Rebuilding an XP box - activation?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m about to rebuild a computer running Windows XP and was wondering what the best way to handle the XP Activation is.

If I just go do it and let XP phone home to activate itself, will I have any difficulty when Microsoft sees an existing license number on an essentially similar computer as before? (The video card is being changed and the boot drive re-partitioned, but otherwise the same motherboad, CPU and RAM.)

Can I scoot around the activation by finding and copying some Registry key from the current running installation and drop it into the rebuild?

I’m not trying to be sneaky and install XP on more boxes than I have licenses for - I just want to re-install it on the same box and have as painless a time as possible with it.

2

If the original activation was about 6 months old or more it should be no prob.

3

IIRC the reactivation period timeout is 90 days, not 180. As long as your license code hasn’t leaked and been used by umpteen hackers, you’ll be fine.

4

I re-installed my wife’s computer and activation gave me no problem at all.

Even if you were installing on a different computer (old one being decommissioned or not used for XP), you can call Microsoft and explain, if activation gives you a problem.

Not sure of the number; you would have to check their web site.

They aren’t interested in you switching machines, so much. It’s when the same code shows up for dozens of computers.