An inquiry on Windows Xp Home Activation

jasonbourne

Baseband Member
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I could have sworn that I read somewhere, sometime last year I believe, that Microsoft was not going to be keeping track of Windows XP Activations limits because of Windows Vista being out on the market. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

I've got a $99 copy Windows XP Home Edition bought from Walmart and now I've exceeded my limit of activating it with the serial key that came with the software. According to the tech support guy, he was unable to activate it or whatever there supposed to do when you phone in and said that I needed to spend another $100 to buy a new one.
 
Thats Garbage, they cant say that, if you prove your version is legit they have to activate it,(I think) Ive activated mine over the phone twice now no probs, Someone told me that after about six months or so the key resets, I don't know how true this is but I recently had a new HDD put in my computer(added a bigger one) they had to install windows so I gave them my disc that Id rung up about 18months before and they installed it but did not activate it, so when I clicked activate, it did 1st time so there may be some truth there.
 
Yep thats what the guy told me. I didn't speak to anyone that was American. They sounded like they were from India. Everytime I try to activate using the online method, it says "according to our records, the number of times you can activate windows with this product key has been exceeded blah blah blah." Looks like I'll be reformating every 30 Days now instead of doing that every 6 months because I sure as hell am not going to shell out a $100 again.

I wasn't aware that there is a lease on software that I paid money for.
 
If you ever get it activated, do this, get a program like Norton Ghost or Acronis True image then make a back up of you newly activated windows then save the image to a partition or external media like a DVD, then if you ever do need to wipe your drive you just restore from your back up image and it will be there already activated , retores in about 5 to 10 mins depending on the data transfer rate. thats what I did.
 
WOW I just checked out that Acronis site. MAN! I should have came on here first before I went and did a reformat. I could have used this method and would have been in the clear by now. Doh!

Double post
 
Just phone Microsoft and say you reformatted because of a bad virus. Works every time.
 
If you ever get it activated, do this, get a program like Norton Ghost or Acronis True image then make a back up of you newly activated windows then save the image to a partition or external media like a DVD, then if you ever do need to wipe your drive you just restore from your back up image and it will be there already activated , retores in about 5 to 10 mins depending on the data transfer rate. thats what I did.

Would I be able to use the same image on other PCs?
 
No I don't think so because when it copies your drive it copies all the the hardware of your current PC so if you tried to put it on a different spec comp it probably wouldn't work, I have never tried it to be honest, but if you ever change some major hardware of you PC then you have to make another back up copy of the new system as the old one no longer works, I had to do that when I changed my graphics card.
 
I've got a $99 copy Windows XP Home Edition bought from Walmart and now I've exceeded my limit of activating it with the serial key that came with the software.
How many times have you activated it in what time frame and how many pc's is it installed on?

Microsoft may have disabled this key due to excessive useage that appears as a pirated/stolen key if the numbers are overly excessive.

I ask because you have posted the question below, you do realise that one copy of Windows = one pc don't you?


Would I be able to use the same image on other PCs?
 
How many times have you activated it in what time frame and how many pc's is it installed on?

Microsoft may have disabled this key due to excessive useage that appears as a pirated/stolen key if the numbers are overly excessive.

I ask because you have posted the question below, you do realise that one copy of Windows = one pc don't you?

I can't remember how many times I've activated on my 3 PCs.

Well I figured that by buying a copy of Windows XP from a store, you can use it on multiple PCs which you can but then down the road, you would encounter activation problems. My only complaint is that I spend $100 on this software and I am limited as to how many times I can activate this on my own computers. If this is Microsofts way of combating software piracy then they really need to take a step back and look at the whole situation.

The reason why I asked "Would I be able to use the same image on other PCs?" is because like I said before, I'm not spending any more money on another operating system. If I had unlimited activation use with this software that I paid for, I wouldn't even be on here asking if there was a way around this.
 
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