From: John Griffin on

Five years ago I bought a copy of WinXP Home Edition and
installed it on an older machine, which has now died. I want to
run that machine with its 10GB drive through a trash compactor
and install the same XP on another five year old machine which
has XP (Compaq OEM) but is unuseable because of a virus, so I�ll
need to reformat or replace its 60GB drive. From what I gather
from various newsgroup posts, Microsoft seems to assume I�m a
criminal if I do that. Since this copy of XP won�t ever be
running on more than one computer, I don�t feel guilty...how do I
handle this situation? Is there some way to deactivate the
installation on the dead machine so I can activate the new one.

Help! My son is giving me dirty looks because I told him a
couple of weeks I�d fix this so he can play online poker!

--
"You may have to give up a piece of your pie so that someone
else can have more." --Obama, explicitly endorsing Karl Marx's
"Ideal state of communism: From each according to his ability,
to each according to his need."


From: relic on

"John Griffin" <thathillbilly(a)yahooie.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9D566EDB82E8Athathillbillyyahooco(a)130.133.4.11...
>
> Five years ago I bought a copy of WinXP Home Edition and
> installed it on an older machine, which has now died. I want to
> run that machine with its 10GB drive through a trash compactor
> and install the same XP on another five year old machine which
> has XP (Compaq OEM) but is unuseable because of a virus, so I'll
> need to reformat or replace its 60GB drive. From what I gather
> from various newsgroup posts, Microsoft seems to assume I'm a
> criminal if I do that. Since this copy of XP won't ever be
> running on more than one computer, I don't feel guilty...how do I
> handle this situation? Is there some way to deactivate the
> installation on the dead machine so I can activate the new one.

If you bought a Retail copy, it can be moved to any machine you want to.

If you bought an OEM copy you have a couple choices that will work:
a. Install it on you Compaq using the Key number on the silver sticker
located somewhere on the Compaq's cabinet.
b. Install what you have and it you have to activate by calling Microsoft,
tell them it's the same machine, you just replaced the motherboard because
the old one burned up. NOTE: If it's been over 120 days since it was last
activated, it won't matter... MS only retains the activation data for 120
days.


From: John Griffin on
"relic" <relic211(a)cjb.net> wrote:

>
> "John Griffin" <thathillbilly(a)yahooie.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns9D566EDB82E8Athathillbillyyahooco(a)130.133.4.11...
>>
>> Five years ago I bought a copy of WinXP Home Edition and
>> installed it on an older machine, which has now died. I want
>> to run that machine with its 10GB drive through a trash
>> compactor and install the same XP on another five year old
>> machine which has XP (Compaq OEM) but is unuseable because of
>> a virus, so I'll need to reformat or replace its 60GB drive.
>> From what I gather from various newsgroup posts, Microsoft
>> seems to assume I'm a criminal if I do that. Since this copy
>> of XP won't ever be running on more than one computer, I
>> don't feel guilty...how do I handle this situation? Is there
>> some way to deactivate the installation on the dead machine
>> so I can activate the new one.
>
> If you bought a Retail copy, it can be moved to any machine
> you want to.
>
> If you bought an OEM copy you have a couple choices that will
> work: a. Install it on you Compaq using the Key number on the
> silver sticker located somewhere on the Compaq's cabinet.
> b. Install what you have and it you have to activate by
> calling Microsoft, tell them it's the same machine, you just
> replaced the motherboard because the old one burned up. NOTE:
> If it's been over 120 days since it was last activated, it
> won't matter... MS only retains the activation data for 120
> days.

Thanks! Sounds like I won't have a problem.
From: relic on

"John Griffin" <thathillbilly(a)yahooie.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9D5863EA8F482thathillbillyyahooco(a)130.133.4.11...
> "relic" <relic211(a)cjb.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> "John Griffin" <thathillbilly(a)yahooie.com> wrote in message
>> news:Xns9D566EDB82E8Athathillbillyyahooco(a)130.133.4.11...
>>>
>>> Five years ago I bought a copy of WinXP Home Edition and
>>> installed it on an older machine, which has now died. I want
>>> to run that machine with its 10GB drive through a trash
>>> compactor and install the same XP on another five year old
>>> machine which has XP (Compaq OEM) but is unuseable because of
>>> a virus, so I'll need to reformat or replace its 60GB drive.
>>> From what I gather from various newsgroup posts, Microsoft
>>> seems to assume I'm a criminal if I do that. Since this copy
>>> of XP won't ever be running on more than one computer, I
>>> don't feel guilty...how do I handle this situation? Is there
>>> some way to deactivate the installation on the dead machine
>>> so I can activate the new one.
>>
>> If you bought a Retail copy, it can be moved to any machine
>> you want to.
>>
>> If you bought an OEM copy you have a couple choices that will
>> work: a. Install it on you Compaq using the Key number on the
>> silver sticker located somewhere on the Compaq's cabinet.
>> b. Install what you have and it you have to activate by
>> calling Microsoft, tell them it's the same machine, you just
>> replaced the motherboard because the old one burned up. NOTE:
>> If it's been over 120 days since it was last activated, it
>> won't matter... MS only retains the activation data for 120
>> days.
>
> Thanks! Sounds like I won't have a problem.

Any time. I have heard of "problems" installing an OEM copy that is BIOS
locked to a certain vendor, but Microsoft just told him that the copy he's
installing is incorrect for his machine and activated it anyway.