MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US
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@jaredbusch Whoa man no need to get all worked up.
I am here asking if there are specific issues that prevent one from donating machines from the US to Guatemala, I'm not looking for a fight.
I am looking to help people in the proper way and am asking people who obviously know more than I do.
The following has been offered in this thread and I'm just looking for clarification:
"Reinstallation or imaging of the computers can easily put you out of compliance."
"Windows is the complication here, a LOT of it. It makes everything harder, both technical and licensing."
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@scott said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
"Reinstallation or imaging of the computers can easily put you out of compliance."
What jared is driving at, if you have a recovery partition, or the OEM recovery media, reinstalling the OS to "factory" is perfectly fine.
It's when you're asked to do other things, such as install X or use a non-OEM or imaging solution that would put you out of compliance.
So long as there is a license affixed (or embedded) with the laptops you should be fine.
But you have to take into consideration what changes you may be asked to make to the installation. If no changes are made, but simply restoring to factory, you should have nothing to worry about.
PS @JaredBusch is a grumpy old bastard.
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@scott You already rejected the answer to not deal with licensing.
Beyond that, there is nothing more to care about than what I listed. A license is tied to the hardware unless it is a VLSC license.
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@dustinb3403 said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
What jared is driving at, if you have a recovery partition, or the OEM recovery media, reinstalling the OS to "factory" is perfectly fine.
No Jared is not.
i never said jack shit about imaging. No one did except you.
@Scott asked about reinstalling. You can reinstall the OEM licensed version form any media you want. You do not have to use a recovery partition nor the OEM provided reinstall media.
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@scott said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
Thanks again for all the help.
Client still wants me to "clean up" Windows machines.
Can anyone point to a relevant MS document that prohibits this regarding Windows and/or Office?
I want to help, but in the right way.
The "right" way is Fedora or Ubuntu.
The "getting credit while not actually doing what's the most helpful" is to just reinstall Windows fresh and run updates.
The "truly lazy" but still okay way is to just reinstall Windows and not run updates.Those are the only three valid choices, really.
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@scott said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
"Reinstallation or imaging of the computers can easily put you out of compliance."
Who said this? Reinstallation has zero compliance risk.
Imaging is not related and certainly will put you out of compliance.
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@scott said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
"Windows is the complication here, a LOT of it. It makes everything harder, both technical and licensing."
Not with the OEM install. Just do a clean install of Windows per the OEM license attached to the hardware and Windows is fine. Essentially useless for someone in Guatemala, but fine to give to them.
There really is no concern about sending clean Windows machines to anywhere in Central America.
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@jaredbusch said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@Scott asked about reinstalling. You can reinstall the OEM licensed version form any media you want. You do not have to use a recovery partition nor the OEM provided reinstall media.
Exactly. It just has to be manual installation, not an image.
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OK simple question then.
@Scott are you an OEM? Do you build and sell desktops?
Since OEM licensing are only supposed to be sold to OEM businesses and not individuals who should purchase the Retail license this would, by definition mean he has to restore to the OEM that came with the hardware, if he isn't an OEM.
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@dustinb3403 said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
OK simple question then.
@Scott are you an OEM? Do you build and sell desktops?
Doesn't matter here as the OEM is already purchased and applied (technically this is an assumption, but a really safe one. @scott hasn't actually said that such licenses exist, but it is a really, really likely situation.) You need to be an OEM builder to acquire the OEM licensing for the initial build. But any owner (or responsible IT tech) for said computer can install the software as often as they like, because the license was already applied by the system builder.
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@dustinb3403 said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
Since OEM licensing are only supposed to be sold to OEM businesses and not individuals who should purchase the Retail license this would, by definition mean he has to restore to the OEM that came with the hardware, if he isn't an OEM.
Your first sentence is true about who can purchase the initial license. But the second part is not something that the license does.
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@Scott what operating system came with these laptops? There are to many questions to reasonably provide a simple answer.
As is evident based on the ongoing conversation and numerous assumptions we're all having to make.
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Only assumption is that he's got Windows 7 or later OEM. Which is almost certainly true. There is no reasonable way to acquire normal desktops or laptops without a Windows OEM, no reasonable way for a company to have used them previously without that, and no way a machine older than Windows 7 era would be worth donating.
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I'd wipe and install Ubuntu. I would probably ask my company to go a step further and give us new hard drives for a clean Ubuntu install.
Kids with little or no money and alot of time can be dangerous. Dont give them a chance to recover your data. That is my 2 cents.
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@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
I'd wipe and install Ubuntu. I would probably ask my company to go a step further and give us new hard drives for a clean Ubuntu install.
Kids with little or no money and alot of time can be dangerous. Dont give them a chance to recover your data. That is my 2 cents.
Running DBAN for a full DDoD wipe would likely suffice as well, but who wants to let it take so long. . .
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@dustinb3403 said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
I'd wipe and install Ubuntu. I would probably ask my company to go a step further and give us new hard drives for a clean Ubuntu install.
Kids with little or no money and alot of time can be dangerous. Dont give them a chance to recover your data. That is my 2 cents.
Running DBAN for a full DDoD wipe would likely suffice as well, but who wants to let it take so long. . .
How much are 100GB laptop drives these days? I wouldn't take the risk.
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@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@dustinb3403 said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
I'd wipe and install Ubuntu. I would probably ask my company to go a step further and give us new hard drives for a clean Ubuntu install.
Kids with little or no money and alot of time can be dangerous. Dont give them a chance to recover your data. That is my 2 cents.
Running DBAN for a full DDoD wipe would likely suffice as well, but who wants to let it take so long. . .
How much are 100GB laptop drives these days? I wouldn't take the risk.
Likely more than the value of the laptops. . .
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@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
I'd wipe and install Ubuntu. I would probably ask my company to go a step further and give us new hard drives for a clean Ubuntu install.
Kids with little or no money and alot of time can be dangerous. Dont give them a chance to recover your data. That is my 2 cents.
Not sure it is "his" data. And what are the chances that the data on there is worth anything? Possible, but unlikely.
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@dustinb3403 said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@dustinb3403 said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
I'd wipe and install Ubuntu. I would probably ask my company to go a step further and give us new hard drives for a clean Ubuntu install.
Kids with little or no money and alot of time can be dangerous. Dont give them a chance to recover your data. That is my 2 cents.
Running DBAN for a full DDoD wipe would likely suffice as well, but who wants to let it take so long. . .
How much are 100GB laptop drives these days? I wouldn't take the risk.
Likely more than the value of the laptops. . .
That's the hard part. The time and money of even a super cheap hard drive is probably double the value of something being donated.
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@scottalanmiller said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@dustinb3403 said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@dustinb3403 said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
I'd wipe and install Ubuntu. I would probably ask my company to go a step further and give us new hard drives for a clean Ubuntu install.
Kids with little or no money and alot of time can be dangerous. Dont give them a chance to recover your data. That is my 2 cents.
Running DBAN for a full DDoD wipe would likely suffice as well, but who wants to let it take so long. . .
How much are 100GB laptop drives these days? I wouldn't take the risk.
Likely more than the value of the laptops. . .
That's the hard part. The time and money of even a super cheap hard drive is probably double the value of something being donated.
Understood, but you are creating potential risk otherwise.
