Windows XP professional product activation

[Bryan Livingston]

Actually i need to reformat my whole HDD rapidly. So how many times will i be
able to activate my windows via internet?
And if i change my PC and go to a new one, in that situation how many times
(change the PC) will i be able to re-activate my windows?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You can activate on the internet a few times before you are required to use
phone activation. If XP Pro came preinstalled on your computer then the
license does not permit you to install and activate it on another computer.
If it is retail there is no limit to transfers to another computer as long
as it is removed from the previous computer but you will always have to
activate. If you do this several times in a short period you will have to
do phone activation.

Why don't you tell us what you are trying to do?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Actually i need to reformat my whole HDD rapidly. So how many times will i be
able to activate my windows via internet?

There's no limit to the number of times you can reinstall and
activate the same WinXP license (retail or OEM) on the same PC. Nor is
there ever a charge. Nor does a Product Key (so long as it's not an
evaluation license) ever expire. 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

And if i change my PC and go to a new one, in that situation how many times
(change the PC) will i be able to re-activate my windows?

Assuming a retail license (OEM licenses are not legitimately
transferable), simply remove WinXP from the computer it is currently on
and then install it on the new computer. If it's been more than 120
days since you last activated that specific Product Key, the 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.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Fat Kev]

You can activate on the internet a few times before you are required
to use phone activation. If XP Pro came preinstalled on your computer
then the license does not permit you to install and activate it on
another computer. If it is retail there is no limit to transfers to
another computer as long as it is removed from the previous computer
but you will always have to activate. If you do this several times in
a short period you will have to do phone activation.

Why don't you tell us what you are trying to do?

How do you remove from the previous computer if the HD has busted in
that computer and the OP might have decided to build a new powerful
machine from scratch so that it could support VISTA when times for it to
be installed!!

Where does it say explicitly that you have to remove it before
installing on a new machine?

Fat Kev

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

On Sat, 3 May 2008 11:24:01 -0700, Bryan Livingston <Bryan

Actually i need to reformat my whole HDD rapidly. So how many times will i be
able to activate my windows via internet?

You can reactivate as often as you need to. Worst case, if it's too
often, you qay have to do it via a quick easy tele[hone call to an 800
number.

And if i change my PC and go to a new one, in that situation how many times
(change the PC) will i be able to re-activate my windows?

That depends. With a retail version, same as above. With an OEM
version, you may not do it at all. The biggest disadvantage of an OEM
version, and the reason I recommend agaianst them, is that its license
ties it permanently to the first computer it's installed on.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

If the old hard drive is inoperable then you don't worry about it. It is by
definition removed.

 

[Alan]

Hi Ken,

That IS a disadvantage of an OEM version.

However, for those of us who buy branded computers with the O/S
pre-installed, I don't think many of us are going to buy a separate retail
copy of Windows.

At least I know that _I'm_ not. :>

Alan

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi Ken,

That IS a disadvantage of an OEM version.

However, for those of us who buy branded computers with the O/S
pre-installed, I don't think many of us are going to buy a separate retail
copy of Windows.

At least I know that _I'm_ not. :>

Your choice, of course. *My* choice is not to buy such a computer.

 

[Ghostrider]

Your choice, of course. *My* choice is not to buy such a computer.

Might not be anyone's choice in the near future. Just finished helping
a major institution's IT outfit set up a number of Windows XP systems.
Not a single one came with its own Windows XP cdrom. Every one of them,
however, had the XP installation as a recovery image in a 7-GB partition
on the hard drive, restoring to factory setup.

And the reason for the re-installs: To eliminate the bloatware, trialware
and junkware installed by the OEM. Found printed recently in a throwaway
computer business magazine somewhere, the trialware and junkware will be
more common in the future as they represent "payoffs" to the OEM's.

 

[Alias]

Might not be anyone's choice in the near future. Just finished helping
a major institution's IT outfit set up a number of Windows XP systems.
Not a single one came with its own Windows XP cdrom. Every one of them,
however, had the XP installation as a recovery image in a 7-GB partition
on the hard drive, restoring to factory setup.

