Here is some information I found while looking for something else...
Relevant to getting OEM Windows - these paragraphs in particular may be relevant if you want to install it on a PC other than the original OEM manufacturer. I am not expert in this however - I also saw references to shops selling a $1 power cord with a OEM version to satisfy the requirement to buy hardware with it. Just to confuse the issue further, it looks like there are at least 2 types of OEM versions...I suspect the one offered here is the type in paragraph 2? It looks to me you don't want a paragraph 4 type... (This site also describes in detail the hardware that can be changed before activation has to be redone) http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm Here is the context of that paragraph: OEM versions Restrictions of specific license types may limit the foregoing. OEM versions of Windows XP are licensed together with the hardware with which they are purchased, as an entity, and such a copy may not be moved to a different computer. Also, other specific license types (e.g., Academic licenses) are handled in different ways. These aren't a WPA issue per se, but rather an issue of the license for that purchase, and therefore outside the scope of this discussion of WPA. There are two versions of OEM Windows XP systems. One can be purchased separately, with qualifying subsidiary hardware, and installed with that hardware to an existing machine, to which it becomes bound. The software may be reinstalled and reactivated indefinitely as with a retail system as long as it is still on the original machine. It may not be transferred to a different computer. It is activated as described above, but if it were installed to hardware seen as not substantially the same, the activation would be refused as falling outside the license. In the other OEM form, the system is provided pre-installed by a major supplier. Instead of activation, the system is 'locked' to the BIOS on the motherboard. The validity of this lock is checked at boot. As long as this is satisfied, other hardware may be changed freely, but any replacement motherboard must be for a compatible one supplied by the original maker. If a BIOS-locked system is installed to a board where the lock fails, it enters a normal Activation process at startup. However, beginning 1 March 2005, the Product Key supplied on a label by the computer manufacturer, and used for the initial intallation, will not be accepted for activation. A new copy of Windows XP, with a license allowing installation on a different machine, will be needed. This means that any replacement motherboard (or upgrade to its BIOS) must be supplied by the original maker, who will ensure the lock is maintained. John _______________________________________________ NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi Unsubscribe: send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with Subject: unsubscribe
