xp pro activation

sprint777 · Post by **sprint777** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 10:34 am

Hi I hope this isn't a dumb question. I bought an oem xp pro cd off ebay. I installed it on a computer but was never asked to activate. I thought you had to activate it within 30 days. This is the first time I have ever installed an xp operating system. I have had it on and running for several days now.
What about activation. Also can I install it on my other computer that shares
the same internet connection? Thanks I hope this is the right forum.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 11:05 am

there are corperate versions of XP pro that don't need activation, from what i have heard.

jumpingrat · Post by **jumpingrat** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 11:58 am

At the run command type this exactly space before the /a and all.

%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a

hit enter, a window will appear telling you whether you are activated or not.

Sid · Post by **Sid** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 1:49 pm

What you have is an "open volume license" copy. You may have legally bought it off of ebay but I seriously doubt you are legal under the license agreement for your copy.

And no you are not "legally" supposed to install it on another system unless you have purchased a CAL(client access license) for it.

If you want to know more then call
1-800-RULEGIT I beleive is the number.

The Dude · Post by **The Dude** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 1:52 pm

I just installed a retail copy of XP pro on my PC. It wasn't long before it asked me to activate. The message also said that if I didn't activate I would be reminded (nagged) to activate every so often. Just go into the i386 folder of the CD and have a look at the setupp.ini file. If PID=xxxxxOEM, it's OEM. If the last 3 digits are 000, it's retail. Either one of those should require activation. If they are something else it's likely a volume license/corporate version. The normal Home or Pro version can only be activated on one PC. If you try to activate it a second time on a PC with different hardware the microsoft server will reject it. Technically since the corporate version doesn't require activation you can install it on more than one PC. Legally though you still need to purchase a license for each PC you install it on. Thats why they refer to it as the volume license edition.

Leatherneck · Post by **Leatherneck** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 7:37 pm

The real drag will be when you try to install the service pack2. If it's not legit, you can't get it.

Sid · Post by **Sid** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 9:45 pm

bigmo66 wrote:The real drag will be when you try to install the service pack2. If it's not legit, you can't get it.

SP2 will install just fine

RicRogue · Post by **RicRogue** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 10:41 pm

Sid wrote:SP2 will install just fine

The Dude · Post by **The Dude** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:29 pm

jumpingrat wrote:At the run command type this exactly space before the /a and all.

%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a

hit enter, a window will appear telling you whether you are activated or not.

That's pretty cool, is there a similar command for Micro$oft office?

sprint777 · Post by **sprint777** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:46 pm

I thought you could install xp pro on up to 10 computers on a network with one copy of xp. I have a home network where I share 2 computers with one internet connection. If this is right could I if I have an oem. By the way I typed %... in the run window and it says that it is activated. I have also received auto update of sp2 but did not install yet.

TonyT · Post by **TonyT** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:25 pm

sprint777 wrote:I thought you could install xp pro on up to 10 computers on a network with one copy of xp. I have a home network where I share 2 computers with one internet connection. If this is right could I if I have an oem. By the way I typed %... in the run window and it says that it is activated. I have also received auto update of sp2 but did not install yet.

1 computer = 1 xp
2 computers = 2 PAID FOR copies of xp.
and so on...