Am I allowed to do this...?

[Joel L (Pan out the gold)]

I purchased and installed an Upgrade version of Windows XP Home on an
old desktop PC several years ago. I've since removed the hard drive
and retired that old PC to the local recycling station. I would like
to upgrade my laptop that came with Windows 2000 Pro with this XP Home
OS since I did pay for it - I still have the disk and product key.
Will I be able to do this without having an activation problem?

 

[Nepatsfan]

I purchased and installed an Upgrade version of Windows XP Home on an
old desktop PC several years ago. I've since removed the hard drive
and retired that old PC to the local recycling station. I would like
to upgrade my laptop that came with Windows 2000 Pro with this XP Home
OS since I did pay for it - I still have the disk and product key.
Will I be able to do this without having an activation problem?

You're allowed to move your XP Home upgrade as long as it's no longer installed
on another computer. That's not a problem. Unfortunately, you won't be able to
upgrade from Windows 2000 Professional to XP Home Edition. That's not a valid
upgrade path. You would need an XP Professional upgrade CD to do that.

To install XP Home Edition on your laptop would require a clean installation.
You would also need to provide an installation CD for Windows 98 or ME early in
the process to show you qualify for the upgrade.

Windows XP supported upgrade paths
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292607/en-us

Nepatsfan

 

[John John (MVP)]

You're allowed to move your XP Home upgrade as long as it's no longer installed
on another computer. That's not a problem. Unfortunately, you won't be able to
upgrade from Windows 2000 Professional to XP Home Edition. That's not a valid
upgrade path. You would need an XP Professional upgrade CD to do that.

To install XP Home Edition on your laptop would require a clean installation.
You would also need to provide an installation CD for Windows 98 or ME early in
the process to show you qualify for the upgrade.

Hi Nepatsfan,

Although you cannot upgrade a Windows 2000 installation to Windows XP
Home Edition you can still use the Windows 2000 CD as a qualifying
product for a clean XP Home installation.

John

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I have a somewhat similar question. I have purchased a late model
laptop from my workplace which has a XP Professional installed on
it licenced to my workplace. I have a perfectly legal copy of XP
Professional and I was wondering whether I can change the licence
number on the XP Pro installed on the laptop to the licence number
of my copy of XP Pro without having delete the copy on the laptop
and re-install my copy.

Yes.

 

[Nepatsfan]

Hi Nepatsfan,

Although you cannot upgrade a Windows 2000 installation to Windows XP Home
Edition you can still use the Windows 2000 CD as a qualifying product for a
clean XP Home installation.

John

John,

Thanks for the clarification.

Nepatsfan

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I purchased and installed an Upgrade version of Windows XP Home on an
old desktop PC several years ago. I've since removed the hard drive
and retired that old PC to the local recycling station. I would like
to upgrade my laptop that came with Windows 2000 Pro with this XP Home
OS since I did pay for it - I still have the disk and product key.
Will I be able to do this without having an activation problem?

In general, you can legitimately reuse that retail WinXP Home upgrade
license. Just not in the specific way you've outlined. You cannot
upgrade Win2K to WinXP Home Edition; it's not part of the supported
upgrade path. Win2K can only be upgraded to WinXP Pro.


--

Bruce Chambers

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[Jeff]

google "Magic Jelly Bean" get the app. It will give you access to the CD key
currently on the laptop so you can change it.

Jeff