Operating System Question
May 7, 2013 6:02 PM Subscribe
I have 20 computer that don't have hard drives. After installing new hard drives, I plan on installing windows 7 on all 20 computers. My question is will I need to purchase 20 copies of Window 7? Does Mircrosoft have an option when outfitting multiple computers.
The "correct" (but not necessarily simplest or even cheapest) way to do this is with Volume Licensing and maybe some sort of image deployment system. Buying 3 packs means you'll have a bunch of DVDs and keys you have to track, but licensing usually gets you one key that you can automatically pass though your automated installation. It might be worth a call to a reseller like CDW that has people on staff for just this sort of situation.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 7:07 PM on May 7, 2013
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 7:07 PM on May 7, 2013
I've used Symantec Ghost to create images and "clone" other computers. Relatively easy with a surplus of online tutorials for windows 7.
posted by Wynkoop at 8:26 PM on May 7, 2013
posted by Wynkoop at 8:26 PM on May 7, 2013
I have to ask—do you need Windows on these machines? You do need an individual license for each machine, and it's going to run you about $2000.
posted by sonic meat machine at 8:49 PM on May 7, 2013
posted by sonic meat machine at 8:49 PM on May 7, 2013
Does Mircrosoft have an option when outfitting multiple computers.
They do, but unless you're talking numbers way more than 20 they're unlikely to negotiate a per-computer license cost lower than the going rate for off-the-shelf System Builder packs, which you should be entitled to use because putting a new hard drive into a computer that's missing one counts as system building.
Doing 20 Windows installations the "right" way is going to be a pain in the arse. If the computers concerned are all the same make and model, your least-work technical option is to do an SLP OEM Windows installation on one of them and clone that to the others. You will need to affix the CoA stickers that come in the System Builder packs to the computer cases to make the resulting systems pass a technology audit.
If you're reselling them, then before you clone them you should run Sysprep so that when they boot up they present the standard out-of-box experience to the end user, which includes giving that user the opportunity to accept the end user license conditions.
posted by flabdablet at 9:08 PM on May 7, 2013
They do, but unless you're talking numbers way more than 20 they're unlikely to negotiate a per-computer license cost lower than the going rate for off-the-shelf System Builder packs, which you should be entitled to use because putting a new hard drive into a computer that's missing one counts as system building.
Doing 20 Windows installations the "right" way is going to be a pain in the arse. If the computers concerned are all the same make and model, your least-work technical option is to do an SLP OEM Windows installation on one of them and clone that to the others. You will need to affix the CoA stickers that come in the System Builder packs to the computer cases to make the resulting systems pass a technology audit.
If you're reselling them, then before you clone them you should run Sysprep so that when they boot up they present the standard out-of-box experience to the end user, which includes giving that user the opportunity to accept the end user license conditions.
posted by flabdablet at 9:08 PM on May 7, 2013
Do the PCs have Microsoft COA stickers (with a Windows key) on them? If so, you may be able to legitimately reinstall the licensed version on them. There are some legal twists, though - I think you have to use the manufacturer's own recovery media and supply that media if you sell the PCs. Definitely do your homework on this one.
If not, I would check into Microsoft's Registered Refurbisher program. I haven't tried it myself, but I hear you can get Win7 licenses pretty cheaply for use on refurbished PCs. You'd have to see if 20 licenses is within the "small refurbisher" size of the program, though.
posted by pocams at 6:25 AM on May 8, 2013
If not, I would check into Microsoft's Registered Refurbisher program. I haven't tried it myself, but I hear you can get Win7 licenses pretty cheaply for use on refurbished PCs. You'd have to see if 20 licenses is within the "small refurbisher" size of the program, though.
posted by pocams at 6:25 AM on May 8, 2013
I think you have to use the manufacturer's own recovery media and supply that media if you sell the PCs. Definitely do your homework on this one.
Last time I looked into this, the rules were that an OEM installation of Windows supplied with a given computer was licensed only for use with that particular computer, and the only way for the license to survive Windows re-installation was for that to be performed using recovery media supplied with that computer. The wording made it quite clear that you are not in general supposed to consider recovery discs to be interchangeable merely because their content happens to be bit-for-bit identical.
There is of course no way to tell, for any given computer with Windows installed on it, which of N content-identical setup discs was actually used. Also, the only feasible way to knock computer systems out in bulk is to do it the way the commercial OEMs do, which is to clone a standard image onto their hard disks.
So as long as each of your computers has a CoA stuck to the case that could be used to activate the Windows installation on its disk, and provided any computer you resell comes with recovery media that could be used to return its Windows installation to the same state it was in when you supplied it, then both you and any customer are incredibly unlikely to run foul of any technical or contractual Windows licensing enforcement mechanism no matter how mindlessly and zealously applied.
posted by flabdablet at 8:54 AM on May 8, 2013
Last time I looked into this, the rules were that an OEM installation of Windows supplied with a given computer was licensed only for use with that particular computer, and the only way for the license to survive Windows re-installation was for that to be performed using recovery media supplied with that computer. The wording made it quite clear that you are not in general supposed to consider recovery discs to be interchangeable merely because their content happens to be bit-for-bit identical.
There is of course no way to tell, for any given computer with Windows installed on it, which of N content-identical setup discs was actually used. Also, the only feasible way to knock computer systems out in bulk is to do it the way the commercial OEMs do, which is to clone a standard image onto their hard disks.
So as long as each of your computers has a CoA stuck to the case that could be used to activate the Windows installation on its disk, and provided any computer you resell comes with recovery media that could be used to return its Windows installation to the same state it was in when you supplied it, then both you and any customer are incredibly unlikely to run foul of any technical or contractual Windows licensing enforcement mechanism no matter how mindlessly and zealously applied.
posted by flabdablet at 8:54 AM on May 8, 2013
MY suggestion would be to contact a company like cdw or cdwg (if your government0. You would use volume licensing.
IF this is for a NON Profit you can get windows 8 or windows 7 for $8 a license Through www.techsoup.org
posted by majortom1981 at 9:11 AM on May 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
IF this is for a NON Profit you can get windows 8 or windows 7 for $8 a license Through www.techsoup.org
posted by majortom1981 at 9:11 AM on May 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
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I don't know if there are any drawbacks to the 3 packs vs 1pack. (like if its only one dvd with 3 keys, for example).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116987
posted by TheAdamist at 6:48 PM on May 7, 2013