multiple owners of win xp

[tony6264]

I dont know if this is true but I have heard that once winxp is installed in a computer and that person goes to windows update page that if someone else were to try to use the same copy of win xp on another computer and goes to windows update, that the first person will no longer be able to get updates?secondly does anyone know how to go about making a win xp boot cd?
thanks

[jdhurst]

If you are working legally, you cannot activate one copy of Windows on two PC's, and so updates may well fail. ... JDH

[tony6264]

If you are working legally, you cannot activate one copy of Windows on two PC's, and so updates may well fail. ... JDH

What do you mean legally? if I own the cd an not able to load on all of my computers?

[JHEM]

No, you need a separate license for each computer.

Regards,

James

[d lehmann]

Go here http://www.help2go.com/article205.html for instructions on making a winxp boot cd.
As already replied, you can legally only have 1 copy of xp on 1 machine. All non activated (you have 30 days) and illegal copies of xp will not be allowed to update by ms, but nothing is done to block the legal activated owner.
Legal is good.

[tony6264]

ok I understand the liscence stuff but let me clarify the question about the boot cd....my brother inlaw has legal copy of win xp loaded on his computer, he makes copies of every program he has for back-up....good thing too because he put a deep gouge in the original cd and it will no longer work completely.....he burned the image file to cd and the problem is the computer will not boot to the cd...he has to load a different os first and then it will let him upgrade to win xp....even though his original was a full install win xp pro. I just went though this with him a few weeks ago and it took forever...plus there were driver conflicts from the first os (win 98 not se).

[jdhurst]

May I suggest you try explaining again. You say your brother-in-law as a legal copy of Win XP loaded. Then you say he has to load a different OS to upgrade to XP ? Why upgrade if already installed ?

And if you have defective media, ask the supplier for a replacement.
... JD Hurst

[tony6264]

he had to format the hard drive due to a crap load of spyware. when he got out the cd to reinstall win xp it was damaged or something ....it would not boot the computer so we installed a old win 98 he had and just on a hunch put in the win xp cd and let it do an update. after that worked we decided to try reformatting and installing xp from the beginning but had the same problem...and the last thing I di not know he could go back to the retailer or any one else for a replacement cd...how long after purchase can you do that?

[d lehmann]

he had to format the hard drive due to a crap load of spyware. when he got out the cd to reinstall win xp it was damaged or something ....it would not boot the computer so we installed a old win 98 he had and just on a hunch put in the win xp cd and let it do an update. after that worked we decided to try reformatting and installing xp from the beginning but had the same problem...and the last thing I di not know he could go back to the retailer or any one else for a replacement cd...how long after purchase can you do that?

Have your original xp disk on hand, call microsoft, they will ask you for numbers on it, and if all goes well you will get a new cd for a shipping charge of less than 15 bucks.

[tony6264]

thanks for the info ...I will tell him about it...its been about 1 year or so , do they keep track of the purchase date?

[Orbitz]

There are numbers on the actual XP CD that identify it and tie it to a valid license? I don't have my original disc here but I didn't think that would be possible. In my case, I bought a 10 license pack for XP pro...I got one CD and 10 licenses with it. I made several copies of the original CD to keep by different machines...of course using one of the 10 licenses for each machine.

The CD itself is irrevelant to the installation of the OS...it is the license that matters both for activation and updates? It sounds to me like he made some mistake in copying the CD since it won't boot from it. The only time I had a problem like that was when I made a bootable CD to slipstream SP2 onto it...the first couple of tries would not boot for some reason...did eventually figure out what I was doing wrong and got it to work.

[tony6264]

oh btw i have done the bart pe thing before on a laptop that had no hard drive when I got it but I wanted to see if it worked...I found it completly by accident...it does work great!!! it let me see how the laptop would act with a real os..I almost got the linux active cd but was leary about t cause I have only ever dealt with microsoft crap.
thanks for your help!

[Orbitz]

thanks for the info ...I will tell him about it...its been about 1 year or so , do they keep track of the purchase date?

I didn't think there was a time limit on this...M$ will probably be happy to sell you XP CD's for $15 per copy all day long...course they are worthless without the licenses to actually install it. But if you have a legal KEY you could also just borrow a copy of the XP CD from a friend and do the install with that....

[d lehmann]

thanks for the info ...I will tell him about it...its been about 1 year or so , do they keep track of the purchase date?

I didn't think there was a time limit on this...M$ will probably be happy to sell you XP CD's for $15 per copy all day long...course they are worthless without the licenses to actually install it. But if you have a legal KEY you could also just borrow a copy of the XP CD from a friend and do the install with that....

tony6264 posted that the original was scratched and the copy didn't work, so the cd would be replaced, but since it was legal MS would assume he still had the PID.
Any comparable cd can be borrowed and his legit PID used.
When I last did it they had my address etc on a dbase she pulled up. That's the advantage of registering in addition to just activating. Checking the numbers on the cd just assures thet people receive the a replacement of their original version, nothing to do with lisencing.

[tony6264]

There are numbers on the actual XP CD that identify it and tie it to a valid license? I don't have my original disc here but I didn't think that would be possible. In my case, I bought a 10 license pack for XP pro...I got one CD and 10 licenses with it. I made several copies of the original CD to keep by different machines...of course using one of the 10 licenses for each machine.

The CD itself is irrevelant to the installation of the OS...it is the license that matters both for activation and updates? It sounds to me like he made some mistake in copying the CD since it won't boot from it. The only time I had a problem like that was when I made a bootable CD to slipstream SP2 onto it...the first couple of tries would not boot for some reason...did eventually figure out what I was doing wrong and got it to work.

you bought ten liscense pack....do they offer smaller quantity and how much per lic.
thanks

[Leon]

yes, varies greatly....