XP OEM Version

Discussion in 'Installation and Configuration of Parallels Desktop' started by john., Aug 9, 2008.

  1. john.

    john. Member

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    Can you install the OEM version of XP or Vista onto a Parallels system?

    Thanks

    John
     
  2. John@Parallels

    John@Parallels Forum Maven

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    6,333
    It is Microsoft license violation
     
  3. john.

    john. Member

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    Thanks,

    Thinking about buying another license as the Apple MobileMe solution to sync PC's and Mac's is a total disaster

    John
     
  4. Specimen

    Specimen Product Expert

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    3,242
    MobileMe is still a work-in-progess, be patient, it will get better.
     
  5. HZC

    HZC Member

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    Curious... how does buying another XP license provide you with an alternate solution to MobileMe syncing issues?
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2008
  6. john.

    john. Member

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    My plan was to convert from Windows to Mac which includes relying on Entourage or Apple Mail as my mail application, so i need to sync up the information from my Win XP Outlook environment to my Mac OSX Entrourage/Mail environment. Without a viable Mobileme solution I have to consider installing an Windows XP environement on the Mac OSX system then I can sync windows to windows machines ...

    John
     
  7. HZC

    HZC Member

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    If your plan is to migrate and then stop using Outlook, you need to move over your mail, contacts and calendars. It might involve some work, but at least it's only once. Personally, I do not like Entourage, not even 2008. It's slow and clunky and the interface does not really make me feel like I'm on a Mac.

    There are numerous articles that can be found via Google on copying mail over from Outlook to either Entourage or Apple Mail, as well as copying your contacts.

    Calendars: You can use Calgoo Connect (free), which runs on both Mac and Windows. You can install the appropriate version on each side, then sync your Outlook calendar(s) to a Google calendar. Once you are satisfied with the sync, do the same on the Mac side to sync the Google calendar with the Mac Address Book

    As for MobileMe, it's is working great for me now, but with an iPhone in hand so if you do not have an iPhone you may not really care but... my iPhone is connected to my company's Exchange server and I use it for push e-mail and calendaring. For personal usage, I sync my contacts and calendars from my Contacts and iCal applications on OS X via MobileMe and then they get synced to my iPhone (via the cloud, not iTunes). For mail, I use only IMAP accounts (MobileMe and Gmail), so that I don't have to worry about keeping my iPhone and computer in sync.

    I know that some users are still experiencing outages, but lately I've had no problems at all and it's working out to be a good solution for me.

    Good luck, whatever solution you end up with.
     
  8. john.

    john. Member

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    57
    Very interesting response.

    I feel that to make the 100% switch is the right way to go, but, with over 30 + years experience of the computer industry I am struggling.....

    I can now sync all my contacts, calendar and mail between my Mac's no problem via MobileMe, but the inclusion of the PC's is the real challenge. I am currently using SyncmyCal to sync my calendar to and from the PC's to Google and Spanning Sync to sync my calendar between Google and Mac, i use my Nokia to sync contacts between PC's and Mac's and it works !!!! ( but what a challenge)

    Agree with your comments on Entourage but I need an application that fully integrates contacts and Calendar with Mail and I am not convinced that Apple Mail is the way to go..

    I am not sure if the Forum moderator will allow this thread to contiune but it is an interesting discussion.

    Thanks

    John
     
  9. michaelxjw

    michaelxjw Member

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    John,

    I have successfully installed the OEM version of Windows XP Professional into my Virtual Machine. Thus far, my installation works fine with all features enabled. Before doing so, I called Microsoft & found it is NOT a License Violation for doing so. The only restriction is that you are limited in installing your software on one machine (as it is meant for installation on an OEM PC) and you cannot expect to receive technical support from Microsoft. From what I have read, there are many others who have successfully gone this route. If you purchase OEM software from an online vendor, such as Buy.com or amazon, be sure your copy comes with a certificate & a Licenze Key as you will need it for the legal installation.
     
  10. john.

    john. Member

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    57
    OK that sounds very positive, have your tried to do an update of the XP operating software yet, as I know some of the problems start to occur when you try to update the OEM software.

    Thanks

    John
     
  11. michaelxjw

    michaelxjw Member

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    John,

    Yes, in fact I asked that same advice on the forum & was told it is advisable to do so provided you only update to SP3 of Windows XP if you are using the lastest release of Parallels. Last evening I turned on Windows XP Auto Update in my virtual machine & all the updates, including update to Internet Explorer 7 from 6 and update to SP3 from SP2 went OK.
     
  12. Specimen

    Specimen Product Expert

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    3,242
    In strictly software terms the OEM versions are equal to Retail versions, the only difference is the license key and license terms, this means there is NO restriction whatsoever for updates to a virtual machine running an OEM version, updates should and do work exactly the same way they do for the retail version. There's also no reason to expect a different behaviour from the retail version in just about anything.
     
  13. john.

    john. Member

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    57
    Therefore the first response to this Thread is a political/commercial response!!!

    John
     
  14. Specimen

    Specimen Product Expert

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    3,242
    It's a legal response, you cannot expect Parallels to officially (Parallels staff replying to a forum is official) endorse something that is somewhat 'not obvious' in license terms.

    There's OEM and there's OEI DSP OEM, there's OEM Windows license that come with a computer and thus are not, legally, transferable to another computer even if you no longer use it on the computer it came from.
    And there's OEI DSP OEM that you buy to put on a computer and when you put it on a computer you can't transfer it to another computer, now, imagine that computer is a Mac, the same thing applies, you bought it to put it on your mac and that's legal, you can't transfer it to another computer thou.

    The 'Get Genuine' campaign for Windows XP licenses , are OEI DSP OEM licenses.
     
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2008
  15. brianwmay

    brianwmay Member

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    I must admit that when I knew I was going to buy Parallels, I purchased an OEM copy of Windows XP Professional which is brand new and never been on ANY other platform, pc or whatever.

    It seemed the right thing to do to keep it kosher and legal (if only in my eyes). I could easily have acquired a bootleg copy but chose not to go down that route.

    I've had no problems with functionality and only use it in the VM environment supplied by Parallels. I would unhesitatingly recommend this to anyone 'locked' into at least SOME Windows applications.
     

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