Hardware changes requiring re-activation

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

ClippertyClop wrote:
> kurttrail wrote:
>
>> ClippertyClop wrote:
>>>
>>> Because I don't understand where I get the license key details from.
>>
>>
>> From the sticker on your computer, if it is an copy of XP that was
>> pre-installed with the computer.
>>
> No sticker on this PC.

Was XP Pre-Installed on your computer by the OEM? If it was, then you
should have gotten a Product Key as part of the package. If you didn't
get a Product Key, then you got ripped off.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

ClippertyClop <clipperty@clop.com> wrote:


>>
>Not quite. If it's a BIOS locked version, surely that means it wouldn't
>install on another machine in the first instance, unless it included an
>identical BIOS, or have I got that wrong?

If it is a "disk image" of the installed factory-fresh Windows then it
probably won't work on any other hardware, because the install
procedures customize the end result to suit the specific hardware in
the computer.

If it is an actual Windows Installation CD but one which uses the SLP
or "BIOS Locking" procedure then it will install on other hardware,
but may be lacking the drivers needed for some items, and it will
require activation in the normal manner. However as of 1 March 2005
Microsoft has modified the activation programs so that the product key
sequences allocated to OEMs who use BIOS Locking will no longer
activate over the Internet, and telephone activations for these
versions will normally be refused.

This change was instituted reportedly because of fairly substantial
abuse of the BIOS Locked install CDs as some users were installing
them on another PC, which would then activate over the Internet, so as
to get two machines running XP with only one license.


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