VOGONS


Interesting copy of Windows 95 on eBay

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First post, by RichB93

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Was looking on eBay to see how much I could sell my various copies of Windows 95 for and I spotted this: Link

Apparently it's an early version that doesn't require a key. What do you think? It could be a fake or possibly one of the early beta preview discs, although I would have thought it would have some mention of that on the disc?

Reply 1 of 23, by Davros

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its an oem version I doubt its rare or any thing
iirc win95 would accept all 1's

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Reply 2 of 23, by catchaserguns

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Could be a fake. I've seen too many fake OSs on ebay to even think of buying one.

Reply 4 of 23, by Zup

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May be 000-044x4? (Don't know what is the x... it may be a 6 or a 0)

Definitely, 000-04404 is a valid p/n, and 000-04464 not; so it must be the part in the photo.

In other photos around internet, the disc is a silver one, not a gold one. May it be a fake/pirate Windows 95?

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Reply 5 of 23, by Reckless

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An illegal sale as it clearly shows "only for distribution with a new PC" on the CD. As it is, surely it's worth nothing and fit for the bin?! 😀

Reply 6 of 23, by shspvr

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That maybe the Beta Tester or OEM CD as he said NO product key was needed only beta tester rev thoses installation without entering a product key from what I recall and beside it is eazy get round the the CD Key any way.
Zup that disc is silver but if the picture taking wrong it will kind gold

Reply 7 of 23, by BigBodZod

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Wasn't there a way to use the msbatch.inf file you could enter in a correct CD Key and the setup would automatically grab that ?!?

Technically that means you do not have to enter in a CD Key.

I use the same thing on my custom made Windows 98/98-SE Installer Discs.

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Reply 8 of 23, by RichB93

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BigBodZod wrote:

Wasn't there a way to use the msbatch.inf file you could enter in a correct CD Key and the setup would automatically grab that ?!?

Technically that means you do not have to enter in a CD Key.

I use the same thing on my custom made Windows 98/98-SE Installer Discs.

Hmm interesting, maybe its possibly a Hong Kong silver with a modified INF. I remember back in the day one of my brothers friends got a fake Windows 98 disc when he visited Malaysia and when he tried to install it it was missing a CAB file 🤣

Reply 9 of 23, by sliderider

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I don't understand why anyone even bothers with pirate copies of software on ebay anymore. Anybody who is intent on getting something like that isn't going to spend money for it or wait for it to be shipped.

Reply 10 of 23, by Jorpho

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sliderider wrote:

I don't understand why anyone even bothers with pirate copies of software on ebay anymore. Anybody who is intent on getting something like that isn't going to spend money for it or wait for it to be shipped.

Whatever gives you that idea? I'm sure there are still people interested in getting an old copy of Windows 95 who would think to look on eBay. Maybe they don't know enough to distinguish a pirate copy from the genuine article. Or maybe they're clever enough to look on eBay but not clever enough to find a download somewhere, and don't know anyone who can personally get them a copy.

Reply 11 of 23, by sliderider

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Jorpho wrote:
sliderider wrote:

I don't understand why anyone even bothers with pirate copies of software on ebay anymore. Anybody who is intent on getting something like that isn't going to spend money for it or wait for it to be shipped.

Whatever gives you that idea? I'm sure there are still people interested in getting an old copy of Windows 95 who would think to look on eBay. Maybe they don't know enough to distinguish a pirate copy from the genuine article. Or maybe they're clever enough to look on eBay but not clever enough to find a download somewhere, and don't know anyone who can personally get them a copy.

Most torrent clients have a search box for finding files. How clever do you have to be to type in "Windows 95" then click 'GO'?

Reply 12 of 23, by Jorpho

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sliderider wrote:
Jorpho wrote:
sliderider wrote:

I don't understand why anyone even bothers with pirate copies of software on ebay anymore. Anybody who is intent on getting something like that isn't going to spend money for it or wait for it to be shipped.

Whatever gives you that idea? I'm sure there are still people interested in getting an old copy of Windows 95 who would think to look on eBay. Maybe they don't know enough to distinguish a pirate copy from the genuine article. Or maybe they're clever enough to look on eBay but not clever enough to find a download somewhere, and don't know anyone who can personally get them a copy.

