How to redeem XP upgrade to Vista on home-made PC?

January 30, 2007 7:15 PM

Last month I built my own PC from components purchased from Newegg.com including Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2b 1pk w/Upgrade Coupon for Vista - OEM What do I enter as my "PC-Model" and "Serial" at the upgrade site listed on the upgrade redemption certificate since my home-rolled PC has neither a manufacturer model number nor a serial number?

One of the reviews on the NewEgg product page says:

"Here's what newegg customer service told me: "YES – ALL customers who purchased during this promotional time will qualify and be honored the promotion. Regardless if a Microsoft rep said otherwise. If they experience an denials, please report to newegg. "YES – The customer will still qualify even though they didn’t purchase a PC system. ...all purchase promotions will be honored. "If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page." There's nothing useful in the FAQ that I could find."

Well, that sounds promising, but isn't exactly helpful. AskMeFi to the rescue?

posted by drinkspiller to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Sounds to me like your model is Drinkspiller Desktop Deluxe, and the serial number is # 000001.

I'm really only half joking, maybe you can insert anything and it will work?
posted by altcountryman at 7:29 PM on January 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

yah, microsoft wants to tie licenses to particular computers now so that you can't install it on multiple machines. even just reformatting and reinstalling windows on the same machine requires a phone call to microsoft to activate windows.

it's pretty much a "windows vista birth certificate" - you can put whatever you'd like, although i'd make sure it wasn't ridiculous and i'd write it down (put it on a sticker on/inside the computer even, like dell does!)
posted by noloveforned at 7:43 PM on January 30, 2007

Hal 9000.
posted by rbs at 8:06 PM on January 30, 2007

DEC PDP-11
Serial number: 000-00-004

That'll raise some eyebrows in Redmond.
posted by paulsc at 8:51 PM on January 30, 2007 [2 favorites]

If you want to give them some kind of real information, you could try using the model and serial of your CPU.
posted by Mark Doner at 9:55 PM on January 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

The instructions tell you to put a "0" on the serial if you don't have one (as in, you built your own). Ditto for the model name. As far as the company name goes, it's NOT a required field so there's no point to putting anything in.
posted by Muu at 4:47 AM on January 31, 2007 [1 favorite]