XP Activation

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Having recently started a course at college I have invested in a new PC. The
nachine came with Media Centre pre-installed with a recovery partition. The
official stickers attached to the system case. After making a few mistakes I
was forced to reinstall a couple of times.

Is their a limit to how many times I can reinstall the the OS or will I
start getting the "You may have been the victim of software piracy" after so
many reinstalls. I would like to know before I try installing the Vista
Release Client 1 on my machine.
 
Have you ever actually gone through the activation process? I doubt you have
as most OEM installs are pre activated.
 
It would help more if we know the PC mfg. If it's a Compaq, HP, dell, or
similar, they do not require activation, I suspect you have one of these as
your not required to enter the product key, so your activation issue is not
an issue because you don't activate.
 
I think you may be right. Its an HP Media Centre PC. I am never asked to
activate although when I have downloaded things like IE 7 which requires
windows validation it passes as well as the WGA.
 
Scimataereon said:
Having recently started a course at college I have invested in a new PC. The
nachine came with Media Centre pre-installed with a recovery partition. The
official stickers attached to the system case. After making a few mistakes I
was forced to reinstall a couple of times.

Is their a limit to how many times I can reinstall the the OS or will I
start getting the "You may have been the victim of software piracy" after so
many reinstalls. I would like to know before I try installing the Vista
Release Client 1 on my machine.
Click to expand...


There's no limit to the number of times you can reinstall and activate
the same WinXP license on the same PC. Nor is there ever a charge. Nor
does a Product Key (so long as it's not an evaluation license) ever
expire. If it's been more than 120 days since you last activated that
specific Product Key, you'll most likely be able to activate via the
Internet without problem. If it's been less, you might have to make a 5
minute phone call.

Here are the facts pertaining to activation:

Piracy Basics - Microsoft Product Activation
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

Windows Product Activation (WPA)
http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm



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Scimataereon wrote:
....
Is their a limit to how many times I can reinstall the the OS or will
I start getting the "You may have been the victim of software piracy"
after so many reinstalls. I would like to know before I try
installing the Vista Release Client 1 on my machine.
Click to expand...

AFAIK there is no limit; you might, in some circumstances be told that you
have to make a toll free phone call but that's only about a 5 minute
investment. MS site should have further info if you want it more
authoratatively.

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