# Registering Win XP Pro **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178 "2005-04-01T03:59:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/1 "2005-04-01T03:59:15Z")
Win XP Pro has to be registered on my home PC. Business Gateways don’t have to be registered; I’ve done several reinstalls. The Gateway folks tell me that upgrading their laptop with Win XP Pro from another vendor won’t have to be registered. What’s the deal? And when my PC crashes and I have to reinstall, how do I avoid the dreaded “This installation is already registered” message? ---
**Author:** ![Maxxxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Maxxxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maxxxie)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/2 "2005-04-01T06:00:19Z")
I can’t speak for other vendors, but back in the days when I was contracted to HP, this is the way it worked: 1. They have a customised “recovery” image used to reload the OS. 2. The mainboard is “tattooed” - a fancy way of saying some stuff is written in the BIOS 3. The recovery image looks for the tattoo, and if it finds one, determines that it is registered and doesn’t prompt for activation 4. If it doesn’t find the tattoo it assumes it is not activated/registered and forces you to go through the activation rigmarole. How to avoid the rigmarole? Use the recovery procedure rather than reloading from scratch. HTH, Max. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/3 "2005-04-01T06:09:34Z")
I’d recommend calling microsoft and getting the straight dope from them. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/4 "2005-04-01T07:18:00Z")
> [@Gozu](#): > > I’d recommend calling microsoft and getting the straight dope from them. Good advice, especially with this in the trade news … > [@](#): > > Microsoft is tightening the screws further on pirate copies of Windows by disabling Internet activation of XP product keys for software distributed by all of the large OEMs. The move however doesn’t take the company anywhere close to universal compliance, and seems more intended to reduce casual copying and leakage from the PC channel. > > – snip – > > The procedure affects the top 20 OEMs from 28th February, and will be extended to all other OEMs who’ve been using this activation method over the rest of the year. People who need to activate a lot of products in their line of work (e.g. service engineers) are likely to be less than ecstatic. Source: [XP deloaded? MS tightens screws on loose product keys • The Register](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/25/ms_oem_wpa_move/) ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/5 "2005-04-01T08:54:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Microsoft is tightening the screws further on pirate copies of Windows by disabling Internet activation of XP product keys for software distributed by all of the large OEMs. I don’t really understand this. How does disabling the activation requirement “tighten the screws”? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/6 "2005-04-01T14:13:16Z")
> [@ntucker](#): > > I don’t really understand this. How does disabling the activation requirement “tighten the screws”? Now you have to call, right? ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/7 "2005-04-01T15:23:30Z")
I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with activating the same copy of windows about 10 times…pleasure, yea, right… I frequently upgrade my home build computer. When I build the system I plunked down the then $250 for a full version of XP home. The internet activation worked the first 4 or 5 times I reformatted for one reason or another. Then one day it wouldn’t work, and the screen instructed me to call MS So I call, am on hold for only a short period of time, and get someone. They ask me whats going on and I explain that I just put a new motherboard and processor in my computer, and reformatted it to ensure it would work. They asked if this version of windows was retail, and was only installed on this computer. I said yes. They gave me an instillation code (not a new CD key) and it works great… time goes by, few more formats, another major upgrade, same issue, same resolution. So in short, the activation is not too bad a thing, atleast IMHO. – Something MS seems to have gotten atleast reasionably okay. (never thought I’d say that) ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/8 "2005-04-01T17:28:25Z")
There are no “tattoos” in the BIOS that Windows XP reads. Rather, MS generates a hash value by IDing the various components of the system when the OS is first installed, and associates a particular activation code with it. If you change a few components, the hash value will change within a small range, and the OS will still be recognized as activated. Change enough components, however, and the hash value becomes so different from the original that it stops working. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/9 "2005-04-01T18:21:29Z")
There are several different versions of XP Pro. The corporate version does not require activiation, just a key code. As implied in an earlier posting, someone who has to builds hundreds of computers for a business is not going to want to register each one individually; instead they just create a master image and write that to each machine’s disk. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/registering-win-xp-pro/297178/10 "2005-04-01T19:42:01Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Now you have to call, right? Oh, I get it. They haven’t disabled activation. Activation is still required, but now you have to do it over the phone. That makes sense.