Most torrent clients have a search box for finding files.

Do they? I don't recall seeing such a box, let alone using one; I wouldn't trust their results over something I could find on my own.

How clever do you have to be to type in "Windows 95" then click 'GO'?

You have to be clever enough to find a torrent client and set it up, for starters.

Reply 13 of 23, by sliderider

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Jorpho wrote:
Do they? I don't recall seeing such a box, let alone using one; I wouldn't trust their results over something I could find on m […]
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sliderider wrote:
Jorpho wrote:

Whatever gives you that idea? I'm sure there are still people interested in getting an old copy of Windows 95 who would think to look on eBay. Maybe they don't know enough to distinguish a pirate copy from the genuine article. Or maybe they're clever enough to look on eBay but not clever enough to find a download somewhere, and don't know anyone who can personally get them a copy.

Most torrent clients have a search box for finding files.

Do they? I don't recall seeing such a box, let alone using one; I wouldn't trust their results over something I could find on my own.

How clever do you have to be to type in "Windows 95" then click 'GO'?

You have to be clever enough to find a torrent client and set it up, for starters.

What is there to setup? You download, double click, and it's ready. I think you aren't giving people enough credit. Do you think you're the only one who can Google for "torrent clients"?

Reply 14 of 23, by Tea

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I asked the seller what the number was, it's:
000-04404

Reply 15 of 23, by sliderider

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Tea wrote:

I asked the seller what the number was, it's:
000-04404

According to this page, it's a legit Microsoft part number for OEM Windows 95 CD.

http://www.emsps.com/oldtools/mswin95v.htm

Reply 16 of 23, by Jorpho

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sliderider wrote:

What is there to setup? You download, double click, and it's ready. I think you aren't giving people enough credit. Do you think you're the only one who can Google for "torrent clients"?

And I think you're giving people too much credit. How often do you read about "torrent clients" in the mainstream news? And when you do, is the reference associated with obtaining copies of fifteen-year-old operating systems?

Reply 17 of 23, by Norton Commander

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BigBodZod wrote:

Wasn't there a way to use the msbatch.inf file you could enter in a correct CD Key and the setup would automatically grab that ?!?

Technically that means you do not have to enter in a CD Key.

I use the same thing on my custom made Windows 98/98-SE Installer Discs.

Microsoft Select CDs required no CD key for install. If you had a volume licensing agreement you would be sent installation CDs from MS that required no key. They look different from the OEM cds:

NT40_SELECT.jpg

I have NT4.0, 95, 98SE, ME & Win2K Select CDs that I have used in the past, none required keys

Reply 18 of 23, by Tetrium

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BigBodZod wrote:

Wasn't there a way to use the msbatch.inf file you could enter in a correct CD Key and the setup would automatically grab that ?!?

Technically that means you do not have to enter in a CD Key.

I use the same thing on my custom made Windows 98/98-SE Installer Discs.

Yup, I happen to have a Windows ME disk that uses the msbatch.inf file with a product key. Iirc when reaching the "enter key" page in the setup process, it would have pre-entered that product key and you would be required to only click the "next" button. The ME media btw is a "select" disk, not an MSDN disk.

Tea wrote:

I asked the seller what the number was, it's:
000-04404

Apparently the disk should look like this
{ Edit: Woops, already been mentioned the disk should be silver. Must be one of those 4am things 😁 }

Reckless wrote:

An illegal sale as it clearly shows "only for distribution with a new PC" on the CD. As it is, surely it's worth nothing and fit for the bin?! 😀

Yes, but as Windows 95 is really old, apparently MS doesn't care about it anymore. And why should they. Btw, the disk should officially be sold with a license. Still odd it doesn't use a product key. I thought all official non-beta Windows 95 media required a (very easy to guess) product key?

And btw, some people like collecting Windows Media...like me 😁
I got a small but nice collection of Windows media that I collected over the years, mainly from gifted disks and some lucky local buys (like the select Windows ME disk).

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
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Reply 19 of 23, by Jorpho

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Tetrium wrote:

Yes, but as Windows 95 is really old, apparently MS doesn't care about it anymore. And why should they.

Because someone out there running Windows 95 could probably be persuaded to upgrade his hardware (and all his other apps) and start running Windows 7. I guess?