I bought my OEM version of Windows 2000 Profession from #9 a while back... right when W2K first come out...
the COA is that little 3 inch by 1 inch sticker that comes with it..
if you look on the left, approximately a half inch in.. going from bottom to top, it says, "Certificate of Authenticity"..
and then centered, is the "Product Key" with the long @$$ key below, and then a bar code like area..
Windows 98SE and before, it was posted on the front of the "Getting Started" manual..
So, that makes no sense for it to say it has a license, but no COA.. sounds kind of crazy to me..
Who knows though!