JMeG Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 I have a 64-bit-ready laptop. When it comes out, I shall be buying (not something I do regularly I admit) a copy of Windows XP 64. But does anyone know for sure if there will be problems if I install it on two machines of mine (a desktop and a laptop)? By problems I mean activation and also auto updates etc. Will Microsoft detect two instances of the same license and flip over and not give me my updates? Being Microsoft, I'm expecting the worst, but please tell if you know the answer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 M$ won't let you activate the same copy of XP on more than one machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Si Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 can you just buy a second licence? (dare I say it)! and just be legal. Since you're gonna be buying XP 64, it'd spoil the good feeling of being legal, if you then install it on a second machine. Surely a second licence won't be too much extra? Just a thought Si Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickb12345 Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 I need to be carefull how I word this because I got warned for saying something like this before... you arnt ment to be able to activate a copy of windows more than once, however people have been phoning up and saying that they have had to format their pc or they have a new pc and have kept their old windows cd key. when they do Microshaft have to activate it again. To start with with the current xp would only let you re-activate it over the phone but they seem to have given up now and last time I formatted (genuine reason*) they let me activate it over the net. Nick * I format my comp every 3 months or so because the the amount of spam and viruses around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 Nick, if what you say about re-activation is true, then its no wonder they scrapped it. Reformatting or reinstalling windows XP is a regular occurance for me to, for many reasons, and I don't feel the need to have to justify these to micrsoft. Unless there's been a major change, or I misunderstood them in the first place, Microsofts terms and conditions allowed for more than one installation, provided that it could be shown that only one would be in use at once. Anyone know better than I do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 I need to be carefull how I word this because I got warned for saying something like this before... you arnt ment to be able to activate a copy of windows more than once, however people have been phoning up and saying that they have had to format their pc or they have a new pc and have kept their old windows cd key. when they do Microshaft have to activate it again.I don't know, but I'd imagine you'd run into problems with this arrangement when it came to downloading updates. With Micro$oft being the canny, shrewd, devious buggers that they are, I'd say they probably harvest as much information from your machine as they possibly can when you download product updates from their site - so I'd have thought that once they see updates being pulled down by two copies of XP with the same product key on two different hardware configurations, alarm bells would ring somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modge Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 I was under the impession the M$ took a hardware key of your machine (based on 6 key compoment serial numbers, which compants not released) and so long as under a givern number of them changed you could regresiter with the same cd key. So no they won't let you have two computers on the same key (unless you can ring them up and blag them. never tried. good luck). Of course this is a soluable problem, but good honest poeple wouldn't post things which made it possible to breach license agreements, copy write laws and otehr such on public forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Appologies if I'm going off topic... You say they take a hardware key, what if I were to build a new computer, scrap the old and install my copy of XP onto the new one, surely thats allowed? That'd be like having to scrap all your furnature when you moved house... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMeG Posted February 22, 2005 Author Share Posted February 22, 2005 Thank you all. I suppose any thread involving Muntersoft was bound to be controversial :) I guess I shouold have learned by now to expect the worst case scenario with 'that company'. The last thing I want is refused updates etc, when I've actually bought the software for once. Btw, does anyone know when XP64 is going to be released officially? Wonder if it will be available OEM... Hmmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightbulb789 Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 But does anyone know for sure if there will be problems if I install it on two machines of mine (a desktop and a laptop)? By problems I mean activation and also auto updates etc. Will Microsoft detect two instances of the same license and flip over and not give me my updates?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> I know someone who has done this before and they didnt have an problems just you can't Download the Service Pack's, And if your downloading from the Microsoft Website you have an option where you can either let them look at your Activation Code or leave it and download it straight away. But other then that her Computer seems to work ok. Like alot of people have been saying its not realy a good option so don't take our words for it, I say it will work but it's up to you on taking the responibility for doing it and the chance of getting found out. Sorry to mumble on :) Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilR Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 I was under the impession the M$ took a hardware key of your machine (based on 6 key compoment serial numbers, which compants not released) and so long as under a givern number of them changed you could regresiter with the same cd key. So no they won't let you have two computers on the same key (unless you can ring them up and blag them. never tried. good luck). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Pretty much. It's some kind of hash composed of serial numbers and the spec of various bits of hardware. You can change two parts of that hash without re-activation windows (memory/hard disk upgrade), but as soon as you trip a third one as well you'll have to reactivate it (say you've upgraded motherboard, CPU and RAM all in one go). I've had to reactivate twice for that and several times because I've just reinstalled for various reasons. Each time, I've done it on the web without a problem. I did also have it on a completely separate machine for a while. No problems with getting or installing updates through WindowsUpdate (except for the usual thing of it not running in "non-compliant" browsers). If you do have any problems getting updates, then you can (for the moment) use the auto-update feature: it's Microsoft's way of allowing pirates to get security fixes for the good of everyone without giving them full access to everything (like a new MediaPlayer). Appologies if I'm going off topic... You say they take a hardware key, what if I were to build a new computer, scrap the old and install my copy of XP onto the new one, surely thats allowed? That'd be like having to scrap all your furnature when you moved house... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Perfectly legal according to to the EULA from memory. If their technology prevents you that right (It hasn't for me yet), then in theory you could take them to the small claims court over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boac Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 As for the OEM side of the question, this makes interesting reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCoster Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 You are able to activate a copy of XP on the same license once every 120 days. Just wait for four months and then activate the second copy, or just buy another license. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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