What to do with 100 boxed (retail) copies of WinXP 32bit?

[Radium_Angel]

We have recently unearthed about 100 unopened boxed retail copies of Windows XP (32bit edition however) at work.

Any ideas what to do with them?

[Levent]

Ebay? I actually like retail boxes of Windows.

[DexterSmythe]

Use them to prop up monitor stands?

[WaggishOhio383]

Sell one to me 

 

In all seriousness though I absolutely love Windows XP and would love to own an official retail copy if your work wants them gone. Don't really know how much they go for though...

 

But to actually answer your question, selling them on Ebay is probably your best bet. Only enthusiasts/collectors will have any real use for them in 2021.

[Murasaki]

give them to @Kanna

[Kanna]

5 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

We have recently unearthed about 100 unopened boxed retail copies of Windows XP (32bit edition however) at work.

Any ideas what to do with them?

You mean the boxes? Someone would buy if you sell as in stock I would love having one of those but all I have is a discs with manuals no box  

[AndreiArgeanu]

Sell them, considering they are brand new sealed you could get a fair amount of money for a single copy, not to even mention 100. Or you can keep them and potentially sell them at an even higher cost at a later date, assuming there would be demand and as a result the market price would increase.

[WhitetailAni]

Sell them, some as full units and some as just keys. I'd probably buy one or two.

I have XP discs but I've only got one key (and that counter will go to 0).

[SupaKomputa]

11 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

unopened

Collectors item! Another 10 years it would be featured in Pawn Star.

[AndreiArgeanu]

Just now, FakeKGB said:

I have XP discs but I've only got one key (and that counter will go to 0).

Aren't activation keys, at least OEM one's reusable? I've used the Windows 7 key on the optiplex I used to have to activate windows on both my laptops and my desktop without a problem.

[WhitetailAni]

Just now, AndreiArgeanu said:

Aren't activation keys, at least OEM one's reusable? I've used the Windows 7 key on the optiplex I used to have to activate windows on both my laptops and my desktop without a problem.

All of my keys are one-use. I've tried to reuse it and no luck.

[Radium_Angel]

13 minutes ago, Levent said:

Ebay? I actually like retail boxes of Windows.

 

12 minutes ago, WaggishOhio383 said:

Sell one to me 

 

In all seriousness though I absolutely love Windows XP and would love to own an official retail copy if your work wants them gone. Don't really know how much they go for though...

 

But to actually answer your question, selling them on Ebay is probably your best bet. Only enthusiasts/collectors will have any real use for them in 2021.

 

11 minutes ago, Murasaki said:

give them to @Kanna

 

10 minutes ago, Kanna said:

You mean the boxes? Someone would buy if you sell as in stock I would love having one of those but all I have is a discs with manuals no box  

 

7 minutes ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

Sell them, considering they are brand new sealed you could get a fair amount of money for a single copy, not to even mention 100. Or you can keep them and potentially sell them at an even higher cost at a later date, assuming there would be demand and as a result the market price would increase.

 

3 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

Sell them, some as full units and some as just keys. I'd probably buy one or two.

I have XP discs but I've only got one key (and that counter will go to 0).

I forgot an important part of the text (I'm tired, sorry)

I work for the gov't. I can't sell them...

[Kanna]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

 

 

 

 

 

I forgot an important part of the text (I'm tired, sorry)

I work for the gov't. I can't sell them...

Aww man, collect them make a like wall statue or something or put them in random furniture

[Drama Lama]

18 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

We have recently unearthed about 100 unopened boxed retail copies of Windows XP (32bit edition however) at work.

Any ideas what to do with them?

make a domino chain reaction

[WaggishOhio383]

4 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I forgot an important part of the text (I'm tired, sorry)

I work for the gov't. I can't sell them...

Only thing to do if you can't sell them would be to leave them sitting in a closet somewhere, or just shred and dispose of them (which breaks my heart to even think about). There's no real use for them otherwise unless you have some old 32 bit computer laying around somewhere that needs an OS.

 

Are you not allowed to get rid of/give them away at all, or are you just not allowed to make money from selling them to people?

