Private purchase of a PC

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Guest

I am buying a PC from a person that has XP Pro on it. It is licensed. How
do I change the "ownership" info so that it appears with my name once I have
the PC?
Thank you.

Lou
 
If you are talking about ownership data at Microsoft, don't worry about it.
The copy of XP is tied to the machine, not the person, through activation.
A license is transferred if XP is removed from the machine, installed on a
new machine, and then activated again. Since that has not happened there is
nothing you should regarding activation.

You may be thinking of registration of the user (you), which is not
mandatory.

a.. For more information on product registration for Windows, open the
Registration Wizard by clicking Start, then click Run. In the Open box, type
"regwiz /r".

That runs the registration wizard.
 
Docqualizer said:
I am buying a PC from a person that has XP Pro on it. It is licensed. How
do I change the "ownership" info so that it appears with my name once I have
the PC?
Thank you.

Lou


With second-hand computers, especially if acquired from strangers
but perhaps even if acquired from a family member or friend, your wisest
course of action would probably be to format the hard drives and start
fresh. You don't want to get in trouble because the original owner may
have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have problems because
the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or other malware.

However, to fix the "Registered to" information for WinNT/2K/XP,
you can use Start > Run > Regedit.exe to edit:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOwner

and:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\RegisteredOrganization

How this will affect the name displayed in previously installed
applications will vary depending upon each individual program; some read
the registered owner information dynamically, while others read it only
during installation.

The user profile folders (C:\Documents and Settings\Username)
_cannot_ be renamed, even if the associated user account has been. So,
your best course of action would be to log on using the built-in
Administrator account, create a new user account, with the username
desired. You can then delete the old user account(s).

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151



--

Bruce Chambers

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