Activating windows twice???

[nigel1210]

I am buying a new hard drive so will need to reinstall xp again, is it possible to do this or will i have to phone microsoft and get a new number or something?

Also what happens if you change hardware and reinstall?

Any ideas?

 

[Goose]

You dont have to reinstall you can get a program called
Drive Copy its about £30 quid
and yes if u reinstall you have to reactivate 🙁

 

[nigel1210]

I want to do a fresh reinstall because there is a lot of stuff on there i don't want. Will i have problems trying to activate it on the internet again?

 

[stapler101]

after a certain # of online activations you will need to call in to activate. Also, you must talk to a live person (if microsoft has live people!). The touch pad activation will not work for you if you are reactivating

 

[nigel1210]

What do you mean touch pad activation?

 

[smeghead]

if I Had problems with windows XP and wanted to reinstall for first time will i be able to activate XP on the internet.

 

[stapler101]

sorry, I meant telephone key pad. After so many activations the only way to activate is to talk to someone.
There is a post here somewhere about copying a certain file and never having to reactivate again, but I have not found it . I will look more for you.
here
http://www.xp-erience.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1565&highlight=never+reactivate

 

[nigel1210]

Originally posted by smeghead
if I Had problems with windows XP and wanted to reinstall for first time will i be able to activate XP on the internet.

yes you can, after three times you have to phone microsoft.

 

[stapler101]

I did not know the exact number (3), but I know it is an unnecessary pain in the butt!!!

 

[Rootz]

My personal experience is you can activate WinXP Pro only ONCE in a lifetime via the internet.

 

[= Indy =]

Hi guys,
If you want to re-install XP without re-activating it, here's how you do it!

Goto your C: (if thats where you installed XP) Windows-system32
folder.
Scroll down and find a small file (about 4kb) called wpa.dbl (Windows Product Activation.dbl) Copy this file to floppy disk.

Apparently, this is your activation "fingerprint" that you get when you first activate XP, and if you wanna re-install windows without the re-activation, then you copy this file back into the system32 folder after you re-installed XP. If all goes well, you should not need to re-activate. This is assuming that you haven't changed the hardware significantely.

I believe you can change four of ten items in your machine before you need to re-activate (items being hard disk, ram, video card, CPU, etc).

I haven't had to try this out myself yet, so I cant say it definately works, but its worth a go, and dont forget to post your results back here if you try! 😀

Good luck!