I am getting irritated with my sister, as I am her default computer tech support. Yes, I know, it’s a frightening thought—the blind leading the blind.
Anyway, she got a new PC custom-built for her, but was too poor/cheap to buy Windows XP for it. So she’s got Windows 98. And things are often very frustrating on it. Right now she’s trying to get her digital camera to work on it. It’s horrible. If she had XP, she could just plug it in and voilà! It would work. But not with Windows 98, oh no.<grumble grumble>
I have kind of crummy and crappy PC (I bought it off eBay) and I am planning on selling it and getting a better PC that will last me a while. (I am mainly a Mac person, but am enrolling on an online course that requires access to a PC, and Virtual PC doesn’t hack it for me.) Anyway, this crappy PC has Windows XP Pro on it. Can I transfer ownership of XP Pro to my sister’s computer, then wipe XP off of the old PC, selling it on eBay, sans OS? (So many PCs are sold with no OS on the hard drive.) After all, why should I sell an OS with a PC on eBay, when chances are the buyer may not even want or need XP Pro? Let them pick out their own OS.
Or, could I have the CD-RW drive or something from my crummy PC transferred to her PC (so it’s got some of the old PC in it) and say that I REALLY upgraded the PC? Bear in mind, I don’t want to do anything underhanded—one copy of XP for one PC at a time is my goal. (And anyway, Microsoft makes it pretty much impossible to do anything other than that!)
Sure. Uninstall XP from the old computer, then install it on the new one. It will demand to be reactivated, you can do so online or over the phone with Microsoft. That should be the extent of your difficulties. Make sure you activate AFTER you have completed any hardware modifications and driver installations, or you will be forced to reactivate again.
Thanks, Alereon. You know, it makes perfect sense that it would be transferrable. After all, what if someone built a new PC, and it gets fried by lightening a week after they activated Windows XP? Would they be expected to “suck it up” and take a loss because they were unlucky enough to have their computer die so soon? That would be a tremendous rip-off, I should think.
I should mention that this is an OEM version of Windows XP. It came with a generic custom built PC. Would that make any difference? Once again, I don’t see why—I paid for it, fair and square, and the computer I originally installed it on is a piece of crap that I don’t want anymore. So why not put it on a computer that, like, actually works? Why should this perfectly fine copy of XP be saddled with a piece of crap computer.
Well, I’m rambling now.
Well, it does seem obvious, but I’m trying to be extra sure. And my sister wants to be extra sure. No use in installing XP, wiping it off the crappy PC, if it would be a no-go.
IIRC XP can be installed on a new/'nother computer 3 or 4 months (maybe 6) after activation with no problems from MS. If you try to install it too quickly after another install/activation, activation will fail.
This is a “generic” OEM CD, not one that says that it can “Only be used with a Dell” or anything like that. Though I now want to call Microsoft and ask them about it.
I have no idea what the EULA is! I found the paperwork that came with the disk (a booklet) but there’s nothing there about limiting the software to one computer.
I am looking to find a phone number to call MS and ask them, but I don’t think any such phone number exists. They want to charge us for calling in.
The EULA is the “End User License Agreement”. It’s usually in the first couple pages of the manual or in a pamphlet on its own. It’s a bunch of legalese regarding the license. Somewhere in there should be text concerning the transfer of the OS to another computer.
It’s also in the help files. For W2K it’s in Start…Help…Introducing Windows 2000 Professional…License Agreement. I have a retail copy, and it states transfer is allowed:
Well, I finally found the EULA file (had to turn on the PC to do so) and it looks like I need to sell the PC and the software together (or rather, where the PC goes, the software goes with it). But I’ve not had a lot of rest, so maybe I missed something.
So I was wondering—one of my “plans” was to gut the crappy old computer for its good parts (HD, CD-ROM, CD-RW, floppy, USB 2.0 ports) and have it put in my new PC. Would this be enough to allow XP to stay with the PC, even though I’m getting rid of the rest of the computer?
Well, I took my nap, and I think I know what I want to do.
My main problem with this current PC is its motherboard. (It’s some crappy off-brand thing with a Sis chipset (?) and is not very reliable, so I have learned.) I want a nice ASUS motherboard. And with this nice ASUS motherboard, I will need different RAM, since it’s a much better motherboard.
But, my current PC’s CPU (AMD XP 1880+) is fine with me. The hard drive (60 GB 7200) is just peachy. The CD-RW is blazingly fast as far as I am concerned. I’d like to keep all of these. But I want a new case, and a new motherboard. I want the case to be purple. (That’s pretty much the most important part—the purple case! ;))
So, this would be on the up-and-up, then? If I got these upgrades, I could still use my copy of XP? I sure hope so!