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, WaggishOhio383 said:

Only thing to do if you can't sell them would be to leave them sitting in a room somewhere, or just shred and dispose of them (which breaks my heart to even think about). There's no real use for them otherwise unless you have some old 32 bit computer laying around somewhere that needs an OS.

 

Are you not allowed to get rid of/give them away at all, or are you just not allowed to make money from selling them to people?

Can't sell, we have a "recycling" company that is supposed to give old stuff to those in need, but I"ve seen 1st hand what they actually do with old systems, and it's not repurposing them.

I *may* be able to give them away, if no one cares, but I'll have to look into the legality of this.

I was kind of hoping the key would have been useful but I guess you can't use a 32bit key to upgrade to a 64bit OS

[BuckGup]

8 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I work for the gov't. I can't sell them...

But you can give them away 

[BuckGup]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

Can't sell, we have a "recycling" company that is supposed to give old stuff to those in need, but I"ve seen 1st hand what they actually do with old systems, and it's not repurposing them.

I *may* be able to give them away, if no one cares, but I'll have to look into the legality of this.

I was kind of hoping the key would have been useful but I guess you can't use a 32bit key to upgrade to a 64bit OS

My work does the same. The policy is once the item is recycled it is written off and can never resurface. If it does you will get fired. So you can take it home and use it but not sell it. It's sorta cool because it shows you exactly how valuable something is to you and not dictated on price. I've recycled millions of dollars worth of hardware over the years simply because it had no value to me or anyone at the company.

[WaggishOhio383]

5 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I *may* be able to give them away, if no one cares, but I'll have to look into the legality of this.

If you find out you are allowed to, then please let me know. I'll gladly pay any shipping costs if you're able to send one to me.

 

5 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I was kind of hoping the key would have been useful but I guess you can't use a 32bit key to upgrade to a 64bit OS

Yeah, unfortunately not to my knowledge. And even if you could upgrade to 64 bit Windows XP, it's just not a practical OS to use for most purposes anymore.

 

If worst comes to worst and you can't give them away, you could always open them up, keep one of the install disks, and copy down all the activation codes to a spreadsheet should they be needed for later use. And then do whatever your work would normally do to get rid of them I guess...

[Kanna]

7 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I *may* be able to give them away, if no one cares, but I'll have to look into the legality of this.

I'm always here if you need me hands business card

 

Spoiler

Please I'm desperate 

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by Kanna
Added a spolier block

[Radium_Angel]

11 minutes ago, WaggishOhio383 said:

And even if you could upgrade to 64 bit Windows XP

I was thinking to go from there to 64bit 7, then to 10, but that's probably a bit of a stretch.

 

[WaggishOhio383]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

I was thinking to go from there to 64bit 7, then to 10, but that's probably a bit of a stretch.

Ah I see. Yeah, that's definitely stretching it a bit far... I don't think there's any way to do a free upgrade from Windows XP to 7, and if you could, the XP key used to activate Windows 7 wouldn't work to upgrade to Windows 10.

[LloydLynx]

Look into the possibility of giving away activation keys. Maybe you could do a first-come-first-serve giveaway here on the forum. I would love to get one, since I have a project PC in need of WinXP and idk if I wanna keep using my pirated disc.

[Tea-Sir]

On 5/27/2021 at 8:27 PM, Radium_Angel said:

We have recently unearthed about 100 unopened boxed retail copies of Windows XP (32bit edition however) at work.

Woah, that was a few. I thought the 2-3 unused licenses of Windows 7 Home Premium I had laying around at work was a problem.

 

I wonder how someone managed to stuff so many licenses in a box and forget about them?

 

This might be a pointer for some of the legal stuff to figure out. Though keep in mind, this is how it works in Denmark where I am from. I work in the public world, which means we skip the payment of VAT on all purchases, we can't re-sell items to anyone outside the public space, meaning private people, because VAT was never payed on the items. Other public workplaces can buy them from us though.

 

[Mark Kaine]

Well since tax payers paid for it you should give it back to them, make a raffle or something.