I buy 5 licenses of XP through volume licensing, I get one key. I could install on 500 workstations with that key, but it would violate the licensing agreement. If I buy an additional 495 licenses, I still use the original key. With the XP licenses, I could, according to the licensing agreement, use the licenses to install Win2k on those machines in leu of XP and still be properly licensed instead of having to go out and buy temporary Win2k licenses until all your software was XP-compitable. (They did it for compatibility reasons and because computer vendors switched to XP installs very quickly.) I don’t think you can dual-boot XP and Win2k on the same machine with the same license. The XP license doesn’t include a downgrade to 98, so in order to install 98 on any of the workstations, you would have to have additional valid licenses for 98.
Now you see why I hate licensing. :|
“Hi, you know Microsoft software licensing? I invented that.”
*punch*
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
[quote author=“Drachen”][quote author=“tifosiv122”]Sorry I hate to be a PITA and feel like a noob but I am still confused. Ok, so assume the same senario but your program won’t run in anything over WinME…lets just say Win98. So you get your new XP box and make it a dual boot 98/XP with valid keys for both OSs…what’s the difference? Th final two systems need to be upgraded to XP and the first system came with XP so there is no need to pay again.
I’m talking about “legal” licenses. With your dual-boot scenario, you’d need to have a license for that computer for both Win98 and WinXP. A key doesn’t equal a license. If I buy 5 licenses of XP through volume licensing, I get one key. I could install on 500 workstations with that key, but it would violate the licensing agreement. If I buy an additional 495 licenses, I still use the original key. With the XP licenses, I could, according to the licensing agreement, use the licenses to install Win2k on those machines in leu of XP and still be properly licensed instead of having to go out and buy temporary Win2k licenses until all your software was XP-compitable. (They did it for compatibility reasons and because computer vendors switched to XP installs very quickly.) I don’t think you can dual-boot XP and Win2k on the same machine with the same license. The XP license doesn’t include a downgrade to 98, so in order to install 98 on any of the workstations, you would have to have additional valid licenses for 98.
Now you see why I hate licensing. :|
“Hi, you know Microsoft software licensing? I invented that.”
*punch*
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
Now I understand what you mean, you can use a Win2K install even if you don’t have a valid license for that machine. Yeah in my senario I assumed you had a key and license for both OSs. Most users (home, small bus) get a key and license together as they buy retail boxed.
Back to the original topic, you can use the same key for XP as well and install on several machines if you have the licenses to as well. ActionPack, MSDN, etc…All of their OSs work this way, you just need a license.
The one thing that must be realized is that you can install Win2K on several machines but if you don’t have a license for a multimachine install then its not legal…which is what I assumed from above.
[quote author=“tifosiv122”]...
Back to the original topic, you can use the same key for XP as well and install on several machines if you have the licenses to as well…
But you can get caught doing this with XP unlike before right?
[quote author=“OnMyWayUp”][quote author=“tifosiv122”]...
Back to the original topic, you can use the same key for XP as well and install on several machines if you have the licenses to as well…
But you can get caught doing this with XP unlike before right?
If you activate it without cracking it, technically.
