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I was asked to take care of some suspicious looking Windows 7 machines in the University. They all have the Windows Vista sticker but all all running Windows 7 Ultimate. If they are running on pirated software, this will bring me trouble (they were donated by another department which is not IT-related). How can I tell if they are running a legitimate copy of Windows 7 and not just some cracked version which is blocking Microsoft's checks?

Pablo
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1 Answers1

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All of the above commenters are incorrect.

The only way to determine accurately determine if these machines are legitimately licensed are to contact whoever installed them and have them provide you with a copy of the license.

  • Formatting and reactivating the machine will be of no use. Irrespective of the many reasons a legitimate CD key may not reactivate cleanly, having a legitimate CD key that activates does not prove you are entitled to use that software.

  • Checking if the CD keys are the same will be of no use. It is common to have the same, legitimate CD keys across multiple machines. Particularly in academic environments, legitimate copies of Windows from MSDN AA will often have the same key for an entire department. Even then, again, it says nothing about whether you are entitled to use the software.

  • Checking the serial numbers will be of no use. Again, it tells you nothing about the actual license, and it is normal to have the same S/N on multiple machines.

All of that excepted:

tl;dr:

The CD key is irrelevant. Having a "genuine" install does not mean you are entitled to use the software

The main complication here is the academic licensing environment. It is not suspicious to have different versions of Windows running on a machine than that on the sticker in universities. In fact, it's the norm. Universities normally have subscriptions to allow either volume licensing or free use of Windows through DreamSpark (previously MSDN AA). Most will buy a PC with the lowest/cheapest Windows option possible and install their own site-licensed copy of Enterprise or Ultimate as it's free.

Because of these bulk licensing deals, you will have lots of legally licensed machines with duplicate CD keys or serial numbers. But that's not the issue here.

The issue is that academic licenses for Windows and other Microsoft software is restrictive. In other words, different copies of Windows that look exactly the same are not permitted to be used in the same way.

Some examples:

  • A Software Assurance agreement allows you to upgrade to any copy of Windows for free and can be used for any purpose. This would allow you to upgrade all Vista machines to Windows 7 (or 8+) machines across the university.

  • Some limited SA agreements do the same, but forbid commercial use, so only some machines can be upgraded, and not machines used in other departments.

  • A Dreamspark Premium (Previously MSDN AA) copy can give you (and your students) free standalone copies of Windows 7 Ultimate, but can only be used for non-infrastructural purposes. It can also only be used by certain schools so transferring a computer between departments can invalidate the license, even if the CD key appears valid.

  • A Dreamspark Standard subscription provides a smaller selection of Windows versions but is available to all departments, but can only be used by students and not faculty.

Therefore, even if it looks valid and is not pirated, and activates correctly, it doesn't mean the license actually covers your use of it. Conversely, even if they CD key appears on multiple computers or does not cleanly activate, it does not mean it is pirated. You must refer to the original license conditions to actually know.

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