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General discussion

Reinstalling XP

by mjsolis Feb 12, 2009 3:31AM PST

Hello all,

There is probably information related to my question somewhere on the forum...Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find this exact question and I can't find anyone in my area who'll politely answer me unless I pay them for some kind of service. My apologies if there is an answer on the forum and I just missed it.

I recently bought a bulk license copy of XP Pro from a guy who closed his business. Each of these copies has its own key and after I bought one, the guy told me it could be used only once. I later talked to another guy who said that wasn't correct and that ALL XP copies can be reinstalled at least on the same computer. He also mentioned reinstalls are limited by Microsoft until you contact them for more reinstall approvals.

As you can tell, I have little computer related knowledge and your answers are much appreciated.

Discussion is locked

3 Posts
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You can install . . .
by Coryphaeus Feb 12, 2009 3:49AM PST

XP on the same computer as often as you wish. But only that one copy that was done the first time.

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reinstalling XP
by mjsolis Feb 12, 2009 3:55AM PST

Thank you Coryphaeus...I'm not sure why the guy told me I could only install once.

BTW: I accidentally posted a duplicate question, but I just reported it as an offensive post so the moderators will delete it.

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And just an FYI
by Brandon Eng Feb 12, 2009 12:24PM PST

If you do some major hardware changes, you may get a message to the effect of- "this has been installed on too many systems" or, "wrong CD key"- something to that effect.

I recently did a major overhaul on a system; it really amounted to building a whole new system. I used an XP pro volume license, and received one of the error messages. A call to MS cleared the situation up in less than 10 mins. I was given a new activation key I had to type in, but it all worked out.

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