Can I Reuse Windows XP?

Can I use my copy of Windows XP on a second computer in my house? Is microsoft support likely to give me a hard time about this? --I will probably not be able to resuscitate the first, older computer. I'd therefore be using my copy of XP on only one of my computers at any given time. Also, if it helps, I bought my copy of XP retail when I built the computer.

Also, and more interesting is, if I install a second HD in a computer I'm currently building, and both HDs have XP installed, will I have the choice when I boot up which HD to use, or does it always default to the master HD?

Thanks,
shawn

 

Thanks Tim.

Interesting. It sounds like, if I want to occasionally use my old hard drive for one thing or another, once both are installed in my new computer I can simply swap master and slave cables before booting up.

I'm a little puzzled, though, as to why, with two hard drives there's no option for using the OS on either drive rather than being restricted to one when the computer boots. Is it a fairly simple matter to switch between drives while you're working so as to be able to easily access data on one or the other?

By the way, can you point me to a good article on how to install and deal with two or more hard drives in one computer? I'm not sure what all the advantages are to having more than one hd but I'd like to study up and make sure it's a good idea for me. Thanks again.

 

There are no master/slave cables. There are jumper switches on the hard drive for that purpose. http://www.ehow.com/how_6031_change-master-slave-designation.html

BTW, It's highly unlikely you can boot your old hard drive in a new PC unless it has exactly the same hardware and drivers as the old one, if that is what you are planning.

 

Is everyone sure about not being able to boot a second HD with a second XP installed?

[We know the OP can't use an old HD with XP preinstalled in a new computer and expect it to boot properly because of hardware differences--A fresh install of XP would be required on both HDs]

But the first HD is seen as Master. BIOS hands control over to the first HD. Now, if in that XP's boot.ini there is a boot choice line referencing the second HD and the partition holding XP wouldn't that boot up fine if chosen from the boot menu? Seems to me I have done this before without any jumper changes.

 

Thanks for the link, JP. Oh, and my new build is nothing like the old one. I have a lot to learn, obviously, but if a hard drive boots in a computer where all the other hardware has been replaced, do you get a series of notifications that the OS has found new hardware followed by the typical request for drivers, or does the computer simply not boot?

 

This might answer my adjacent post, but why wouldn't the hd simply note, say, changes in the mobo, dvd drive, cpu, gpu, and sound card, and then go through the driver install for each?

 

It is a matter of Microsoft licensing and it is by design. They want you to buy a new copy of Windows for every PC. They count significant upgrades to an existing computer as a "new" machine to maximize revenue.

When CPU and motherboard are different most times it simply will hang somewhere in the startup process. Smaller changes and it will usually recognize new hardware and load default drivers.

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In reality, you can probably only expect to retrieve your music, images and documents off your old HD. You will most likely be unable to boot it without reinstalling XP with it connected to the new machine. Of course, that means you will be unable to run any programs you have on the old HD. (Once you retrieve your data you can always format it and just use it for additional storage.)

 

If, despite the hardware, driver and activation problems that will undoubtedly arise if you were to boot from your old hard disk, there may be an easier way to do it than by editing boot.ini, by simply changing the BIOS boot order or by using whichever F key your system uses to override the BIOS boot order. I seem to remember being able to do this on an old XP rig I had, though to be on the safe side I did use a partition manager to hide them from each other.

As long as you haven't hidden anything then whichever you boot to you will be able to see the other and copy off its files.

 

So, after all that, where the only parts of my old computer I reused was the dvd drive, Microsoft allowed my reinstallation of XP on my new computer without even asking for the key.

Strange.