Does anyone know ??

[Malcolm Shultz]

I just had the hard drive in my desktop machine die.. I
would like to know if any of you guys know if I will be
able to re-install my windows xp pro and office pro on to
a replacement hard drive?

Or will I have to buy the os and office again?

Thanks

 

[Colin Painter]

This question has been answered many times in this forum. No, you do not
have to buy xp and office again. Once XP is installed on the new drive you
will have 30 days to activate it. Assuming you didn't massively change the
PC apart from replacing the disk, you should have no problems activating.

 

[S.Sengupta]

Hi!
You don't have to buy XP Pro or Office Pro.
Yes you can easily reinstall.
Activation will not be a big problem at all.
regards/
ssg MS-MVP
pronetworks.org

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

There's no limit to the number of times you can reinstall and
activate the same WinXP license on the same PC. 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

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[Alex Nichol]

I just had the hard drive in my desktop machine die.. I
would like to know if any of you guys know if I will be
able to re-install my windows xp pro and office pro on to
a replacement hard drive?

Or will I have to buy the os and office again?

you will certainly not have to buy anything.

Provided you have not made a lot of other hardware changes Windows will
go through activation over the net just like the first time, and will do
so whatever hardware changes there have been if it is over 120 days
since last time. If you had done a lot of changes and it is recent you
would have to do it by phoning in, which is not *that* big a hassle.
See www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm and a hint in 'Format a hard drive', if
it is under the 120 days

Similarly, with variations, for Office, where you will be asked to
activate first time you run Word