Hardware Change - Product Activation

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob L
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B

Bob L

I've got an older Dell computer running XP that has run out of hard drive
space and needs more ram. I plan to replace the HD now and add more ram
early next year. When I reinstall the HD, will product activation for XP be
automatic or will I have to call MS? Also I can't just add more ram, I have
to remove what is there now and add a new larger memory chip so will I have
any activation problems then?
 
Bob L said:
I've got an older Dell computer running XP that has run out of hard drive
space and needs more ram. I plan to replace the HD now and add more ram
early next year. When I reinstall the HD, will product activation for XP
be automatic or will I have to call MS? Also I can't just add more ram, I
have to remove what is there now and add a new larger memory chip so will
I have any activation problems then?
Click to expand...

Adding more RAM will not trigger a need to re-activate.
Replacing your hard drive will not trigger a need to re-activate if you copy
your current drive to your new drive before you replace the drive. With
your new drive you should get a copy utility {or can obtain one from the
vendors web site} or use can use a program such as Norton Ghost {there are
others} to copy your drive. If you have a desktop, install the new drive
first as a slave and than do the copy. Remove the old drive and make the
new drive master and install in place of the old drive. When everything is
working, you can install the old drive as a slave and reformat it as a
second drive.

When you replace your hard drive, if you reinstall Windows XP, you will need
to activate it again. If it has been more than 120 days since the first
activation, the internet activation should work. If internet activation
does not work, just use the telephone option.

Don
 
Don:

Thanks. I've got a pretty complete backup of the data on the old drive so I
plan to just remove the old drive and install the new one. After formatting
and loading XP, I will the load programs and data from the backup. I
installed XP about a year ago so it sounds like activation over the internet
should work.

Bob
 
If I understand what you propose, you will need to re-install all of your
programs. If the backup you have is an image or one the disaster backups
designed to be restored using a DOS program, you should format the drive and
restore your backup/image using the DOS program. The problem is that when
you install Windows XP you will create a new registry without the program
specific information in the registry for your applications. " I will the
load programs and data from the backup" will not update the registry with
program specific information if you restore while Windows is operating.

Don
 
Bob L said:
I've got an older Dell computer running XP that has run out of hard drive
space and needs more ram. I plan to replace the HD now and add more ram
early next year. When I reinstall the HD, will product activation for XP
be automatic or will I have to call MS? Also I can't just add more ram, I
have to remove what is there now and add a new larger memory chip so will
I have any activation problems then?
Click to expand...


Online product activation is automatic. You get prompted. It connects and
completes.

The call, if needed, if toll-free. Takes all of about 5 minutes.

Either way, it is painless when it works.
 
That's right, I will have to reinstall all the programs that are installed
on the old drive. Time consuming but not at big deal. I'll look into doing
a copy though.
 
Bob said:
I've got an older Dell computer running XP that has run out of hard drive
space and needs more ram. I plan to replace the HD now and add more ram
early next year. When I reinstall the HD, will product activation for XP be
automatic or will I have to call MS? Also I can't just add more ram, I have
to remove what is there now and add a new larger memory chip so will I have
any activation problems then?
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter either way. If XP forces a phone call to activate then
make the call.
 
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