Loading ...How to activate Windows XP on more than one PC Legally
Recently a client of mine had a copy of Windows XP which was installed previously. When attempting to re-install again on a different PC the installation obviously needed to be activated. Uh Oh! Online activation failed. What to do? I’ll tell you.So your hard drive crashed and you had to reload Windows XP. No big deal right. Just activate it again online. Well if it had been activated too many times before and this is a new PC you’re just plain out of luck. Right? Wrong!
Microsoft states that,”Activations on the same PC using the same product key are unlimited.” We’ll that’s just great but what if you bought a new PC because your old one died?
Here is the answer we all have been waiting for: CALL MICROSOFT. What the hell? That’s your answer you say? Yes. Believe it or not, even though you have already activated Windows XP on another PC previously, if your computer has crashed and you no longer have those previous Windows XP installations running or connected to the Internet, you qualify for re-activation again! Even after multiple activations. Apparently.
I called Microsoft back four times because their activation servers were down, the line got disconnected and I got hung up on, etc. When I was finally able to speak to a breathing soul he was actually nice. (Sort of in a Microsoft kinda way) I proceeded to run the activation program and selected the over the phone method. After explaining to the Microsoft rep that the previous Windows XP copies were lost on trashed PC’s and providing authenticity details about the installation CD, he issued me a new confirmation ID.
Essentially Microsoft allowed me to activate a customers copy of Windows XP on a completely different PC after multiple previous activations. I was stunned that Microsoft did that for me and surprisingly pleased as well. They had never done that for me before. Was Microsoft just trying to spread some PR love?
That just saved my client $150 bucks for a new XP license. Big deal you say, but can you imagine how many people go out and just buy a new copy of Windows XP without trying re-activation again? I’ll bet quite a few. (c) 2007 ElectroGeek.com
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I do not think Microsoft deserves this credit.
You seem grateful for calling 4 times before finally reaching somebody. You were in your right, whether or not if the activation servers were down, to get a rep within 2 minutes and get the problem fixed.
“Essentially Microsoft allowed me to activate a customers copy of Windows XP on a completely different PC after multiple previous activations.”
The use of the word “allow” indicates that you were shown mercy by an authority. As a buying customer YOU are the boss, and the only “allow” in the phrase should refer to you allowing them to get away with it after 3 futile calls regarding an issue that should not have been an issue in the first place.
On the other hand, XP isn’t half the atrocity that vista is. I look forward (although I am not a windows user) to the day where changing the CD in your optical drive will require an expensive re-activation.
In Grue,
H
The author’s point is simply that Microsoft isn’t half as bad as everyone thinks they are.
There’s nothing wrong with Linux, Solaris or OS X, they all have their uses, but for the desktop user Windows is simply the superior OS.
Windows’s compatibility with 3rd-party software is simply unmatched and it’s ease of use, as one Linux fanatic put it, “makes every kid believe that it is an computer expert”. The idiot thought that was a bad trait.