Change volume licence key to OEM

[dmna007]

Hi,

I am looking for a way to change the volume licence Windows XP key on around 30 pc's to the OEM key that came with the computer?

My firms volume licencing is due for renewal and as most of the pc's already have XP PRO OEM licences I am trying to save the firm some money, but ideally I do not want to have to rebuild every single pc.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Damien

 

[BadBigBen]

ideally I do not want to have to rebuild every single pc.

In essence yes...

You will have to do a REPAIR INSTALL (Inplace Upgrade Install) on every one of those PCs...

Reason, VL version does have (bit)different version of certain system files than the OEM version...

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install

http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[xwb]

Is it worth changing - the keys don't expire.

 

[dmna007]

We have an Open Value Subscription with Microsoft and the duration is set for three years and annually we have to pay an amount. It would save around £650 pounds per annum to convert the pc's that have the volume licence version of xp pro to the OEM xp pro that came with the pc but its not sounding like there is an easy way to do this.

 

[kjv1611]

dmna007,

Aren't you paying for the service with those contracts, not the license? Or is the license attached TO the service contract? I have seen that for at least one type situation on Office. At least for the past 6 months or so, we've been able to use one copy of Office Enterprise at home for free, or maybe $10 - I forget, as long as we work for our current employer, then we're required to uninstall it or else get a new license. So is it that sort of thing?

 

[xwb]

I don't think the licences expire. We had a VL contract for 2 years (that was 6 years ago) and the machines are still working. Check whether the contract is for the latest updates and service.

 

[Sympology]

They do expire:

https://partner.microsoft.com/globa...ams/ltvolumelicensing/vlopenvaluesubscription

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

[strongm]

Licenses purchased through any Volume Licensing program are perpetual rights, which means you have the rights to use the software licenses you purchased for as long as you want, the licenses themselves do not expire.

 

[Sympology]

I take it you DIDN'T bother to read the article I referenced.

License Type
The Open Value Subscription program offers nonperpetual (or subscription) licenses, which provide the right to use a particular licensed product until the end of the license-agreement term.

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

[strongm]

I'm afraid hadn't seen your post before I made my post. And I had also, for reasons too dull to explain, not seen dmna007's post where they clarified that they were using the subscription volume licensing.

Note that the subscription volume licensing normally offers a relatively cheap buy-out option at the end of the license period to convert subscription licenses into permanent licenses.

 

[dmna007]

Thank you for everyone's input.

We do have a subscription licencing scheme which does expire. It was originally taken out by my predecessor as most of the desktop pc's at the time had been purchased with an XP home oem licence, therefore the OVS was required for these to run XP Pro. Now though most of these desktops have been replaced with new pc's and when purchased they came with XP Pro OEM licences. These new pc's have then been formatted and ghosted with a version of XP containing the volume licence key.

From the posts above their doesnt appear to be a quick way for me to change this key from a volume key to an OEM key other than rebuiding the OS, which is looking like the only way! Thanks, Damien

 

[k0rrupt10n]

I am sure Microsoft actually have a download for a product key changer - keyupdatetool.exe -

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/se...en&sGuid=ba341803-92f9-43ed-899a-d2f61e442690

 

[BadBigBen]

The problem is, that the OEM version is not the same as the VLK version...

there are lots of key system-files that are not the same bit wise, thus the above link to the Key changer may not work...

The following files are different, there may be more:

DPCDLL.DL_
OEMBIOS.BI_
OEMBIOS.CA_
OEMBIOS.DA_
OEMBIOS.SI_
PIDGEN.DLL
SETUPP.INI
SETUPREG.HIV

so doing a REPAIR ISNTALL will, most likely, be the only option that is open to you...

While you still have the VL suscription, call up MS and ask them if there is another way...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[dmna007]

I have used the key changer on five pc's today and its let me change the product key to the key that came with the pc eg oem not volume licence key.

I dont think this should work, but so far it is.

The activation wizard has appeared a couple of times asking me to activate which I have done successfully so at the moment its looking like the key changer works and I dont have to rebuild the OS.

 

[BadBigBen]

Glad to hear that...

*Knocking on wood* ;-)

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"