XP Pro Activation

[Guest]

I had a problem and lost my motherboard, CPU. My copy of XP had been
activated on this old board. I will be replacing and upgrading to A new
Motherboard, CPU, Power Supply, and Ram, etc. My Question, will I have a
problem when I go to Activate my copy of XP Pro?

Richard

 

[Tom Porterfield]

I had a problem and lost my motherboard, CPU. My copy of XP had been
activated on this old board. I will be replacing and upgrading to A new
Motherboard, CPU, Power Supply, and Ram, etc. My Question, will I have a
problem when I go to Activate my copy of XP Pro?

Most likely no. How long has it been since you last activated. If it has
been more than four months then activation will likely occur automatically
over the internet. If it does not activate automatically, choose to
activate by phone instead. Your situation is not unique and is perfectly
within your license. Activation over the phone will be fairly quick, and
successful.
--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP Windows
http://support.telop.org

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I had a problem and lost my motherboard, CPU. My copy of XP had been
activated on this old board. I will be replacing and upgrading to A new
Motherboard, CPU, Power Supply, and Ram, etc. My Question, will I have a
problem when I go to Activate my copy of XP Pro?

Richard

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many OEM installations are
not transferable to a new motherboard - check yours before starting),
unless the new motherboard is virtually identical (same chipset, same
IDE controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the one on which the WinXP
installation was originally performed, you'll need to perform a repair
(a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at the very least:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with
licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this point.
You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the OS. (If
you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as picking up a
Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch style
foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K before it,
is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to accepting any
old hardware configuration you throw at it. On installation it
"tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This is one of the
reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much more stable
than the Win9x group.

As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any
important data before starting.

This will also probably require re-activation, unless you have a
Volume Licensed version of WinXP Pro installed. If it's been more than
120 days since you last activated that specific Product Key, you'll most
likely be able to activate via the Internet without problem. If it's
been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone call.


--

Bruce Chambers

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both at once. - RAH

 

[Guest]

I had a problem and lost my motherboard, CPU. My copy of XP had been
activated on this old board. I will be replacing and upgrading to A new
Motherboard, CPU, Power Supply, and Ram, etc. My Question, will I have a
problem when I go to Activate my copy of XP Pro?

Richard

 

[Ron Martell]

I had a problem and lost my motherboard, CPU. My copy of XP had been
activated on this old board. I will be replacing and upgrading to A new
Motherboard, CPU, Power Supply, and Ram, etc. My Question, will I have a
problem when I go to Activate my copy of XP Pro?

Richard

If it is a retail version then there is no problem with doing this.

If it is a generic OEM version (CD has a Microsoft label with no
computer company name) then there should be no problem.

If it is a "BIOS locked" OEM version such as is used by most major
manufacturers then there could be a problem. Microsoft has changed
the activation rules for these versions and they will no longer
activate over the Internet. Instead you have to do a telephone
activation and the requirements are more stringent that normally used
for telephone activations. Note that "BIOS locked" OEM versions are
self activating so long as the motherboard BIOS is the correct version
for that computer manufacturer.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm