Selling WinXP & Office XP with computer

  • Thread starter Thread starter phrogee
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phrogee

My son-in-law is selling his old computer. It had WinMe from factory. He
clean-installed WinXP and Office XP <legally bought> and these will go with
the computer. What is the process that the new owner can activate the
software in their name?
 
Give all the cd's, product keys, booklets, info, etc that came with windows.
If the new owner formats and tries to activate it will go thru the internet
as normal or at the worst they will call ms to get activated.
 
That's like saying, *Just try different things until something works.* Gee,
thanks!
Click to expand...

I can't recall anything in XP setup that requires your name. All
Microsoft knows is a big pseudorandom number based on things in your
compter like the ethernet MAC address, memory and disk size, video
card and mobo model, etc. Microsoft keeps this number, and the
software keys. Nothing else. If that key is used on a machine that
has a different number won't register except under specific cases.

Your friend has nothing to activate unless he reinstalls (which I
would). As long as he's made zero or a small # of hardware changes it
will reactivate. If he's made a bunch of changes (video card, ethernet
card, added memory and disk before installing) he may have to call
Microsoft and from what I'm told they are pretty easy about the OK.

Filling out those bingo cards that come in the box have nothing to do
with activation and as far as I can tell, never did anything.

If it's an OEM copy of XP you can't change the motherboard.
 
Al Dykes said:
I can't recall anything in XP setup that requires your name. All
Microsoft knows is a big pseudorandom number based on things in your
compter like the ethernet MAC address, memory and disk size, video
card and mobo model, etc. Microsoft keeps this number, and the
software keys. Nothing else. If that key is used on a machine that
has a different number won't register except under specific cases.

Your friend has nothing to activate unless he reinstalls (which I
would). As long as he's made zero or a small # of hardware changes it
will reactivate. If he's made a bunch of changes (video card, ethernet
card, added memory and disk before installing) he may have to call
Microsoft and from what I'm told they are pretty easy about the OK.

Filling out those bingo cards that come in the box have nothing to do
with activation and as far as I can tell, never did anything.

If it's an OEM copy of XP you can't change the motherboard.
Click to expand...

Thank you Al. Only the WinME would be OEM, which we wouldn't need, so I
guess that it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Thanks again!
 
What the hell are you talking about? Did you even read my reply? You wanted
to know how to sell the computer and xp. I told you how. How you get "try
different things" from my response, I don't know. I said nothing confusing,
didn't say try this, try that. I told you what you need to do to sell the
computer and xp. Whether activation goes thru the internet or if you have to
call depends on when xp was last activated. If it was less than 120 days ago
you'll have to call. You will only know which way will work when you install
xp. What's the freaking problem here........ dam get a clue dude.
 
Phil (purplehaz) said:
What the hell are you talking about? Did you even read my reply? You wanted
to know how to sell the computer and xp. I told you how. How you get "try
different things" from my response, I don't know. I said nothing confusing,
didn't say try this, try that. I told you what you need to do to sell the
computer and xp. Whether activation goes thru the internet or if you have to
call depends on when xp was last activated. If it was less than 120 days ago
you'll have to call. You will only know which way will work when you install
xp. What's the freaking problem here........ dam get a clue dude.
Click to expand...

I've got my *clue* now. Sorry, that was very unfair of me to say that. I
apologize.
 
phrogee said:
My son-in-law is selling his old computer. It had WinMe from factory. He
clean-installed WinXP and Office XP <legally bought> and these will go with
the computer. What is the process that the new owner can activate the
software in their name?
Click to expand...

There is nothing the new owner need do - the activation relates to the
hardware, not the owner. You need to make sure that the CDs, any
documentation, the Certificate of Authenticity, and most importantly the
25 character Product Keys for both go along with it.

The new owner may want to change the Registered user name in the
registry - see www.dougknox.com, take XP Utilities and the one to change
Owner and Organisation is near the top. That is a matter of convenience
- there is no need to have the name of the owner registered with
Microsoft's Marketing
 
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