I have now had three products that I bought--including XP--give me an
activation waring. XP is no trouble, but the other two companies cut me off
and said I had to buy a new version of their software.

I am wondering, once I get everything set up the way I like it, can't I just
clone my HDD thereby avoiding activation in the future when I reformat?

No. Product activation is required whenever you
reformat your hard drive and reinstall the software.
There is a 30 day grace period before Windows XP
actually requires activation.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Xu" wrote:

| I have now had three products that I bought--including XP--give me an
| activation waring. XP is no trouble, but the other two companies cut me off
| and said I had to buy a new version of their software.
|
| I am wondering, once I get everything set up the way I like it, can't I just
| clone my HDD thereby avoiding activation in the future when I reformat?

Xu wrote:
> I have now had three products that I bought--including XP--give me an
> activation waring. XP is no trouble, but the other two companies cut
> me off and said I had to buy a new version of their software.
>
> I am wondering, once I get everything set up the way I like it, can't
> I just clone my HDD thereby avoiding activation in the future when I
> reformat?

If you restore to the same exact hardware then you should avoid activation.
The bigger question is why do you have to reformat so often?

Kerry

If you restore an image to the same hardware, activation should not be
required. By the same hardware, I mean primarily the same motherboard.
Usually replacing the hard drive will not, by itself, cause re-activation of
Microsoft products. However, be aware that not all "activations" work the
same way, and that there are some non-Micrososft products that write to the
boot record. To avoid re-activating those will require having a complete
image of the disk, not just the individual partitions. Both GHOST and
TrueImage can do this for you.

If you re-install XP to the same hardware, as you have discovered,
re-activation is not a problem. But, other software vendors "activate" upon
each install, without really checking whether the PC is the same. They
really are counting the number of installs. I believe that Symantec (Norton
Antivirus) does this. I also had a similar issue with protected music
downloaded via Napster (the legal one owned by Roxio).

But, one might ask why you would expect to reformat with any frequency?
Assuming that the hard drive does is not failing, reformating seems like an
extreme measure to fix anything, except possibly some viruses. Even then,
it would be better to avoid virus and the like problems via up-to-date
antivirus protection, a fire wall, anti-spyware, and "safe" web/mail
practices. Maybe the solution is to try to change something else to avoid
the need to reformat?



"Xu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:XQiuf.91016$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have now had three products that I bought--including XP--give me an
>activation waring. XP is no trouble, but the other two companies cut me
>off and said I had to buy a new version of their software.
>
> I am wondering, once I get everything set up the way I like it, can't I
> just clone my HDD thereby avoiding activation in the future when I
> reformat?
>
>
>

Thanks Bob. But want Ghost and TruImage avoid that too? Isn't cloning a
drive just like taking it out of one computer and putting it into another?
All the files and programs that were already installed would still be there
right?

The big one that set me off was Tennebril's Ghostsurf. I installed the thing
3 times and got cut off. It does not matter now for this product, but alot
of companies seem to be going the activation route. I was thinking if I
cloned, I would not have to worry.

"Bob Harris" <rharris270[SPAM]@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e9Y8H3$(E-Mail Removed)...
But, other software vendors "activate" upon
> each install, without really checking whether the PC is the same. They
> really are counting the number of installs. I believe that Symantec
> (Norton Antivirus) does this. I also had a similar issue with protected
> music downloaded via Napster (the legal one owned by Roxio).

Cloning doesn't require formatting, the cloning software does that in the
clone process to the target hard drive.

XP reactivation is not required for any hard drive that's been cloned
assuming all other hardware remains unchanged.

XP reactivation is not required when restoring an image of a XP partition or
the entire hard drive to another hard drive and using that drive for the
same XP operating system assuming all other hardware remains unchanged.

Some rare 3rd party software snapshots the actual physical location of its
software on the hard drive upon its initial installation. Perfect clones on
even "identical" hard drives to this degree of copy are not possible.

Most 3rd party software will not protest as it knows not that its been moved
regarding a 1. clone or 2. an image restoration.

Consider writing down all downloaded install software product keys required
for installation of that product. And, using wordpad or notepad, write text
file with same information in the same location as the downloaded (not
installed) software.
--
Jonny
"Xu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:XQiuf.91016$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have now had three products that I bought--including XP--give me an
> activation waring. XP is no trouble, but the other two companies cut me
off
> and said I had to buy a new version of their software.
>
> I am wondering, once I get everything set up the way I like it, can't I
just
> clone my HDD thereby avoiding activation in the future when I reformat?
>
>
>

I'm still using DI 7.0 from the real Powerquest.

--
Jonny
"Richard Urban" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Feel free to do as you suggest. An even better way would be to create an
> image of your Windows partition and save it for the future when you want
to
> start fresh. Use either Ghost 9-10 or True Image 9.
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>
> Quote from George Ankner:
> If you knew as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
> "Xu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:XQiuf.91016$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I have now had three products that I bought--including XP--give me an
> >activation waring. XP is no trouble, but the other two companies cut me
> >off and said I had to buy a new version of their software.
> >
> > I am wondering, once I get everything set up the way I like it, can't I
> > just clone my HDD thereby avoiding activation in the future when I
> > reformat?
> >
> >
> >
>
>

He wants to clone the hard drive after he goes through all the activation
processes. That is NOT a reformat and reinstall.

For the past four years I have been imaging my computers after I activate
Windows, and before I install any other software. If I want to start again I
just restore that image and the system is already activated and ready to go.
This is basically the same as a hard drive clone!

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

"Carey Frisch [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23MRILe$(E-Mail Removed)...
> No. Product activation is required whenever you
> reformat your hard drive and reinstall the software.
> There is a 30 day grace period before Windows XP
> actually requires activation.
>
> --
> Carey Frisch
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows - Shell/User
> Microsoft Community Newsgroups
> news://msnews.microsoft.com/
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Xu" wrote:
>
> | I have now had three products that I bought--including XP--give me an
> | activation waring. XP is no trouble, but the other two companies cut me
> off
> | and said I had to buy a new version of their software.
> |
> | I am wondering, once I get everything set up the way I like it, can't I
> just
> | clone my HDD thereby avoiding activation in the future when I reformat?
>

Feel free to do as you suggest. An even better way would be to create an
image of your Windows partition and save it for the future when you want to
start fresh. Use either Ghost 9-10 or True Image 9.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

"Xu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:XQiuf.91016$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have now had three products that I bought--including XP--give me an
>activation waring. XP is no trouble, but the other two companies cut me
>off and said I had to buy a new version of their software.
>
> I am wondering, once I get everything set up the way I like it, can't I
> just clone my HDD thereby avoiding activation in the future when I
> reformat?
>
>
>

Richard, do you have any experience with both products? If so, which would
you say is easier for a novice to use? Ghostsurf or TruImage?

Any tutorials anywhere that you know of that explains or shows how to image
a drive? Why does it just have to be a partition?

"Richard Urban" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Feel free to do as you suggest. An even better way would be to create an
> image of your Windows partition and save it for the future when you want
> to start fresh. Use either Ghost 9-10 or True Image 9.
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>
> Quote from George Ankner:
> If you knew as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
> "Xu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:XQiuf.91016$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I have now had three products that I bought--including XP--give me an
>>activation waring. XP is no trouble, but the other two companies cut me
>>off and said I had to buy a new version of their software.
>>
>> I am wondering, once I get everything set up the way I like it, can't I
>> just clone my HDD thereby avoiding activation in the future when I
>> reformat?
>>
>>
>>
>
>