Morals and Legals

[techallenged]

I've literally within the last 6 hours aquired 2 i3 2nd gen PC's running win 7 Pro 64 bit. Bought at what I regard as a bargain price of �200 ($300?).

What I failed to check was the actual oem when purchasing. Turns out the Pro is a dit dodgy! For clarity, these are not stolen PC's, but refurbs where the seller had the opportunity to purchase at reduced cost. However he does seem to have poor morals in the sense that he has installed win 7 pro 64 from a "copy" that he has acquired from the IT dept! Illegal IMO!

Anyway, from my POV, when deciding to purchase, I wanted just the the one PC, where I was going to install my own genuine (retail win pro 7 64 bit) OS. A number of reasons for this: 1, I'm a decent honest guy with morals, 2, I wouldn't trust a copy install anyway! The 2nd PC I wish to sell, at a price where I could probably cover the cost and end up with a free PC, maybe even turn a profit.

So, the COA stickers turn out to be Win 7 Home Premium, obviously OEM, and morally I beleive that if I could aquire a genuine win 7 home premium disk, I could install using the coa's on the machines and be legally OK.

What I have planned to do is purchase an OEM win 7 Home premium, install using the coa's on the PC's (keeping back the extra coa from the purchased software).

So, herein lays the problem! I don't know if the COA's are 32 or 64 bit? When I sell the 2nd machine I want to ensure that things are above board.

Is there any way I can check the status of the COA's original activation status? I need to know (if it makes a difference) whether the original activation was at 32 or 64 bit, so that I can purchase the appropriate version.

Many thanks and, as ever, your thoughts and help is appreciated

Phil

[wonderinguy34]

I don't believe an OEM coa will work with a Retail version ,now you can buy an OEM Win7 disk,but then you are back to questionable practice.

[Shinma]

... So, the COA stickers turn out to be Win 7 Home Premium, obviously OEM, ...

If you are certain those are legitimate COA,

• I do not have Windows 7 media but I do have my product key. How do I restore my computer?

[techallenged]

I don't believe an OEM coa will work with a Retail version ,now you can buy an OEM Win7 disk,but then you are back to questionable practice.

I agree that retail wont work with OEM coa.

I was/am prepared to purchase oem media along with some hardware that i actually need. Would that be questionable?

If you are certain those are legitimate COA,

• I do not have Windows 7 media but I do have my product key. How do I restore my computer?

100% sure because of the original manufacturers status and the nature of the establishment they were originally supplied to.

Thank you both for the replies, and extra thank you to Shinma for that link, looks like it's the answer to my needs. Appreciated.

Phil

[wonderinguy34]

If you are certain those are legitimate COA,

• I do not have Windows 7 media but I do have my product key. How do I restore my computer?

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