blackdragon69

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Im thinking about building a new desktop computer and using some parts from my old dell computer.Do I need to buy a new windows xp software or can I use the one that came with my dell system.Is it legal or can I get into some trouble with copyright laws?thanks.

wolf68k

If you're talking about using the Dell recovery disc, then forget about it....unless you're using the motherboard from the old Dell which wouldn't make a lot of sense.
Now if the Dell came with a full OS disc, then you should be able to use it, but don't quote me.

tubaman

Legally, I think, all eula's are read the same, you can use this software on one pc at a time. If you take it off your dell, it's legal to use on another pc, provided, as wolf said, you have a full os disc, or even an upgrade disc, with an old win98 disc. Being as it was oem, it should be full. I've also heard, that with XP, the registration sends computer info to microsoft, and if it's been installed on too many pc's, it'll reject it, and I think cause it to not work. I was told that they assume you'll make 3 major upgrades to your pc over the life of your os. Too bad it's not like the old days, well, my current days, where every computer in your house has the same installation of windows. oh well, I'm sure they'll find away around it, if they haven't already.

jobo

Thanx for the info I was wondering the same thing.

Ryan

windows xp activation takes a 'snapshot' of your system when you install it for the first time... it takes serial numbers of parts, sizes of drives, amount of ram, and a whole host of other things... there's a formula that microsoft uses to detect whether or not the product is being installed on the same computer again.

if you actually own a license of xp, it's no big deal- when you activate, it will probably reject you and tell you to call MS- just call the number, and when the person comes on, tell them your old computer died and you're reinstalling everything on a new one... they'll re-issue you a new license key.

I've done it MANY times here at work

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slapjimmy

dell machines would come with xp oem, technically you're only allowed to use that copy of xp with the original machine you bought it with under the oem licence. i think it's only xp retail that u can use on another pc or sell individually.... however, there would be exceptions to the rule when say part of your pc dies and u need to upgrade it to fix it.... eg mobo, hdd, cpu.... secondly microsoft would have a hard time proving the original pc the oem licence was sold with. lastly you get about 3 activations with xp pro or home (not corp) before you must ring up and say my mobo died and i need to get my pc re-activated again, so your xp cd key will only get banned if it gets too much activation abuse.

mattjh

XP can be moved to another system. You may have to call MS and explain your situation to get it re-activated. I'm not sure about OEM though. The only problem you might run into besides that is getting it loaded. Most OEM discs nowadays only run if they locate the hardware they were intended to be used with. In this case probably the motherboard. Maybe you'll get lucky though.