What upgrades can I do under XP?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cal Vanize
  • Start date Start date
C

Cal Vanize

What limitations are there in XP Home for system upgrades under their
license?

Can I upgrade memory from 1gb to 2gb without "re-registering"?

Can I add additional hard drives or optical drives? Change out the
video card? Add wireless? Change CPUs?

I'd like to make a few upgrades, especially to memory, but I don't want
to void the license or have to reinstall.
 
Cal Vanize said:
What limitations are there in XP Home for system upgrades under their
license?

Can I upgrade memory from 1gb to 2gb without "re-registering"?

Can I add additional hard drives or optical drives? Change out the video
card? Add wireless? Change CPUs?

I'd like to make a few upgrades, especially to memory, but I don't want to
void the license or have to reinstall.
Click to expand...

As long as you have a legal copy it's not an issue to re-register. It's done
online rather seamlessly. No worries...unless you're illegal.
 
Cal said:
What limitations are there in XP Home for system upgrades under their
license?

Can I upgrade memory from 1gb to 2gb without "re-registering"?

Can I add additional hard drives or optical drives? Change out the
video card? Add wireless? Change CPUs?

I'd like to make a few upgrades, especially to memory, but I don't want
to void the license or have to reinstall.
Click to expand...

If you installed Windows XP in more than 120 days ago, you can do
whatever you want. But if you installed less than 120 days ago, you may
need to phone Micro$oft to confirm your license.

In other words, you can install XP on a completely new system without
having call them (automatic online activation) as long as you haven't
done a re-install in the last 120 days.
 
Bill said:
Cal Vanize wrote:




If you installed Windows XP in more than 120 days ago, you can do
whatever you want. But if you installed less than 120 days ago, you may
need to phone Micro$oft to confirm your license.

In other words, you can install XP on a completely new system without
having call them (automatic online activation) as long as you haven't
done a re-install in the last 120 days.
Click to expand...

I'm legal but its been less than four months since I registered.

Maybe I'll just wait to upgrade memory on my main system and add hard
drives on the server.
 
If it's a full or upgrade version (Retail) then the worst that could happen
is it will ask you to go online and attempt to reactivate, and then may ask
you to call MS for a new number. It's painless.

If it's an OEM version then it's only good for one motherboard, normally.
Unless your motherboard breaks and you have to replace it. I've read of
someone who had that happen and when he called MS they reactivated it.

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Ed said:
If it's a full or upgrade version (Retail) then the worst that could happen
is it will ask you to go online and attempt to reactivate, and then may ask
you to call MS for a new number. It's painless.

If it's an OEM version then it's only good for one motherboard, normally.
Unless your motherboard breaks and you have to replace it. I've read of
someone who had that happen and when he called MS they reactivated it.
Click to expand...


I don't wanna change the motherboard, just add a gig of memory to one
machine and add a couple of hard drives to another. I just want to make
the hardware upgrade and get on with life without worrying about whether
the system will come up and operate when I boot it up after the upgrade.

CV
 
Cal Vanize said:
I don't wanna change the motherboard, just add a gig of memory to one
machine and add a couple of hard drives to another. I just want to make
the hardware upgrade and get on with life without worrying about whether
the system will come up and operate when I boot it up after the upgrade.
Click to expand...

Sure, if it wants you to reactivate it will run for awhile to give you time
to do it.

--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at
(e-mail address removed)
Thanks, robots.

Bring the Troops Home:
http://bringthemhomenow.org

Fight Spam:
http://bluesecurity.com
 
You will be fine. It actually takes a lot to trigger the reactivation.
Swapping or addig hard drives or adding Ram will not come close. I swap
stuff all the time and I have only had to reactivate maybe 3 time in dozens
of parts swaps and 2 of the three times I just did it online which takes
less than a minute and the other time I just had to call Micro$oft and they
gave me a number to reactivate without hassle. So in your case I doubt
seriously you will have to deal with reactivation but even if you not it is
not a problem at all.
And by the way even if you do have to reactivate you have at least a few
days. Your machine will still run and work fine you will just get a popup
every so often reminding you that you need to reactivate.
Joe
 
And by the way even if you do have to reactivate you have at least a
few days. Your machine will still run and work fine you will just get a
popup every so often reminding you that you need to reactivate.
Joe
Click to expand...

I think its 30 days. I'm sure I've replaced a motherboard before without
having to reactivate. XP is quite tolerant re: activation, and the phone
call to Microsoft is quite painless and only takes a few minutes.
 
As long as you have a legal copy it's not an issue to re-register. It's done
online rather seamlessly. No worries...unless you're illegal.
Click to expand...

I really don't understand why MS did that crap to home edition, people
who are going to pirate windows want XP pro, and XP Pro corp doesn't
require activation at all. Infact when I upgraded my motherboard,
processor, and graphics card I didn't have any problem, I just did a
harddrive switch and pro corp didn't have any problem at all.
 
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