I am thinking of selling my EEE 901 netbook, and so I have to prepare it for sale. If it was a desktop computer, I’d just wipe the drive clean and reinstall the operating system, but as this is a netbook it’s not easy - there’s no CD drive.
And in any case, does the new buyer has a right to the license? I am not sure if the license for Windows XP is transferable. Should I remove the sticker? Would it even make sense, since it’s possible to find out the serial number anyway from the registry (I think)?
And what could I ask for it? I’m thinking of trying to sell it privately rather than on eBay, so I’d post it on Gumtree (what they use here in UK in the place of Craigslist), so I won’t just start an auction and see how high the price will go. The only thing I did to it was to install an extra Gb of Ram, but for the rest it has the standard setup of an EEE 901, including the 12 Gb solid state drive.
Your typical XP licenses for home use in the US are transferable. The licenses we have at work are not. No idea about UK licenses.
I don’t know about your particular netbook, but these things vary. Some come with a system restore partition built into them. By pressing some magical sequence of keys during startup (which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer) you can usually get to a menu in which one of the options is to restore the netbook’s drive to its factory original configuration. This will of course destroy any personal data you have on the drive, which in this case is what you want anyway.
Other netbooks require an external CD or DVD drive to be used. Sometimes it’s not obvious how to get the thing to boot from the external drive either. Obviously, this would require you to have the system restore CD or DVD, which you may have to order from the manufacturer.
Alternately, if you have access to an external drive, you could download a compatible version of linux and install that before selling the netbook. Might be cheaper for you, but might make the netbook less valuable to somebody who wants to buy it. If you install linux, I’d leave the XP sticker on the netbook. That way if the person you sell it to wants to install XP using the manufacturer’s restore disk later, they’ve already got the license key for it and won’t have to buy another one.
Keep XP on the unit. Notebooks sans OS are doorstops to most (not all) interested buyers.
Removing your installed programs and data and clearing all your net history, passwords and emptying the deleted file garbage can are usually all that needs to be done.
FWIW I’ve gotten much better offers on my notebooks via eBay vs Craigslist.
You may also want to get some file deletion utility (like File Shredder) to remove sensitive information. It wouldn’t prevent the FBI from retrieving the data but it would deter most computer users.
the Win XP would be put on with care and its unique situation. remove it and it has value only to a skilled geek to put something on that machine that would run. it is transferable in USA.
If you wish to transfer the license, you are required to transfer the original CD/DVD containing the software, along with the original license sticker (usually on the bottom of the laptop). If you don’t have both then the license transfer may not be valid. Also, if the license is OEM, you cannot.
On eBay, a lot of computers specifically have the hard drive just taken out, but include the sticker. I thought these would be cheaper, but they don’t seem to be, if I include the cost of buying a new hard drive.
One guy even said that his state required him to sell his device without a hard drive. Maryland, I think.
