One notebook, 4 seperate hard drives - upgrading to XP Pro?

[John]

I have a notebook and 4 different hard drives in cradles
which are used for each one in our family. I found that it
was easier to have one hard drive for me, one for my 9
year old, one for my 10 year old, and one for my wife. We
all do different things on these hard drives all using the
same notebook computer.

Since the notebook only takes one hard drive at a time, no
two hard drives can ever be used at the same time.

Since I was a MS Win98 beta tester, I have Win98 currently
installed on these drives as the OS.

Recently, I decided to upgrade them all to Win XP Pro, but
after partially reading the license online, I am now
wondering if I can install it on each hard drive or if I
need to buy the same program 4 times even though I can
NEVER use any two programs at the same time?

Since I don't want to break the law, if I need to buy 4
copies of XP, I'll need to stay with Win98.

Can I just buy WinXP once and install it on each hard
drive which will be used individually in the notebook
computer?

Thanks,
John

 

[Jeff]

You'll need 4 licenses for XP, it will consider each
drive a new system, therefore activation for each. Since
one key gets one activation, you're 3 short. Stick with
98 or shell out some dough.

Your final option (BEST) is this. XP allows you to
create "User" accounts on one system. Create 4 users on
one BIG hard drive. You're set. Each user, sets up
their own preferences and in most cases, depending on how
you set it up, they have access to most applications, but
preferences set to them. Example: MS Outlook, one app
installed, but everyone has his/hers pst files to store
their emails and contacts separately.

This is ultimately your best option. My brother does
this with a family of 5, each member has a log in. Works
great on one system.

J

 

[Guest]

Dang. I don't HAVE one large hard drive, I have 4 20 Gb
small ones. They are already mostly populated with other
Microsoft apps, communication apps and games. I don't want
my email, newsgroup, or any other crap to be available to
my kids in any way. I don't want my wifes bill pay to be
available to my kids either. What the heck is MS thinking
when they did this?

Essentially, they've limited us to Win98 forever.

Why isn't Microsoft satisfied with my one XP payment for
one XP useage, at a time? Our family is certainly NOT
ripping MS off.

I doubt that Microsoft is really as greedy as you describe.
I'd like a second opinion, if possible.

Anyone else from Microsoft have an opinion on this?

Thanks,(with fingers crossed)
John

 

[need ms offiicial word on this]

So, can someone with real Microsoft employment give me an
answer on this issue?

I certainly won't buy any more MS apps if I can't use
them...?

Either way, I'd just like an official word to my
situation.
Thanks,
John

 

[Michael Stevens]

Dang. I don't HAVE one large hard drive, I have 4 20 Gb
small ones. They are already mostly populated with other
Microsoft apps, communication apps and games. I don't want
my email, newsgroup, or any other crap to be available to
my kids in any way. I don't want my wifes bill pay to be
available to my kids either. What the heck is MS thinking
when they did this?

Essentially, they've limited us to Win98 forever.

Why isn't Microsoft satisfied with my one XP payment for
one XP useage, at a time? Our family is certainly NOT
ripping MS off.

I doubt that Microsoft is really as greedy as you describe.
I'd like a second opinion, if possible.

Anyone else from Microsoft have an opinion on this?

Thanks,(with fingers crossed)
John

I don't know what the ruling on this would be, but when prompted to activate
by internet or phone, you can truthfully say you have XP currently installed
once on one computer. After activation of each hard drive is completed,
swapping out the hard drive would not trigger an activation unless there
were significant hardware changes.
If activation is satisfied, I don't see a problem with it. You are in
actuality running only one install of XP at any given time and this is what
the EULA specifies. You are not creating a backup, you have completely
separate installs that cannot be activated simutitainlously on other
hardware but will boot on the system it was activated.

--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Guest]

Michael,

You are my hero if your answer is MS safe. Thank you very
much.

Take Care,
John

 

[Michael Stevens]

Michael,

You are my hero if your answer is MS safe. Thank you very
much.

Take Care,
John

Well, since my initials are MS, I declare them safe. LOL Not sure what the
other MS thinks, but I doubt it will be a problem.
It seems if the Activation scheme is satisfied and you were in compliance
when asked it is ok.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----


Well, since my initials are MS, I declare them safe. LOL Not sure what the
other MS thinks, but I doubt it will be a problem.
It seems if the Activation scheme is satisfied and you were in compliance
when asked it is ok.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm


.Try a web search on 'wpa.dbl' to make things easier