And the reason for the re-installs: To eliminate the bloatware, trialware
and junkware installed by the OEM. Found printed recently in a throwaway
computer business magazine somewhere, the trialware and junkware will be
more common in the future as they represent "payoffs" to the OEM's.

So buy white boxes and stop complaining. Anyone who buys a large OEM
computer from the likes of HP, Dell or Packard Bell is not very computer
savvy.

Alias

 

[Alan]

Alias,

I consider myself quite computer savvy, as I have worked with computers ever
since I got out of college many, many years ago.

I have had three "white-box" computers built for me by three
supposedly-reputable computer shops between 1995 and 2000. Each of the three
machines had hardware problem within 6 months, including faulty power
supplies, fried hard drives, bad memory, non-working fans, etc. Some of the
repairs were performed under warranty. Other repairs were accomplished via
out-of-pocket money from my own wallet.

I bought my first Dell almost 7 years ago -- a Dell Dimension 2300 with XP
Home pre-installed. Dell also shipped the OEM XP Operating System disk.

A year ago I bought a Dell Dimension E520 -- again with XP Home SP2
pre-installed and the OEM XP Operating System disk.

My Dimension 2300, now nearly 6 ½ years old, is still working perfectly --
and has NEVER required any replacement parts.

I have similar expectations for my newer Dimension E520.

I'm sure that other people's experiences with white boxes have been better
than what I had.

However, I suspect that many have had problems quite similar to mine when
they bought their locally-made, reputable shop white boxes.

Alan

 

[Alias]

Alias,

I consider myself quite computer savvy, as I have worked with computers ever
since I got out of college many, many years ago.

I have had three "white-box" computers built for me by three
supposedly-reputable computer shops between 1995 and 2000. Each of the three
machines had hardware problem within 6 months, including faulty power
supplies, fried hard drives, bad memory, non-working fans, etc. Some of the
repairs were performed under warranty. Other repairs were accomplished via
out-of-pocket money from my own wallet.

I bought my first Dell almost 7 years ago -- a Dell Dimension 2300 with XP
Home pre-installed. Dell also shipped the OEM XP Operating System disk.

A year ago I bought a Dell Dimension E520 -- again with XP Home SP2
pre-installed and the OEM XP Operating System disk.

My Dimension 2300, now nearly 6 ½ years old, is still working perfectly --
and has NEVER required any replacement parts.

I have similar expectations for my newer Dimension E520.

I'm sure that other people's experiences with white boxes have been better
than what I had.

However, I suspect that many have had problems quite similar to mine when
they bought their locally-made, reputable shop white boxes.

Alan

LOL! YOU need to choose what goes into a white box, not the guy who is
selling it to you who wants the most profit which can only be gotten
using inferior and cheaper hardware. If you don't know what to choose,
reconsider what you think of yourself regarding being computer savvy. In
effect, you say you are computer savvy yet you haven't built one single
computer! I have two AMD XP Athlons that have been humming along since
03. I have an HP which I changed into a white box (replaced everything
except the little RAM that HP provided (I added more), the processor and
ASUS motherboard) and it's been humming along since 99 which is when it
was upgraded. I even replaced the shitty looking HP case with a nice
black case.

A year ago I built a white box with AMD2 with two gigs of Corsair RAM,
an nVidia PCIE card and an ASUS motherboard. It's been dual booting XP
and Ubuntu very well for almost two years.

Now, go and ask a few of your friends who bought an OEM cheapo computer
with 512MB of RAM and Vista Basic how they like their computer.

Alias

 

[Mistoffolees]

So buy white boxes and stop complaining. Anyone who buys a large OEM
computer from the likes of HP, Dell or Packard Bell is not very computer
savvy.

Alias

Might be easy for you to say from Spain (and Europe) but it is getting
so much tougher in the good old US. The small, white-box mom-and-pop
builders are being squeezed out. It is not by forces of competition
but the myriad of local, state and federal regulations. I use to build
large quantities but no more. My overhead had increased to cover general
liability insurance, health insurance, worker's compensation as well as
the lawyers to keep me informed and sign off on agreements that certify
that I have no conflict-of-interest, meet equal employment opportunity
standards, have not hired any felons, all employees are legally in the
US, and so on. The same requirements and related ones pertain to almost
every major business, education center hospital, etc. Such overhead costs,
however, mitigate with much larger organizations. Just in case you haven't
noticed.

