Windows 7 Licensing

[nathan]

Hi Guys,

 

We've just bought 60 laptops from a company (won't name them just yet), we were promised they would come with Windows 7. The laptops originally came with Windows 8 (although there is no product key on the laptops) and so this company emailed us with a downgrade windows 7 key.

 

This key worked a couple of times but now it's asking us to ring each time to activate. So I've been in contact with them for the last week and they told me to ring Microsoft and argue for them to allow me use the key 60 times without having to use the phone activation.

 

I kept going around in circles on the phone to Microsoft and so i sent an email back. He said he's given that key out to their last 12 customers and it's worked OK. This last bit had alarm bells ringing! He also told me to go around the school and try to find an OEM machine that i could use the key off.

 

I used a key of another machine to test and it activated which would definitely point to the installations requiring an OEM key and not a Volume Licensing key.

 

I'm a bit lost on what i should do, does all this sound legit? i have no idea how the whole downgrading thing works?

 

Thanks

Edited July 5, 2013 by nathan

[Gibson335]

The OEM key is for that machine only - to use it on any other machine would be wrong...as far as I am aware. This sounds highly irregular to me.

[nathan]

That's what i thought was the case regarding OEM installs. I just didn't know if downgrade rights have anything to do with it. It's not like it's a small company or anything.

[Gibson335]

Calling Microsoft is usually a waste of time - you could speak to 5 different people at 5 different times and get 5 different answers. As for the company you've dealt with...scale of company isn't always a factor in their integrity, but equally it could well be a member of staff who simply doesn't know what the rules are. There can obviously be downgrade rights from 8 to 7, but it very much depends on what type of licence was purchased or scheme that you run.

[nathan]

We don't run any sort of licensing schemes here, we just buy as and when needed. Your right about calling Microsoft, really are useless!

[Gibson335]

We don't run any sort of licensing schemes here, we just buy as and when needed. Your right about calling Microsoft, really are useless!

 

If I were you I wouldn't accept their word. Ask them to provide confirmation as to what licensing agreement they have sold you the OS and under what agreement you are entitled to downgrade using a single key, and get it in writing. Then check with a rival company - not naming names, not even saying it has happened, simply that you are checking the licensing agreements available.

[fiza]

I would ask the experts on here for advice @Millgate or @VeryPC

[Millgate]

It doesnt sound legit to me. Surely the reseller should be calling MS for you????

[Hefferzzzz]

Sounds dodgy.

 

Potentially they could be using a system builders activation key which they could be perfectly entitled to do but they dont stop working after 5/6 installs.

 

MS will allow you to use the same activation key several times with an OEM licence but thats supposed to on the same machine.

 

 

Sounds very much like the person you dealt with has monumentally screwed up and doesnt want to return 60 laptops.

 

You need to get on the phone to them and demand that they either send you 60 Windows 7 OEM licences or you will be sending them all back as they have misled you.

 

 

What is the product code / model number of the laptops you have purhcased?

[jimmy_2k]

I would demand that the company you purchased these from come down and sort it out. After all you specified you wanted Windows 7. This is why i'm grateful I've got an EES licensing agreement with a KMS server but I know in terms of expense this isn't fiesable for everyone.

[Bezwick]

It sounds very iffy to me, reminds me of a company I worked for in the 90's that sold the same copy of Windows NT to at least 50 customers and pocketed the license money. I would say to them sort it out or have the laptops back.

[nathan]

We've been supplied HP 650 laptops, they have the little square windows 8 sticker on the bottom but no stickers with the OEM product number.

 

Can you buy HP laptops with no OS installed?

 

We've already setup the master and cloned the 60 laptops, i hope they can come up with a solution that doesn't involve a re-install else they will be coming to do it.

[Gibson335]

We've been supplied HP 650 laptops, they have the little square windows 8 sticker on the bottom but no stickers with the OEM product number.

 

Can you buy HP laptops with no OS installed?

 

We've already setup the master and cloned the 60 laptops, i hope they can come up with a solution that doesn't involve a re-install else they will be coming to do it.

 

The OEM sticker should be on there, but sometimes they come with a media pack or similar with the laptop itself, and the OEM info can often be found there. If you have Windows installed and no OEM, but are not part of a scheme that includes volume licensing, then serious questions need to be asked of your supplier.

[chazzy2501]

If you purchased Windows 8 Pro then you have downgrade rights for Windows 7 Professional and Vista Business.

 

Understanding downgrade rights

[Gibson335]

If you purchased Windows 8 Pro then you have downgrade rights for Windows 7 Professional and Vista Business.

 

Understanding downgrade rights

 

I think the issue here is more about the legaility of the licence that was purchased in the first place.

[tmcd35]

AFAIK, All pc's should be bought with their individual OEM license for the lastest version of Windows and the CoA for that license should be physically on the machine when you buy it, anything is sounds very dodgy (unless you're buying a Mac or want a Linux box).

 

For Windows 7 you have two options. It appears, from @chazzy2501's link, that if the machines have a Win8 Pro OEM CoA on them then you can install Windows 7 Pro (not sure how license keys work/are managed for this, I've never done it this way).

 

The other option is to have *any* version of Windows 8 (we normally go for Home Premium here) licensed with the PC and then have a Microsoft Volume License Agreement (Select, EES, etc) and purchase "Windows 8 Pro Upgrade" licenses, you can then use these "upgrade" licenses to downgrade to any previous equivilant version of Windows (7 Pro, Vista Business, XP Pro). This is how most schools do it.

 

EES saves you a bundle - both money and headaches - but you still need the OEM CoA stickers for a version of Windows on the PC's.

[chazzy2501]

it says you can use VL media and key to exercise your right to downgrade OR the OEM will supply the media and key. It would appear to me that it doesn't matter how you get the software on the new laptops or what key you use as you are entitled to do so.

[chazzy2501]

ooops, found this nugget: •If an end user chooses to downgrade to an approved, prior version of the Windows desktop operating system, the PC manufacturer still must apply the desktop operating system Certificate of Authenticity (COA) to the PC.

[Arthur]

Can you buy HP laptops with no OS installed?

I've seen some with FreeDOS installed instead of Windows, but obviously this would only be an option if you plan on installing Linux on them.

 

Volume Windows licenses (like the ones you get through EES) require a base Windows OS because they are only upgrade licenses.

[localzuk]

Sometimes, the COA is under the battery on HP laptops.

[VeryPC_Ed]

Hi Guys,

 

it's very much possible that the Win 8 product key is embedded in the BIOS with no physical COA attached, i believe some of my colleagues have mentioned this in the past and a quick Google throws this up - HP Windows 8 downgrade to Win 7 HP 8300 SFF - No Win 7 OEM s... - HP Support Forum - 2543241

 

Regarding the key to downgrade, there is no magic key really for an OEM to use to downgrade a system that works forever so essentially, what will happen is that after so long the key you use will cease to function due to hardware changes and will require phone activation where they will ask for your valid Windows 8 (or key for eligible edition to downgrade).

 

Unfortunately this is one of the downsides of downgrading as it's a massive PITA (and i don't mean the bread).

 

Ed

Edited July 5, 2013 by VeryPC_Ed

[KeithMPhoenix]

As mentioned you can downgrade, the question will be as to what License Key you have been given and where that has come from. With the Agreement Number your software reseller maybe able to see what it is you are being given and advise from there. You would need that number if you were to contact the MS Activation Centre anyway so that would be the first port of call.