I... Or "we" are in a unique situation(s)

[WaltsWorker]

Hello! I work for 'the state' as a technician in a museum. We have old exhibits and some run on PC's with as far back as Microsoft DOS 6.2. For some reason I can't get to the Microsoft Support community and that's why I'm asking here. Anyway - we'll get PC's that die because they're like 20 years old... My question is - when this happens and say that the HD is still good - can I legally install that HD with Windows XP and other software for 'the exhibit' into another PC? And do I have to obtain another XP license?

 

[smashjohn]

To the best of my knowledge, yes you can. You purchased 1 license, and you're using 1 license. The software license isn't legally tied to the cpu or any other component of the computer. If your video card died, you would replace it. If your hard drive died, you would replace it. In this case, it sounds like your main board/cpu died, so you're replacing all of it. You're still only using the one original software license you purchased. On an aside, proving licensing compliance in an audit requires paper documentation of the license itself, or the fiscal receipts demonstrating the authenticity of the original purchase.

 

[BFG-9000]

Yes, from a legal standpoint you are OK. The problem is what to do after the activation servers go offline. While they are still working to activate XP online over the internet now, people are reporting that Microsoft is no longer helping if you need to call to activate over the phone, unless you pay for custom support.

I should point out here that the XP license grants you Downgrade Rights, and that Windows 2000 does not require activation. So in the future you may need to go to Windows 2000 and already have the right to do so.

Obviously 9x and DOS are no problem if you have the licenses. i865/i875 chipset boards are plentiful and were the last to support 9x. NASA famously had to scour eBay for 8086 chips to keep the Shuttle flying so you should be able to keep those exhibits going for decades.