Situation concerning xp2

[drifter106]

Have built another system and have loaded my full version of windows xp2 professional. Getting ready to call in my numbers for registration but am concerned what will happen to windows on the other machine. What will happen to my files on the old machine? Whats the best way around this without losing anything or creating a hassle. Was thinking about just getting a OEM for it but don't see how I can keep everything on the puter. Have 2 hard drives maybe I could send everything to other drive that I can and just reformat....am I not thinking clearly here?

thanks

 

[rmrf]

I'm confused. Are you trying to use one license for two machines, or do you have a retail version of windows that you are moving from a machine that you will not be using anymore?

If you are using one license for two machines, then the answer is obvious that you should buy another license for the new machine. If you are moving your license to the new machine from the old machine that you will not be using anymore, then there should not be a problem.

If you want the files off the hard drive from the old machine, just switch the jumper on the drive to slave and put it in the new machine. That way you can copy over the files that you want.

 

[drifter106]

I am using a retail version and moving it to another machine. My concern is, and I think maybe I answered it in part myself, is what to do with the other active machine. Thought about just getting a OEM version and trying to save everything on the drive before I reformat it. After looking around the web it appears that the retail version is kinda nice for you can use it perpetually. Will an OEM version allow me later to upgrade the OLD computer? That would be the only reason to get a full version if the OEM wouldn't do that. What would be nice is to slap another OS in the old machine and just go on but that is not possible. How long do I have before the old machine will not work? I plan on getting the OEM from a educational consortium and it may take about 2 weeks and I don't want to lose anything on the old computer.

The only thing about moving files to the other drive is that I am not sure what NOT to move (don't want anything from the previous OS to interfer with the new OS).


thanks

heres something that helped... information

 

[crobusa]

1. "Moving" the OS license is a legal question, not a tech one. You are legally obligated to disable windows on the old machine if you have the retail version of windows.. I would interpret that to mean you can slave the drive on the new version, OR erase the windows directory/wreck it so XP won't load.
MS will not disable your old machine remotely, that is your responsibility. And if you have an OEM version on the 1st, you are legally unable to reinstall on the 2nd computer. (see below.)

2. An OEM license is tied to the computer it is installed on. Nothing less than motherboard failure will let you move an OEM licence to another machine. A Retail license will let you move from machine to machine, so long as the old computer install is dead.

3. You are going to start a flame war on whether the Product Key "token" needs to match the license in hand.. Call MS, but you must have enough licences for your machines, and you must work withing the word of the licences.

 

[BIGGDOG]

I wish we could just buy a code for a second computer.
Just thinking out load.