Question About Activation From A N00b

[nujackk]

Hi

Totally new to this so bare with me

But I am currently using a machine with xp pro that is of course activated and legal.

But I broke the install disk some time ago.

I have a brand new Disk with new key etc. the new disk came with sp2 already on it.

My question is can I save the activation on my current install and use it with the new disk?

I also heard that saving the activation would not work if you do a format of the harddrive, is this true?

Thnx in advance for the help

[soldier1st]

that activation is for that install disk that you broke,so in otherwords you might be able to do but i would not do it.

[nujackk]

OK thanks, but what about the format question, I also have office 2003, I do have the original disk for that, but would be nice not to have to reactivate it.

I am thinking it won't work if I format the harddrive.

[dman]

You shoulden't have any trouble with the activation code. Windows looks at all of your hardware when coming up with its activation code, and changing just one or two items, like in a normal upgrade will not break it (even a brand new hard disk). It's only if the algorithm determines that it is an entirely new machine (and MS doesn't give details of how it comes up with this) will the activation code fail.

Make sure you use the original key code from your legal copy when reinstalling.

Of course, if you use the same keycodes, windows will happily re-activate with no trouble, even without saving the activation code. MS has done a lot of work on this to keep legal users happy.

[nujackk]

thnx dman

that's what I needed to know.