 

[Alias]

Might be easy for you to say from Spain (and Europe) but it is getting
so much tougher in the good old US. The small, white-box mom-and-pop
builders are being squeezed out. It is not by forces of competition
but the myriad of local, state and federal regulations. I use to build
large quantities but no more. My overhead had increased to cover general
liability insurance, health insurance, worker's compensation as well as
the lawyers to keep me informed and sign off on agreements that certify
that I have no conflict-of-interest, meet equal employment opportunity
standards, have not hired any felons, all employees are legally in the
US, and so on. The same requirements and related ones pertain to almost
every major business, education center hospital, etc. Such overhead costs,
however, mitigate with much larger organizations. Just in case you haven't
noticed.

None of that would prevent someone from buying the parts, putting it
together themselves and loading the OS of their choice without the trial
versions and other crap the big OEMs include with their computers. Or
are you saying that NewEgg and the like aren't selling audio cards,
videos cards, hard drives, RAM, motherboards, mice, keyboards, speakers
and motherboards?

Alias

 

[Ghostrider]

None of that would prevent someone from buying the parts, putting it
together themselves and loading the OS of their choice without the trial
versions and other crap the big OEMs include with their computers. Or
are you saying that NewEgg and the like aren't selling audio cards,
videos cards, hard drives, RAM, motherboards, mice, keyboards, speakers
and motherboards?

Alias

It is infinitely more cost-effective to buy in volume instead of having
a staff working at $30 to $40 per hour plus fringe for building computers.
There are just so many $60,000 to $80,000 per year IT employees one can
keep on staff and most are net-centric. It just does not work out due to
the scale of the job involved. In this instance, 300 systems had to be
set up and on-line in 2 weeks. If assembled in-house, that averages to
30 systems per day for 2 weeks. No comparison to the home-builder who
might, at worst, spend 3 or 4 evenings to build just one system. Or, do
you know of any IT department that builds 6 systems per week from parts,
week in and week out? In another sense, even if it takes an expert builder
an average of 3 hours to assemble a system from parts, that is still $90
to $120 **plus** parts (plus fringe). There is no cost-savings (and a
business of this size cannot duck many of the regulatory requirements in
Misty's reply).

It isn't that we are not aware of NewEgg. They are great for parts on a
needs basis. But NewEgg, in case you might not be aware of it, does not
accept purchase orders from businesses, especially those that receive US
Federal monies (such as schools, colleges, hospitals, etc.) due to the
requirement to certify that it, its subsidiaries and suppliers meet all
of the US Federal regulatory codes.

 

[Alias]

It is infinitely more cost-effective to buy in volume instead of having
a staff working at $30 to $40 per hour plus fringe for building computers.
There are just so many $60,000 to $80,000 per year IT employees one can
keep on staff and most are net-centric. It just does not work out due to
the scale of the job involved. In this instance, 300 systems had to be
set up and on-line in 2 weeks. If assembled in-house, that averages to
30 systems per day for 2 weeks. No comparison to the home-builder who
might, at worst, spend 3 or 4 evenings to build just one system. Or, do
you know of any IT department that builds 6 systems per week from parts,
week in and week out? In another sense, even if it takes an expert builder
an average of 3 hours to assemble a system from parts, that is still $90
to $120 **plus** parts (plus fringe). There is no cost-savings (and a
business of this size cannot duck many of the regulatory requirements in
Misty's reply).

It isn't that we are not aware of NewEgg. They are great for parts on a
needs basis. But NewEgg, in case you might not be aware of it, does not
accept purchase orders from businesses, especially those that receive US
Federal monies (such as schools, colleges, hospitals, etc.) due to the
requirement to certify that it, its subsidiaries and suppliers meet all
of the US Federal regulatory codes.

So, you're saying that IT would be better off spending their time
removing the crap that the large OEMs have put on the computers rather
than doing it right the first time? It would seem to me that if one
ordered 300 computers, one could request -- and get -- a computer
without a Norton trial or Office 07 trial crap.

Alias