Is this true about my Windows 7 Pro License?

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by ian82, Jul 24, 2013.

  1. ian82

    ian82 MDL Expert

    Mar 7, 2012
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    I bought a Windows 7 Professional License, it was an OEM and it says system builder edition on the small box

    Is it true that after I sell my laptop, that license dies and I cannot use it on another laptop if I format the current laptop? ie. it is not transferable?

    a post from a user on Anandtech forums:


    Please tell meh he is wrong :(
     
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  2. Tito

    Tito Super Mod / Adviser
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    Nov 30, 2009
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    ViRGE's post is about OEM:SLP & OEM:COA keys, not for OEM System Builder (OEM:NONSLP).
     
  3. ian82

    ian82 MDL Expert

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    thank god!! thanks man
     
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  4. CaptainKirk1966

    CaptainKirk1966 Former MDL Guru

    Oct 31, 2009
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    Didn't the system builder license change between Windows 7 & 8, with windows 7 version being not transferable?
     
  5. ian82

    ian82 MDL Expert

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  6. CaptainKirk1966

    CaptainKirk1966 Former MDL Guru

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    Yes, that is as I recall. Although they were widely sold to end users, an end user in principle should not be able to buy a system builder license for Windows 7. And it is married forever to whatever computer it was first installed on. It is quite confusing.
     
  7. Carlos Detweiller

    Carlos Detweiller Emperor of Ice-Cream

    Dec 21, 2012
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    Buying System Builder without any hardware is and always has been perfectly legal here in Europe, due to the laws here.
     
  8. CaptainKirk1966

    CaptainKirk1966 Former MDL Guru

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    That still would not make it transferable, though.
     
  9. Carlos Detweiller

    Carlos Detweiller Emperor of Ice-Cream

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    We can transfer it as many times as we want. It's essentially Retail without the Support. Almost all my XP, Vista and 7 licenses are System Builder.
     
  10. CaptainKirk1966

    CaptainKirk1966 Former MDL Guru

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    I'd sure like to see that in writing from Microsoft, if it applies to anything other than Windows 8 ...

    I also have used system builder on XP, even thought I'm not sure it is completely proper, and wouldn't expect MS to hunt me down in any case.
     
  11. ian82

    ian82 MDL Expert

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    j00 m4d3 my d4y br0
     
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  12. s1ave77

    s1ave77 Has left at his own request

    Aug 15, 2012
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    #13 s1ave77, Jul 24, 2013
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2013
    Afaik it´s a special solution for Europe only due to european laws. The 'N' versions are a product of these laws too :D.
     
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  13. CaptainKirk1966

    CaptainKirk1966 Former MDL Guru

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    There you go.
    Q2/A2 - In the case of Windows 7, you can not use the personal use license, and if you can't use it you can't really transfer it.
     
  14. Carlos Detweiller

    Carlos Detweiller Emperor of Ice-Cream

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    Correct, everywhere, but not in Europe! There are special conflicting laws here that make that special passus of the EULA null and void.

    For example, my PC dealer does not sell and never sold anything else than OEM SB licenses, because he doesn't have to. Neither is the ''bound to hardware'' part in effect, here.


    They obviously do not like to communicate that fact, and since their sites have been poisoned with Windows 8 it's even harder to find. Even here, many do not know it.
     
  15. CaptainKirk1966

    CaptainKirk1966 Former MDL Guru

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    I guess I live in the wrong place. It is certainly true that Europe has been more effective in thwarting MS monopolistic tendencies. ;)
     
  16. Carlos Detweiller

    Carlos Detweiller Emperor of Ice-Cream

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    You have to agree they solved that dilemma with Windows 8 SB, now.
     
  17. s1ave77

    s1ave77 Has left at his own request

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    Indeed :D...first SB Licenses, then they had to offer version without Win Media Player and at least the mandatory free 'Browser Choice' :good3:.

    Not much to laugh here for MS :busted_blue:.
     
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  18. kelorgo

    kelorgo MDL Addicted

    Oct 29, 2012
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    Please note that not the whole of "Europe" (by which you presumably mean the European Union) has the special exceptions regarding OEM software that some of you are mentioning. The interpretation of OEM licenses depends on individual countries' laws, and is not uniform throughout the whole EU.

    For example, in Germany you are allowed to transfer OEM software from one PC to another, regardless of the restrictions in the EULA. In the United Kingdom, you are not allowed to. Unfortunately I can't give you a full list of country-specific situations.

    For those people who are not in a country that allows the transfer of OEM software, here is the deal about pre-Windows 8 OEM software from Microsoft. There are several types of OEM licenses, one of them is the System Builder license. This is licensed for a small business to use for installing on PCs that they sell. You are not allowed to buy a System Builder product to install on your own PC for your own personal use. Also, once the software is installed on a PC, it is then bound to it and can't be transferred to a different one.

    The grey area however is this: there are (and can't be) restrictions on what kind of business you are, who you are selling the PC to and for how much. You don't have to be an incorporated entity, so someone who builds one PC a year to sell as a hobby in their garage also qualifies. As far as I know, you can sell the PC for $0.01, and you can sell it to your sister/uncle/son. So in practice it's extremely hard to enforce the requirement that you build the PC for the purposes of selling it as a normal business.