Easy Windows XP reinstall?

[Caffinehog]

Hey, I had an idea.... For those who end up putting windows on an empty hard drive every month or so... Would making a drive image with something like Norton Ghost work? I wouldn't figure you'd have to reactivate it then.
Comments?

[Al Capone]

yes it would work, you won't need re-activation, unless you change anything in the hardware then you will need to call M$

[Caffinehog]

You mean if I add a card or switch mobos I'll have to call M$? Heck, do I have to call them every time I put in a pci card?

[Al Capone]

yes, and sometimes its not easy to convince them that you are the same person and not pirating it, this happens if you change a few things at once in the computer. But at the end they should give you a new activation code :D

[Caffinehog]

Edited by me... thought innappropriate...... (though true.)

[MadMan007]

These are the keys to activation AFAIK:

1) You have to activate within 30 days of an install.

2) You get some leeway when changing hardware. Typically one piece of hardware alone won't do it. You would need to change a number of pieces at once. Each piece has a priority value for reactivation. EX: the CPU might be 2 points, mobo 3, HD 2, vid card 2. Say you need 6 points to reactivate; if you replace the CPU and mobo you would have 5 points, so no reactivation needed. If you change one more piece, you would need to reactivate. BTW-I made these numbers up for the sake of this example, and this is not exaclty how it works, but the concept is correct.

3) The "change points" go away after a certain period of time, so after this time you can change hardware as if you had 0 "points." I do not recall the exact timeframe, but I believe it is under 90 days.

If any of this is innacurrate some1 plz tell me.

[engjohn]

Originally posted by MadMan007
Edited by - SpeeDj

This is NOT allowed here, you are talking about Illegally modifying software...
This kind of discussion can end up in getting OC.com in trouble. Please erase this from you post.

[AMD'er]

I've running XP PRO and haven't ran into the problem of callin MS. I think you get up to 6 major upgrades in a time span (can't remeber the exact time frame) and then it starts all over once that span has been pased, so in other words you get another 6 upgrades.

[MadMan007]

K, I just checked my PMs and I got one from Speed too, engjohn, so all taken care of. Sorry for the "illegal" posting...