Re: Windows XP and its License..

You can activate OEM copy over the internet 'once'. After that you shouldn't need to activate again. I have re-installed my OEM copy every month for the last year and have never been asked to activate. If the system does flag for an activation you will 'usually' be refused and activation online. On telephone Microsoft there shouldn't be a problem activating 'providing' you can supply the relevant information that Microsoft require, i.e., it is not being installed on another machine, do you have a valid receipt etc (see my post in this thread of 11/11/06)

Your second comment i can only say that one simple way of getting round the activation problem is to image the drive using Acronis true Image or something similar. By imaging the drive you don't get any prompt for activating when the drive is re-imaged.


--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
http://vistasupport.mvps.org

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"Gordon" <gordon.burgessparker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:uRZ0NDwBHHA.204@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"John Barnett MVP" <freelanceit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:O2ExRORBHHA.3560@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On OEM copies you are only allowed to activate once; the licence being linked driectly to the OEM not the user.

Eh? That's wrong......you can activate an OEM copy as many times as you like....what you CAN'T do is to transfer it to another machine....


With a retail copy of XP though you should have no problem. I've lost count of the amount of times i've reformatted, reinstalled and activated. In actual fact, with a retail copy, you can actually reformat and re-install every 120 days or so without any problem. Having said all that i have said, you would get a problem with a retail version if you were reformatting every 35 days or so (remember you have 30 days to activate anyway), simply because Microsoft would assume (wrongly of course) that you were installing on more than one pc. Anyway it is better not to activate until towards the end of the 30 grace period (on retail copies) because, if you need to reformat and install again due to problems, you won't have to keep attempting to activate.

Hmmmm - I re-installed my RETAIL copy of XP on the SAME (unchanged) machine a few weeks ago. This machine had been untouched for at least six months. It failed both the internet activation AND the automatic telephone activation. the Customer representative I seventually spoke to, told me that there is a new MS activation policy in that NO version of XP is now allowed more than ONE internet activaion in its lifetime - all subsequent activations have to be done over the phone.





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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Someone at MS I can contact for help
    ... I have an OEM version and it will cost me $35 just to communicate ... activation over the internet doesn't work, you should be given a phone number to call and explain the situation. ... On at least two occasions I had to reformat and re-install twice on a single day. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: RIS Problems
    ... I understand the volume licensing issue. ... I don’t understand why XP cannot connect to the internet, thus requiring a phone call for each copy I activate? ... Creating an image using an OEM version of Windows XP will ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Re: Activation bug during OEM XP install
    ... Reformat, and it happens again. ... Hoping a second posting fairs better? ... This OEM CD you are using - did it come with the system? ... GENERIC OEM installation CD and not one from some name-brand system? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Activation issues with removable hard drives redeaux
    ... drives that have different activation codes on them than the one from ... (Retail or OEM) ... OEM versions can only be activated 'once' successfully for the ... Internet and any activations after this must be done by phone. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Broken std library in Modelsim XE 6.3c
    ... from the OEM version. ... Unfortunately I can only suggest to re-install ... Modelsim, it shouldn't take half a day though. ... hunt the magical "unbreak yourself" command. ...
    (comp.lang.vhdl)