muti boot XP registration Problem

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jim33

muti boot XP registration Problem
Has anyone managed to install 2 or more copies of an
offical version of XP (which requires activation) on
their system. I have split the drive into 2 primary
partitions but after each installation the product ID for
each version is different so I can only activate one of
them.

The reason for doing this is so I can use Boot Magic and
hide unused partitions which You cant do with NTLdr
(unless you edit the reg - which is not ideal)

Microsoft says that you cannot use a third party boot
manager in this way but Powerquest say that you can (and
market it this way) Is it because activation is a new SP1
feature ?

Please help as I feel I have wasted money on PM8 and they
dont understand my problem.

thanks....
 
How is the product ID different? You installed both copies using the same
product key, presumably? On the same machine? The only difference that i can
see is that the other copy of xp is on another partition.
As far as i am aware there is nothing stopping you installing two or more
copies of the operating system on one machine. Therefore, using common
sense, there should, theoretically, be no problem activating each copy.
I have installed a copy of windows xp and windows xp media center edition on
the same hard drive and activated without any problem. However, the two
copies did have seperate product key numbers. I have also installed two
copies of Office XP and Office 2003 on the same machine (different
partitions Win XP and Win Server 2003) and activated without any problem.
 
I use BootItNG. On one 120 Gig hard drive I have several partitions and the
same copy of XP loaded on most of them. I don't see why microsoft should
have a problem with this considering that it is on the same machine and only
one can operate at a time. The reason I have these boots is to isolate
programs so that one does not interfer with another and degrade performance,
or worse, cause crashes. So if anything, Microsoft is the reason I have
several boots on this hard drive.

The great thing about BootItNG is that you can do a complete OS install and
then copy an image of it. This image can be pasted to other partitions. This
is a real time saver. Installing software and you are unsure if your system
will be stable afterwards? Well, there is system restore, but that only
saves registry settings and some program files. Saving a partition is the
same as doing a complete backup.

Anywho, long story short..........the above description is how it can be
done.
 
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