PCA Forums

My Dad and I both have XP on our computers, and I am getting a new one that I am building myself, and I was wondering if theres a way to make a disk or something from my computer right now so that I dont have to pay a whole freakin lot of money for xp, or is that a no no?

If you both aleady have XP on your machines....where did it come from?

You could always make an image using Norton Ghost and move it over to your new machine.

They are both dells, and they came with an xp disk, but it says for new dells only, would it matter? Could it use that for the new computer I am building?

FIRST OFF - WHAT MICROSOFT SEZ: You are only allowed to legally install one copy of Windows per computer, so legally you are supposed to go buy a new copy of Windows XP for your new system.

To help encourage this law-abiding behavior, Microsoft "locks" each copy of Windows to the first computer it's installed on (it's called product activation).


THE REAL WORLD: Microsoft actually allows you to install a new version of Windows on up to 3 seperate computers (some people have done it up to 5 times) without being questioned about it. Microsoft did this because of negative publicity and the (grudging) recognition that some people have a 2nd computer (laptop) that they'd like to install the same copy of Windows on. Also power users and serious gamers upgrade their systems every 6 months or so.


I have found that Dell Windows XP CDs are not BIOS locked - so they can be installed on any computer, but can only be used for a new install and not an upgrade from an older Windows version.

So yes, you could install WindowsXP on the new system using one of the CDs and the CD key from one of the Dell computers to activate it. You shouldn't have any problems activating it as long as you only activated the CD key once before (the original install on the Dell).


LEGAL STUFF: At this point I'm supposed to warn you that this is strictly for your intellectual stimulation, not a practice that is recommended by this forum or anyone on it, do this at your own risk, if you fantasize about the girl who lives next door you'll burn in Hell, there really is an Easter Bunny, yada... yada... yada...

Damn, I already had to reinstall it on my pc because of a virus, so I have used it once, so I cant do it again?

It'll probably work. Most people are getting 3 - 5 activations per CD key.

Even after that all they do is make you call them and you talk to someone who asks you why you've activated ot more than X times. You tell them you're a gamer and upgrade your PC every few months, and that it's damn annoying that you have to call to activate it every time, and they usually give you another activation.

To avoid the hassle of re-activations on the same system I would recommend backing up the activations file:

After the initial Activation, make a copy the WPA.DBL file in the system32 directroy. Restore this file after you re-install WinXP

Could I just put the file on a floppy or cd untill I need it next time? Or does it have to be right after I install it?

You can save it to a floppy anytime. After doing a re-install, copy that file back to the appropriate folder and you shouldn't need to activate.

Ok, sweet, thanks! You just saved me 100 bucks!

what happens when you put the file in there? does it automatically actavate it or what?

The file is what's created by activation. If you re-install WinXP on the same system (so there's no difference in hardware) and then copy the file into the appropriate folder, when you reboot Windows will find the file, compare it's contents to the hardware configuration of the system, and if it matches it assumes it's been properly activated.

If you try this on a different install on another system then the hardware won't match what's stored in the file and Windows will want to do a re-activation.

This is just a way to avoid the hassle of re-activation if you re-install Windows on the same system.

does microsoft record your reasons for having to hav a new activation each time? becuase i usually give a different excuse .....and is there a point where they wont give u an activation key? becuase ive probably activated my copy of windows close to 10 times, but i get questioned each time

I don't know. I have never heard of anyone being refused an Activation, however I would assume that if you did it a lot in a short period of time they would have a problem.

They can understand if you need to reactivate once every 6 months (people need to do clean re-installs all the time). If you're doing it 10 times a week all on different hardware configs, then they're going to assume you're abusing the privaledge.

My personal theory is they just hope that the inconvenience and embarressment of having to as permission to get an activation will discourage casual abuse (you loaning your XP CD key to a few friends to install on their systems for instance).

so they know how many different hardware configs you have? Becuase ive activated on at least 3 computers and I always say I have 1. Do they know how many computers I have

No idea.