hard drive dying, need to transfer XP license

[Guest]

My hard drive is dying. I want to get a new hard drive and put my copy of XP
Home Edition on it. Two questions - if I just have the upgrade version of
XP, do I format the new drive with Win98 and then run the upgrade? Also,
what is the deal with the license and activation? Am I going to have
problems activating this copy on my new hard drive? If so, how do I do it so
everything works okay?

OK, that was more than two questions. Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[Guest]

hi, when you want to format the new drive, perhaps you can use the window XP
upgrade as the boot disk, and create a new partition then install it. For
the license, i dont think it will cause any problem. hope this help

 

[David H. Lipman]

STOP using the PC now.

Go and obtain both a replacement hard disk and Symantec Ghost 2003. When you have both,
install the NEW hard disk as a "D:' drive (you don't have to partition nor format it) and
install ghost on the PC. Create a ghost Boot Disk. Boot from the Ghost Boot Disk and clone
drive "C:" to drive "D:" (disk to disk). Remove the faulty Drive "C:" and now make the new
drive the "C:" drive (if you set any jumpers).

You will now be using a EXACT copy of the system on the new drive. You can then make the
bad drive the "D:" drive where I suggest you ERASE/WIPE all data before throwing the bad
drive away. Ghost even supplied a utility GDISK that can "securely" wipe the drive of all
data.

Dave




| My hard drive is dying. I want to get a new hard drive and put my copy of XP
| Home Edition on it. Two questions - if I just have the upgrade version of
| XP, do I format the new drive with Win98 and then run the upgrade? Also,
| what is the deal with the license and activation? Am I going to have
| problems activating this copy on my new hard drive? If so, how do I do it so
| everything works okay?
|
| OK, that was more than two questions. Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[root]

My hard drive is dying. I want to get a new hard drive and put my copy of XP
Home Edition on it. Two questions - if I just have the upgrade version of
XP, do I format the new drive with Win98 and then run the upgrade?

No, but why not image the old HD to the new and avoid all that.

Also,
what is the deal with the license and activation? Am I going to have
problems activating this copy on my new hard drive?

No.

 

[Michael Stevens]

STOP using the PC now.

Go and obtain both a replacement hard disk and Symantec Ghost 2003.
When you have both, install the NEW hard disk as a "D:' drive (you
don't have to partition nor format it) and install ghost on the PC.
Create a ghost Boot Disk. Boot from the Ghost Boot Disk and clone
drive "C:" to drive "D:" (disk to disk). Remove the faulty Drive
"C:" and now make the new drive the "C:" drive (if you set any
jumpers).

You will now be using a EXACT copy of the system on the new drive.
You can then make the bad drive the "D:" drive where I suggest you
ERASE/WIPE all data before throwing the bad drive away. Ghost even
supplied a utility GDISK that can "securely" wipe the drive of all
data.

Dave

To add to Dave's advice, after ghosting the old hard drive to the new one,
shutdown and switch the hard drives before booting into Windows. Booting
into Windows before swaping the drives will cause the new drive to take a
drive letter that C.
Also you can use BootitNG if your funds are limited.
BootIT NG from Terabyte
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[root]

To add to Dave's advice, after ghosting the old hard drive to the new one,
shutdown and switch the hard drives before booting into Windows. Booting
into Windows before swaping the drives will cause the new drive to take a
drive letter that C.
Also you can use BootitNG if your funds are limited.
BootIT NG from Terabyte
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

Also new HDs will frequently come with an imaging program.

 

[Barry Watzman]

First question, your XP Home can install directly to a completely blank
drive. It will want to see your Windows 98 CD during installation (only
for legal reasons, the CD isn't actually used), but you don't have to
actually install 98 first, and you shouldn't unless you want a dual-boot
setup.

As to activation, you probably won't have any problems at all. The
activation system is actually quite flexible, and simply replacing a
hard drive won't trigger it into denying automatic activation over the
internet. One thing you can do to help out is to give the partition on
your new hard drive the same volume-serial number as the partition on
your old hard drive. Do this at any time before you activate (remember,
you can operate for 30 days without activating at all). There are free
utilities on the net that will let you arbitrarily change the vol ser
number. This isn't absolutely necessary in most cases but it will
increase the tolerance of the activation system to what you are doing.

 

[David H. Lipman]

But NOT a utility like GDisk to securely wipe the failing drive.

And bare drives certainly don't come with any software, only boxed retail drives.

Dave




|
| Also new HDs will frequently come with an imaging program.
|
|

 

[root]

But NOT a utility like GDisk to securely wipe the failing drive.

The only way to securely wipe a failing HD is with a shredder.
The OP said nothing about needing a wipe.

 

[Michael Stevens]

To add to Dave's advice, after ghosting the old hard drive to the new
one, shutdown and switch the hard drives before booting into Windows.
Booting into Windows before swaping the drives will cause the new
drive to take a drive letter that C.
Also you can use BootitNG if your funds are limited.
BootIT NG from Terabyte
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

That should have said drive letter other than C. 8~^)
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[SlowJet]

lol, I saw that.

