XP won't accept my product key!!!????

[Dmac77]

Hi all,

I just finished installing XP on a boot camp partition on my iMac, and XP won't accept my product key. I had previously used this retail disk on another computer, and I formatted the drive that it was originally on.

Now when I try to activate XP, it says that the key has already been used. What do I do? If possible I would prefer to not call MSFT, last time I called them I couldn't understand a word that the woman said.

Don

 

[NotFound]

Hi all,

I just finished installing XP on a boot camp partition on my iMac, and XP won't accept my product key. I had previously used this retail disk on another computer, and I formatted the drive that it was originally on.

Now when I try to activate XP, it says that the key has already been used. What do I do? If possible I would prefer to not call MSFT, last time I called them I couldn't understand a word that the woman said.

Don

You've probably installed that key the maximum amount of times your only option is to call the number and they will give you a key to put it so it will activate it.

 

[Dmac77]

You've probably installed that key the maximum amount of times your only option is to call the number and they will give you a key to put it so it will activate it.

Ok I'll do that. This is one of the reasons that I prefer OS X, you can reinstall as many times as you want.

Thanks for your help!

Don

 

[SpookyLars]

I have to use Windows for certain tasks at my work. Instead Windows XP, I bought Windows 2000, and I have peace of mind. Smaller and without the hassle of activation. W2K is sufficient for my needs, and works perfectly in Parallels.

 

[myiope]

This is one of the reasons that I prefer OS X, you can reinstall as many times as you want.

Just to clarify, the activation that Windows uses does not limit you on how many times you can reinstall on the same computer (hardware). It only becomes an issue when you install it on a different computer (hardware) and try to activate over the internet over a certain period of time. If you were to say, install on a new computer once a year, that would probably be fine, but doing it once every 2 months would cause problems and therefore require the phone. In other words, they keep track of how much time has passed between trying to activate it on different computers to determine whether there is a potential piracy issue. I'm not condoning it, just explaining how it works.

 

[Dmac77]

I have to use Windows for certain tasks at my work. Instead Windows XP, I bought Windows 2000, and I have peace of mind. Smaller and without the hassle of activation. W2K is sufficient for my needs, and works perfectly in Parallels.

Thanks, I'll have to look into VMing W2K, but for some of the things that I do (gaming) I need XP, and Vista soon.

Don

 

[Dmac77]

Just to clarify, the activation that Windows uses does not limit you on how many times you can reinstall on the same computer (hardware). It only becomes an issue when you install it on a different computer (hardware) and try to activate over the internet over a certain period of time. If you were to say, install on a new computer once a year, that would probably be fine, but doing it once every 2 months would cause problems and therefore require the phone. In other words, they keep track of how much time has passed between trying to activate it on different computers to determine whether there is a potential piracy issue. I'm not condoning it, just explaining how it works.

Yeah, I prefer Vista for this one reason, you can install it as many times as you want (as long as uninstall it from previous machines), without having to contact MSFT.

Don

Oh and does anyone know how to make the security center in Vista stop bugging me because I disabled UAC (User Account Control, AKA annoying security popups)?