found unopened oem copy of ms server 2003, but without coa -- is it worthless?

[chunkstyle]

hey guys

i've been finding a lot of computer parts/software being thrown out lately by this company a few miles from me. one such item is an oem copy of ms server 2003, in shrink wrap
with a cd & a couple manuals in the package. apparently, this firm has bought a dell server in the past & this must've come with it. so i grabbed it, thinking it may be worth something to someone, but upon a closer look, i noticed a sticker stating that the cert. of authenticity should already be on the side or bottom of the computer & that it "may" be needed to complete setup.

is this item worthless, due to the absence of that coa?

i'm learning about this stuff as i go along, & don't know much about it yet.

thank you!

[oryx]

Two points
1. You probably would need the COA to install the software. In my experience heavy duty Microsoft products require it.
2. An OEM license is meant only to installed on the hardware it is bundled with. It would be a violation of the license agreement to install that software on another machine.

[glc]

You will find the COA attached to the case of the computer it was delivered with. It's useless without it, and it won't install anyway except on a Dell computer, it's keyed to a Dell bios.

[tomster2300]

Any way he could purchase a coa? I guess he would have had to have purchased the software in the first place...Oh well.