SJ

-----Original Message-----


That should have said drive letter other than C. 8~^)
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm



.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

It's quite possible to perform a clean installation using the
Upgrade CD, provided you have the true installation CD for the earlier
OS.

Simply boot from the WinXP Upgrade CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. The Upgrade CD checks to see if a qualifying OS
is installed, and, if it finds none, it asks you to insert the
installation media (CD) of that OS. Unfortunately, an OEM
"Recovery/Restore" CD will not work for this purpose; you must have a
true installation CD, complete with the "\Win98" folder and *.cab
files, or the "\i386" folder of WinNT/2K.

There's no limit to the number of times you can reinstall and
activate the same WinXP license on the same PC. Nor is there ever a
charge. If it's been more than 120 days since you last activated
that specific Product Key, you'll most likely be able to activate via
the Internet without problem. If it's been less, you might have to
make a 5 minute phone call.

Here are the facts pertaining to activation:

Piracy Basics - Microsoft Product Activation
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

Windows Product Activation (WPA)
http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm



Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[Barry Watzman]

Re: "There's no limit to the number of times you can reinstall and
activate the same WinXP license on the same PC. Nor is there ever a
charge. If it's been more than 120 days since you last activated
that specific Product Key, you'll most likely be able to activate via
the Internet without problem."

If it's truly the same PC, normally it will activate automatically every
time, no matter what. The hash generated locally and the one stored on
the activation server will match exactly.

The 120 day reset actually applies to situations in which the PC is seen
as being "changed" or "different".

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Except that during re-installation, the old activation hash will
have been over-written.

Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[David H. Lipman]

If I activate a XP OS and then SysPrep using using v2.0. Will checking the 'already
activated' (or similar text) box prevent the the system from having to have to re-activate ?

Dave




| Greetings --
|
| Except that during re-installation, the old activation hash will
| have been over-written.
|
| Bruce Chambers
| --
| Help us help you:
|
|
|
| You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
| having both at once. - RAH
|
|
| | > Re: "There's no limit to the number of times you can reinstall and
| > activate the same WinXP license on the same PC. Nor is there ever a
| > charge. If it's been more than 120 days since you last activated
| > that specific Product Key, you'll most likely be able to activate
| > via
| > the Internet without problem."
| >
| > If it's truly the same PC, normally it will activate automatically
| > every time, no matter what. The hash generated locally and the one
| > stored on the activation server will match exactly.
| >
| > The 120 day reset actually applies to situations in which the PC is
| > seen as being "changed" or "different".
| >
|
|

 

[Alex Nichol]

My hard drive is dying. I want to get a new hard drive and put my copy of XP
Home Edition on it. Two questions - if I just have the upgrade version of
XP, do I format the new drive with Win98 and then run the upgrade?

Depends if you have a regular Win98 CD with a Win98 folder of .cab
files, or only some makers restore CD. With a regular one you boot the
XP CD, and run setup. When it asks where Windows is, put the 98 CD in
the drive and point to it. On a blue screen asking for a CD, pt the XP
one back.

If you have only a restore 98 CD you will have to restore it then run
the XP upgrade from it

what is the deal with the license and activation? Am I going to have
problems activating this copy on my new hard drive?

No. - see www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm. You might like to use the hint
in 'Format hard disk', but if it is over 120 days since you activated
before it will go through anyway on the net without comment

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

I haven't had the opportunity to learn an answer through
experience. Perhaps these will help:

How to Use Sysprep with Windows Product Activation or Volume License
Media to Deploy Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;299840&Product=winxp

How to activate Windows XP using an Unattend.txt file
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;291997

Unsupported Sysprep scenarios
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828287&Product=winxp


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[David H. Lipman]

Unfortunately - No it doesn't answer the question. I hope your received my reply email
earlier Today.

Dave




| Greetings --
|
| I haven't had the opportunity to learn an answer through
| experience. Perhaps these will help:
|
| How to Use Sysprep with Windows Product Activation or Volume License
| Media to Deploy Windows XP
| http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;299840&Product=winxp
|
| How to activate Windows XP using an Unattend.txt file
| http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;291997
|
| Unsupported Sysprep scenarios
| http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828287&Product=winxp
|
|
| Bruce Chambers
| --
| Help us help you:
|
|
|
| You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
| having both at once. - RAH
|
|
| | > If I activate a XP OS and then SysPrep using using v2.0. Will
| > checking the 'already
| > activated' (or similar text) box prevent the the system from having
| > to have to re-activate ?
| >
| > Dave
| >
| >
| >
| >
|
|

 

[Bryce Alan Katz]

If drive imaging is not an option for you, you can perform a full
installation from the XP Home CD. Setup will search your (new blank) hard
drive for existing versions of Windows. When it doesn't find any, you will
be prompted to insert the CD from a qualifying product. Do so, and setup
will resume. You should have no troubles activating the new installation. As
far as licensing goes, make sure your old hard drive is wiped and you'll be
fine.