I have installed XP Home retail , popped in the cd key and it has not prompted me to activate yet - is this real ?? Is there no activation on the retail ?? I downloaded from a pub a few days ago

Nope it probaly already did it. During the final min. of your instalation it will go through your network setup. Thats when it gives you a choice to activate. If your not paying attention closely it will just pass you right by. Seems so easy huh....well Im about to find out if its a pain in the butt to reactivate it, as I have a format schedule for tonight....Wish me luck!

-Chris

You got it out of a pub? Is it cracked? Chris is probably right but you can only register a copy of a retail CD one time and then it will ask you to call M$....not that they won't fold like an accordian when you ask for an activation code but that is the way it works unless the person was stupid enough to burn a CD and post it without first activating it first on their computer. In which case they will be in for a real surprise.

nah, xp has no drivers for my usb adsl modem, so it wouldnt have been able to do anything until i installed the drivers.

It did not contact anyone ??? (i was waiting for the activation popup box)

I think it must be cracked already - oh well I'm not gonna moan.

BTW does anybody know if making a norton ghost image of an activated install require activation again when re-ghosting ??

This version isnt retail you bought from a retail store is it? If not then sure its cracked....retail does not come already cracked.....AGAIN I feel a little confused about your question?

-Chris

run this, yes use START - RUN, "c:windowssystem32oobemsoobe /a" to see if your copy of XP is activated or not.