OEM Licensing question.

[Guest Carlo Piva]

Hi there everyone.

Just have an issue right now with an MS audit that is being done on our company.

They are claiming that we are illegally using OEM licenses on our laptops and desktops.

The only licenses we use for our laptops and desktops are what comes pre-installed on the hardware from HP, or what comes with their recovery CD's.

Literally, they are saying we are re-using the same keys over and over again. Again - we are not installing any OS ourselves we are only using what HP has deployed on the units.

I have managed to pull up a report through ManageEngine Desktop Central that indicates which keys are being used on what systems, and it appears that HP has been using the same keys for desktops and laptops.

The keys do not match the little sticker on the side of the desktops, or beneath the battery on the laptops.

We do not not have an imaging system setup as of yet but were looking into it.

I do not see how our company using the licenses installed BY HP on HP products is any fault of ours.

I also thought that Microsoft sold company's like HP, dell, etc a MASTER KEY to be used on every system and this was all very well and legal.

 

Continue reading...