Windows 7 and "non genuine" XP - $205 snafu?

   Turns out that the Windows XP I bought online about 6 months ago for $55
and installed on a PC for my Dad was a fake.  It LOOKED real, even down to
having holograms & such.  I just upgraded his hardware and installed it.
Tried an update, and it came back and said that it was not genuine.

  I ordered the Windows 7 upgrade for $50, thinking this would be a good way
to put a recent, genuine copy of Windows on his system.  He does have old
Windows 98 CD, which I thought I could use for the install.  Now I read that
it probably won't accept this.

  I'm rather peeved.  Now I'm out $105, and all I may have to show for it is
an illegal copy of XP, and an upgrade version of Windows 7 that may or may
not install at all.  If it doesn't, I'll be out $105, and have little or
nothing to show for it.  I certainly don't want to have to shell out another
$100 to get a copy of Vista just so I can upgrade to the copy of Windows 7.
That would essentially mean I would have paid $205 to put a copy of Windows
on my Dad's PC.

  What are my options?  Do I have any?  Thanks!

 
Get your $$ back from the people that sold you the bogus copy.

 OhioGuy wrote:

Offhand...
1) Find the original seller and rip their throat out.  Unfortunately,
one of the drawbacks of buying online is that this is difficult.
2) Find someone who's getting rid of a generic computer with XP, and
still has the XP disk.  Reformat Dad's computer (wipe everything off
the hard disk) and install that copy of XP.  There really are a lot of
(mostly) legitimate copies of XP floating around and getting thrown
away (I say "mostly" because MS might not consider them legit if it
wasn't you who paid for them, but they don't really have any way to
know).  Cost: maybe nothing.
3) Put Ubuntu Linux on the computer.  Costs nothing, but you (and he)
will have to deal with the fact that it is not Windows.  Most software
is free, too.
4) Find a suitable crack that will make your XP copy work even though
it's not legit (google "xp wga crack").  Check anything you download
for viruses before further use.  This will NOT make your existing copy
legit, of course, it'll just make it work.
5) While I suspect you are right that what you bought was a fake, I
have seen cases where MS claimed genuine factory-installed copies of
Windows from big-name vendors were fake.

Holograms don't prove much.  I saw a story about counterfeit cellphone
batteries, the reporter went to a Chinese market where vendors were
assembling them while they waited for customers.  He asked a vendor if
he could buy just the hologram sticker and they offered him several at
different prices, with the explanation that the more expensive ones
were "better" holograms.

Good luck,
Dave

 
  Huh?  It works fine, it is just that Microsoft reports that it is not a
genuine copy.  When I installed it, and the PC wasn't hooked up to the
Internet or anything yet, it did not ask me to register it or anything like
that.  It just booted up and worked.

  So it works fine as Windows XP, except that he can't update it or
anything, and it probably has security issues.  Was hoping to upgrade it to
Windows 7 for him, but if it won't update, it probably won't do that,
either.

 

You can download the XP service pack 2 and update XP without going
online to the MS site.
It should take care of all needed security updates, and make it
compatible with some software that wants your XP to be SP 2.
Look for
windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu_c81472f7eeea2eca421e116cd4c03e2300ebfde4.exe
or some variation.
About 330 mb.
Probably won't help with upgrading to Win 7, but it makes the XP good.

--Vic