Several months after purchasing an HP factory-refurbished small business notebook,
I ran into some problems which I contacted HP about.
HP sent me (at no additional charge) a set of 2 CDs both marked
"For DISTRIBUTION only with a NEW HP or Compaq PC" (emphasis mine)
and copyrighted by HP (with portions by Microsoft).
The 2 CDs of this XP Pro DR/OS CD Kit were:
Operating System CD
Application and Driver Recovery DVD
Since:
1. The PC was a refurbished PC, rather than a new one.
2. The CD set was sent AFTER my purchase, rather than being distributed with it.
I was always somewhat uncomfortable about this, but had never asked about it previously.
Is it legal to use these CDs with my refurbished HP PC?
Thank you.
- RJ in USA
This is a technical forum populated mostly by users of Microsoft software -- not official Microsoft spokespersons.
Not only is free legal advice worth what you pay for it, but free legal advice from technical people is worth even less.
Nevertheless, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that it's completely legal for you to use the Windows XP CDs supplied by HP for use with the HP computer that you purchased directly from HP.
See http://oem.microsoft.com/downloads/public/worldwide/refurb/microsoft_refurbished_pc_licensing_guidelines.pdf (and consider that in your case, the "refurbisher" is the same as the "original equipment manufacturer" and what you got was "the original recovery media")
A new Windows license is not required for a refurbished PC that has:
(1) The original Certificate of Authenticity (COA) for a Windows operating system affixed to the PC, and
(2) The original recovery media or hard-disk based recovery image associated with the PC.
The operating system identified on the original COA indicates the edition of Windows that was originally licensed for that PC and the refurbisher can use either:
(1) The original recovery media or
(2) The original hard-disk based recovery image to reinstall the operating system software specified on the COA.
If the original recovery media is not present, an end user can contact the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the PC to obtain the appropriate recovery media for a fee—subject to availability. Second-hand recovery media is sometimes offered for sale by individuals in various forums and markets. Purchasing media from unknown sources is not recommended as it introduces the risks of copyright infringement, improper licensing and infected/corrupted or incomplete software.
LemP
Volunteer Moderator
MS MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) 2006-2009
Microsoft Community Contributor (MCC) 2011-2012
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