riversend3
Member
Probably a ridiculous question, but will the OS care at install on a new machine about what version of XP is in use? I was looking to buy a retail upgrade of Home Premium for my new computer, and drag over the old HDD from my last computer which has an OEM version of XP on it.
I know that if all I wanted to do was move over my copy of XP on the current HDD I would have to call MS for a new activation key since I am taking it over to a different machine (old machine started to develop some hardware issues so I decided on a mostly new build). From reading on the forums it seems MS might or might not give me a new activation key, depends on the tech on the other end of the phone.
If they do, great, all problems should be solved and I can just drop in the retail upgrade to Home Premium.
If they don't, is there a way to get around the activation key by starting an install of the retail Home Premium over the top of the XP? One possiblity is to do the upgrade on my current machine, then move the HDD over, but I would rather not go through this twice.
Second might be to try the upgrade as I boot up the new machine for the first time? This is probably not possible, but I figured I would ask.... 😱
Thanks for any help. It's been five years since I built a new system, so my memory is a little shaky on the mechanics of this.
I know that if all I wanted to do was move over my copy of XP on the current HDD I would have to call MS for a new activation key since I am taking it over to a different machine (old machine started to develop some hardware issues so I decided on a mostly new build). From reading on the forums it seems MS might or might not give me a new activation key, depends on the tech on the other end of the phone.
If they do, great, all problems should be solved and I can just drop in the retail upgrade to Home Premium.
If they don't, is there a way to get around the activation key by starting an install of the retail Home Premium over the top of the XP? One possiblity is to do the upgrade on my current machine, then move the HDD over, but I would rather not go through this twice.
Second might be to try the upgrade as I boot up the new machine for the first time? This is probably not possible, but I figured I would ask.... 😱
Thanks for any help. It's been five years since I built a new system, so my memory is a little shaky on the mechanics of this.
