Upgrading Hardare

[David Mitchell]

I'm about to ugrade my system with new:
Motherboard
Memory
CPU
DVD R/W
and swing all other cards, Hard Drives, etc. over to the new box.
All XP configuration will be the same except for the new Motherboard
(chipset, bios, IDE, AGP,PCI,etc) and the DVD Drivers. (I could wait to
swing the DVD later)
I've heard about XP's limit of hardware changes where it won't function if
hardware changes are exceeded. I read where XP limits harware changes to
"marry" the OS to the computer. This apparently limits XP to run only on the
system in which it was initially inatalled.
I'm worried that my upgrades will exceed this limit and XP will see this new
hardware and won't run. I am also aware that you can get an 'unlock' key
from Microsoft.
Questions;
1) Am I correct on this assumption
2) What precautions should I take
3) How do I get this 'unlock" key from Microsoft if my new system won't run
and I can't get online.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please have a look at the following article by Alex Nichol:

"Windows Product Activation (WPA) on Windows XP"
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm

 

[Minnie Bannister]

I notice that the Processor Serial No. is checked. Is that information
available to Windows if the option is disabled in the machine's BIOS
(which I always do as a matter of principle)? What does Windows do about
activation if a Processor Serial No. cannot be found?

Are Academic packages really different from non-Academic packages or are
they simply labeled and priced differently?

MB

Whether you vote Democrat or Republican in November, the country will
still be run from boardrooms in the USA and elsewhere, not by your
elected representatives.