MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US
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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.
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@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@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.
Not creating, just not totally eliminating. But is the risk typically over $100? Not likely. Paying $100 to eliminate $2 of risk doesn't make sense.
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@scottalanmiller 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:
@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.
Not creating, just not totally eliminating. But is the risk typically over $100? Not likely. Paying $100 to eliminate $2 of risk doesn't make sense.
If you can confirm there is no sensitive data on ALL systems, which is difficult to confirm.
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@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@scottalanmiller 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:
@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.
Not creating, just not totally eliminating. But is the risk typically over $100? Not likely. Paying $100 to eliminate $2 of risk doesn't make sense.
If you can confirm there is no sensitive data on ALL systems, which is difficult to confirm.
The risk is minimal at best that data would be recovered off of a disk that has been dban passed only once and then has a clean OS installed afterwards.
The devices aren't going to North Korea, and it's very unlikely that any data on these has any value at all. So even if they were, the concern isn't worth spending for new drives.
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@irj said in MS Licensing Issues Regarding Machines Donated for Use Outside of US:
@scottalanmiller 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:
@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.
Not creating, just not totally eliminating. But is the risk typically over $100? Not likely. Paying $100 to eliminate $2 of risk doesn't make sense.
If you can confirm there is no sensitive data on ALL systems, which is difficult to confirm.
No, that's the risk assuming not knowing anything. Unless you can confirm that there IS sensitive data, then you have to go with the average. That's how risk works. You can't just assume the worst case scenario unless proven otherwise. Nor the least. That's where average comes in. And the average system carries essentially no risk.
