WindowsXP Re-Activation limit?

[Dr Evil]

Can anyone shed some light on this subject, a friend of mine who has XP Home, he like me installs quite often to keep his system tidy, he reached number 25 reinstall and tried to activate only to find it would not do it, he rang microsoft and was told that there is a limit of 25 re-activations allowed and then it becomes unusable (i.e. throw it away and buy another!!!) when he got a bit angry, he was told that this is the way things are going to be done now and to "GET OVER IT", what cheek, can this be true?

[Damned Angel]

Not many people would need to reinstall a product 25 times. I can see why this sux for your friend, but I can also see where MS is comming from. 25 reinstalls would usually only be done if your using the product key to install the same copy on multiple machines.

If your friend does not want to worry about activation, tell him to either get a Corprate edition of xp or stick with 98/2k

[DANIMAL]

That goes with burnt copies too I guess You may have a burnt copy and think you have 25 installs but the copy may be at it's limit already .

Am I right in saying this?

[thirdfey]

[quote]Originally posted by DANIMAL:
<strong>That goes with burnt copies too I guess You may have a burnt copy and think you have 25 installs but the copy may be at it's limit already .

Am I right in saying this?</strong><hr></blockquote>

The actual media itself doesn't haven't anything to do with the activation, it can't write back to the cd how many times it been installed, its going off of the product that you get with the cd. I have to agree with the Damned there about the amount of times your friend has installed XP. It may be a good thing for him though, now he is forced to go outside and experience the world :) since he can't install XP constantly.

[Votan]

I don't think the disk itself has a limit,whether the disk is original copy or a copy of the original. I thing Angel said it correctly, the activation is based on the product key and a reference to that number in MS data base.

This is nonsense because to bypass it you can install XP, activate it, and before installing any other application, make a backup copy on a CD. That way you do not need to reinstall it another time, just copy it from the backup disk which has already an activated installation.

This is a theory. It needs to be proven by someone who has the time to play with it. I will be interested to know if it works.

I don't think MS can prevent you from making an authentic backup copy of your installation, I could be wrong though considering that this is a legal matter.

[Votan]

Thinking it over, I don't think Microsoft can impose on you how many times you can reinstall the sofware on your machine for as long as the OS is on only one machine. Consider the senario you reinstalled the OS five time, then changed your OS, say to W2K, and sold the disk of XP to another user who reinstall it another 18 times and then shifed to W2K and sold the XP disk again. The new user should be able to reinstall the SP many more times than two!

I don't know what legal advice MS has based its decision upon but I think a shrewd lawyer can challange MS in a court of law.

[Raven]

any proof of this...MS Knowledge base entry...anything hard proof....besides this post??

[Ya_know]

Lest ye forget, always check the KB. This article brought up quite a stir the last time I posted it. We will see if the waters have cleared.

"You can also back up and save the Wpa.dbl file after successful activation and then manually restore it after the repair process is finished and after you log on to the computer."

From this article: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q302740" target="_blank">Running Repair on Windows XP Requires the User to Re-Activate the Product (Q302740)</a>

As far as 25 activations and then you have to buy another!?! I won't believe that until I see it in writing. When I do, I expect you all to join in my class action lawsuit!

[Raven]

[quote]Originally posted by Ya_know:
<strong>As far as 25 activations and then you have to buy another!?! I won't believe that until I see it in writing. When I do, I expect you all to join in my class action lawsuit!</strong><hr></blockquote>

I agree....

[Ya_know]

There is nothing here: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q302878#atop" target="_blank">Frequently Asked Questions about Microsoft Product Activation (Q302878)</a>

Dr Evil: Can you produce this limit somewhere, without us all having to call MS ourselves? You know, long hold times and all...

[Raven]

yeah...i dont want to have to call and deal with this....

[Ya_know]

If I were your friend, I would ask about the below quote from the below article. Sounds like he is being snowed on the phone. Let us know what happens.

"Activation is anonymous, and no personal information is required to activate. The installation ID records an association of the product ID to your computer and a confirmation is sent back to Microsoft. You can then use the product key to install Windows on that computer an unlimited number of times. However, if you need to install Windows on a different computer with that product key, you might need to contact a Microsoft customer service representative."

from here:
<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q307890" target="_blank">HOW TO: Activate Windows XP (Q307890)</a>

[Raven]

burn the witch......

sound like a line of SH!T