Activation, PLEASE HELP!

[Guest]

I have two PCs. PC1 originally had Win 98, and was upgraded to Win XP Home using Upgrade Version. PC2 originally had (and still has) Win ME. I now want to create a network. I need PC1 to control the network. I want XP Professional on PC1 because it gives me more control over my networking. I also don't want to "waste" the $100 bucks I spent on XP Home 6 months ago, so I want to load it on PC2. Can I do this? 1) Upgrade PC1 from XP Home to XP Pro and Activate it. 2) Then, Upgrade PC2 from Win ME to XP Home using upgrade version that was originally on PC1, and activate it?

I called the Microsoft "basic" help (the one you don't pay for), and they told me that all I have to do is Uninstall the XP Home from PC1, then do both upgrades. There's no way I can do this because of the effect it will have on the currently loaded programs on PC1. Any other way around this.

I'm wanting to be perfectly legal, and should be if I have XP Home on one PC and XP Pro on the other. But there's got to be another way besides uninstalling the first one.

PLEASE HELP!

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Nope, you can't do that. The license for XP Home becomes part of the
license for XP Pro since you only purchased the upgrade version of XP
Pro. In order to install (and activate) XP Pro on PC2, you'll need to purchase
another license for XP Home.

Go to Start > Run and type: WINVER , and hit enter.
Then click on "End-User License Agreement" for clarification.

You can also open XP's "Help and Support" and type: EULA
and hit enter. Click on "Questions and answers about the EULA".

Additional Licenses for Windows XP Home Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/addlic.asp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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


| I have two PCs. PC1 originally had Win 98, and was upgraded to Win XP Home using Upgrade Version. PC2
originally had (and still has) Win ME. I now want to create a network. I need PC1 to control the network. I
want XP Professional on PC1 because it gives me more control over my networking. I also don't want to "waste"
the $100 bucks I spent on XP Home 6 months ago, so I want to load it on PC2. Can I do this? 1) Upgrade PC1
from XP Home to XP Pro and Activate it. 2) Then, Upgrade PC2 from Win ME to XP Home using upgrade version
that was originally on PC1, and activate it?
|
| I called the Microsoft "basic" help (the one you don't pay for), and they told me that all I have to do is
Uninstall the XP Home from PC1, then do both upgrades. There's no way I can do this because of the effect it
will have on the currently loaded programs on PC1. Any other way around this.
|
| I'm wanting to be perfectly legal, and should be if I have XP Home on one PC and XP Pro on the other. But
there's got to be another way besides uninstalling the first one.
|
| PLEASE HELP!

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Correction:

"In order to install (and activate) XP Home on PC2, you'll need to purchase
another license for XP Home".

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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


| Nope, you can't do that. The license for XP Home becomes part of the
| license for XP Pro since you only purchased the upgrade version of XP
| Pro. In order to install (and activate) XP Pro on PC2, you'll need to purchase
| another license for XP Home.
|
| Go to Start > Run and type: WINVER , and hit enter.
| Then click on "End-User License Agreement" for clarification.
|
| You can also open XP's "Help and Support" and type: EULA
| and hit enter. Click on "Questions and answers about the EULA".
|
| Additional Licenses for Windows XP Home Edition
| http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/addlic.asp

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

Carey, the OP already has qualifying media Win98 and WinME, and what
Microsoft support says is correct, the OP can uninstall XP Home (since it is
retail upgrade) from PC1 (per EULA Retail can be transferred to another
machine) reverting it back to Win98 (actually it would need to be a
format/clean install) then upgrade to XP Pro (with a retail upgrade). Then
take the XP Home (that was uninstalled from PC1) to upgrade WinME on PC2.
Personally, I would upgrade the XP Home to XP Pro, then upgrade the
WinME with the XP Home (as the end result is the same, the OP just wouldn't
have to hassle with a reinstall of all his/her apps) - i.e. 2 qualifying
media (Win98 and WinME - most likely OEM to boot) and 2 upgrades (XP Pro and
XP Home) - replacing aka upgrading the OS's respectively.