Installing the same XP Home on 2 computers

sci0x

Is there anyway I can install XP Home on two computers from the same XP Home. Or will I have to ring up Microsoft?

Third_Echelon

if you have the cd and serial number/cd-key you can install it ok...

did you get xp home with the pc or did you buy it seperate?

sci0x

I have the CD and the serial number and everything. Its installed. Its just this one day activation thing is coming up.

Third_Echelon

im not sure if the OS stops working after the activation thing comes up... i activated mine ok...

but im sure that if you register the same serial number etc for the second pc, there is nothing to say that you are not re-installing the OS, i.e. you have wiped your PC and are putting on a fresh install on your original PC...

give it a go and see what happens..



not entirely sure what the MS policy is with this...

Capt'n Midnight

Prior to 1998 m$ did not use copy protection (0401-5555555 would work for all retail progs/os's) in an attempt to block sales of competiting procucts.

Now that they have a monopoly they want to reap (<-- anagram) the rewards by enforcing licencing terms and product registration.

You can't install OEM sw on an other machine, let alone two.
If you use an upgrade CD then you can't reuse the original sw.

Third_Echelon

well you learn something new everyday.. thats good to know...

sci0x

Sorry what i ment to say was Is there anyway I can install XP Home on two computers from the same XP Home CD. Ye misunderstood completely i think. However I think its illegal anyway is it.

Third_Echelon

i got what you were saying alright... it is illegal alright.. to be legit you have to buy a second license...

what i was saying was, that how do they know the difference between

a) re-installing the software on your pc after you have formatted your disk.... and having to re-register the license etc

and

b) installing the software on a second machine

anyone know????

KilOit

sure is. i dought u'll b able to activate it doe search the internet for xp serial cracks maybe look @ kazaa

lazygit

im not 100% sure on this but i think you get 5 activations off your key before M$ block it...

so in theory you could activate it on 5 PC's at the same time.. still illegal of course.

Ste-

What about if I bought a new pc and wanted to put XP on it ?
I still own XP but it would be on a new pc.

KdjaCL

XP licence if anyone reads them (the bit you agree to) says you can have 1 copy of XP on 1 Home PC and on 1 laptop.

So i assume your 2nd PC is a laptop it will install and activate fine.

If you want it on a 2nd PC you can buy an another licence from Msft about €35 all you get is a 2nd Cd key.


Also what is wrong with protecting your business by using cd key and activation? They make the product they entitled to protect it almost 50% of XP users have a warezed version (read that on Cnet) so they are right to use whatever protection they can.


kdjac

Capt'n Midnight

Are you sure you aren't getting mixed up with Office XP ?

Otherwise it sounds like you could upgrade two PC's with one copy of XP (disabling both original licences in the process...) which is a licence inventory nightmare.

Just curoius to see how many XP PC's DON'T have the EULA.TXT in the windows folder (so far I've only seen this file in the i386 folder - even though the help says it should be in %windir%\system32 )

GRAHAM2002

I activated xp home but did not register it twice last week without a problem as my pc met the work in a bad way.

Have u already registered !

If so that could be a problem

g