I have the dubious pleasure of installing my wife's new PC today. We
didn't want Vista yet and ordered it without XP to save a little
money, so the first step is to run her old XP SP1 CD. Presumably that
will ask me for her 20 digit activation code and reject it because
this is a new PC? What do I do then please? Is there a UK phone number
to ring? Am I right there's no desperate hurry to do that?

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

"Terry Pinnell" wrote
>I have the dubious pleasure of installing my wife's new PC today. We
> didn't want Vista yet and ordered it without XP to save a little
> money, so the first step is to run her old XP SP1 CD. Presumably that
> will ask me for her 20 digit activation code and reject it because
> this is a new PC? What do I do then please? Is there a UK phone number
> to ring? Am I right there's no desperate hurry to do that?

Assuming it's a retail version of XP (OEM versions can't be moved to a
different computer) and it's not installed on another computer, just install
and activate. If activation won't go through on the internet do it by
phone.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

Terry Pinnell wrote:
> I have the dubious pleasure of installing my wife's new PC today. We
> didn't want Vista yet and ordered it without XP to save a little
> money, so the first step is to run her old XP SP1 CD. Presumably that
> will ask me for her 20 digit activation code and reject it because
> this is a new PC? What do I do then please? Is there a UK phone number
> to ring? Am I right there's no desperate hurry to do that?
>



If it's been over 120 days since the last time you activated it, it will
activate online with no problems, whether it's a retail or a generic OEM
version. If it's been less, you will get a number to call when you
choose phone activation. I trust you have the SP2 CD so you can install
that right after installing the SP1.

Alias

Alias <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Terry Pinnell wrote:
>> I have the dubious pleasure of installing my wife's new PC today. We
>> didn't want Vista yet and ordered it without XP to save a little
>> money, so the first step is to run her old XP SP1 CD. Presumably that
>> will ask me for her 20 digit activation code and reject it because
>> this is a new PC? What do I do then please? Is there a UK phone number
>> to ring? Am I right there's no desperate hurry to do that?
>>
>
>
>
>If it's been over 120 days since the last time you activated it, it will
>activate online with no problems, whether it's a retail or a generic OEM
>version. If it's been less, you will get a number to call when you
>choose phone activation. I trust you have the SP2 CD so you can install
>that right after installing the SP1.
>


Thanks both, much appreciated.

Hope maybe you can help with my other question, posted a minute ago,
arising out of same exercise!

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK