Bruce Nadamoto said:
My hard drive with windows XP home has crashed. I
installed a new hard drive. Will microsoft let me install
windows SP home from the original CD? Do I have to contact
someone at microsoft about this. I shouldn't have to pay
for another version on XP home.
Any advise will be appreciated!
You will probably be OK. If it gives you any error messages about being
unable to activate, call the phone number it gives you on the screen.
Explain what you are doing, and that it is the same computer (except a new
hard drive) -- they will be able to give you a code that lets you activate.
There is no charge.
Changing the hard drive only is not enough to make Microsoft's system think
you are installing on a different computer.
From
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/activation_faq.mspx :
How does Microsoft identify the computer's hardware?
Microsoft Product Activation detects the hardware configuration on which the
product is being installed and creates hash values for that configuration. A
hash is a value mathematically derived from another value - in this case
hardware configuration values. Product Activation does not scan the
customer's hard drive, detect any personal information, or determine the
make, model or manufacturer of the PC or its components. Microsoft uses hash
values out of respect for users' privacy. A hash value cannot be backwards
calculated to determine the original value. In addition, Microsoft only uses
a portion of the original hash values. Together, these hash values become
the complete hardware hash that is included in the installation ID.
Can hardware components be changed and upgraded?
Product Activation is able to tolerate a certain degree of change in a
hardware configuration by allowing a current hash value to have a degree of
difference from the hash value that was originally activated. As a result,
users can change their hardware without the product believing it is on a
different PC than the one it was activated on. If the user completely
overhauls the hardware making substantial hardware changes (even over long
periods of time), reactivation may be required. In that case, users may need
to contact to contact a Microsoft customer service representative by
telephone to reactivate.
How does product activation determine tolerance? In other words, how many
components of the PC must change before I am required to reactivate?
Common changes to hardware such as upgrading a video card, adding a second
hard disk drive, adding RAM or upgrading a CD-ROM device will not require
the system to be reactivated.
Specifically, product activation determines tolerance through a voting
mechanism. There are 10 hardware characteristics used in creating the
hardware hash. Each characteristic is worth one vote, except the network
card which is worth three votes. When thinking of tolerance, it's easiest to
think about what has not changed instead of what has changed. When the
current hardware hash is compared to the original hardware hash, there must
be 7 or more matching points for the two hardware hashes to be considered in
tolerance. If the network card is the same, then only 4 additional
characteristics must match (because the network card is worth 3, for a total
of 7). If the network card is not the same, then a total of 7
characteristics other than the network card must be the same. If the device
is a laptop (specifically a dockable device), additional tolerance is
allotted and there need be only 4 or more matching points. Therefore, if the
device is dockable and the network card is the same, only one other
characteristic must be the same for a total vote of 4. If the device is
dockable and the network card is not the same, then a total of 4
characteristics other than the network card must be the same.
Are the changes cumulative? In other words, if I change one component today
and one tomorrow, is that two component changes?
The changes are cumulative; however, if a user is asked to reactivate, the
hardware profile is reset to that new configuration.
What are the 10 hardware characteristics used to determine the hardware
hash?
The 10 hardware characteristics used to determine the hardware hash are:
Display Adapter, SCSI Adapter, IDE Adapter, Network Adapter MAC Address, RAM
Amount Range (i.e. 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc), Processor Type, Processor Serial
Number, Hard Drive Device, Hard Drive Volume Serial Number,
CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM.
