XP re-installment

I recently changed harddrives, because the harddrive XP was installed on was
only 3GB (the only HD me and my mate had spare when we built the machine). I
didn't know you can only use a registration key once, even if it's on the
same computer, so I re-installed Windows on the new HD, and now I don't have
the info and system on the old HD because it's deleted.

What steps should I take? Is there any no-cost/low-cost way of getting this
fixed? I've got 29 days to activate Windows. Or would I have to purchase a
new licence? Seems pretty crap to me if that's the case, since I've payed for
XP all legally...

Mike

squirrelboy wrote:
> I recently changed harddrives, because the harddrive XP was
> installed on was only 3GB (the only HD me and my mate had spare
> when we built the machine). I didn't know you can only use a
> registration key once, even if it's on the same computer, so I
> re-installed Windows on the new HD, and now I don't have the info
> and system on the old HD because it's deleted.
>
> What steps should I take? Is there any no-cost/low-cost way of
> getting this fixed? I've got 29 days to activate Windows. Or would
> I have to purchase a new licence? Seems pretty crap to me if that's
> the case, since I've payed for XP all legally...

You can re-use a legitimate product key as many times as you wish to bother
installing it, especially if it is on the same computer.

In other words - if you have a retail version of Windows XP (any flavor) you
can install that version as many times on any single PC (even if it is a
different single PC than before) as long as it is not installed on any other
PC at the time. You could, in theory, install and activate this same copy
on a different machine every 3-4 hours (realistically) given you had removed
it from the machine you previously installed it on 3-4 hours before.

If you have an OEM version of Windows XP, things get a little trickier
thanks to the wording in the EULA (End User License Agreement) - in that you
could only install it on the SAME computer over and over (say once every 3-4
hours realistically) and expect to be able to activate without telling a bit
of a false story.

In both cases - you probably would have to activate by phone at some point
instead of Internet. This is where many people get confused. When they try
to activate their legitimate copy over the Internet and they last installed
said copy less than 120 days before - they may get a message that is worded
so badly, they assume they cannot activate that copy at all. It is not
true. Simply choose to activate by telephone instead and it should give yoy
a phone number (in most cases - toll free to you) and you can activate it
over an automated system via said phone number.

Is this the message that is giving you false impressions?

"According to our records, the number of times you can activate windows with
this product key has been excceeded. Please enter a different product key
then click retry..."

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html