Can I install my XP on my laptop also?

[flutterby1947]

I bought a computer with XP already installed at the factory, so it hasn't been activated. Can I install it on my laptop and will I be able to use it to reinstall XP on my desktop if the need should arise.

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

You'll need to purchase a separate WinXP license for each computer
on which you install it.

First of all, you have an OEM license for WinXP. An OEM
version must be sold with a piece of hardware (normally a motherboard
or hard rive, if not an entire PC) and is _permanently_ bound to the
first PC on which it's installed. An OEM license, once installed, is
not legally transferable to another computer under _any_
circumstances.

Secondly, as it has *always* been with *all* Microsoft operating
systems, it's necessary (to be in compliance with both the EULA and
U.S. copyright law http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/117.html), if
not technically) to purchase one WinXP license for each computer on
which it is installed. (Consult an attorney versed in copyright law
to determine final applicability in your locale.) The only way in
which WinXP licensing differs from that of earlier versions of Windows
is that Microsoft has finally added a copy protection and anti-theft
mechanism, Product Activation, to prevent (or at least make more
difficult) multiple installations using a single license.


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH


"flutterby1947" > wrote in message
...
>
> I bought a computer with XP already installed at the factory, so it
> hasn't been activated. Can I install it on my laptop and will I be
> able to use it to reinstall XP on my desktop if the need should
> arise.
>
>
> --
> flutterby1947

[D.Currie]

"flutterby1947" > wrote in message
...
>
> I bought a computer with XP already installed at the factory, so it
> hasn't been activated. Can I install it on my laptop and will I be
> able to use it to reinstall XP on my desktop if the need should arise.
>
>
> --
> flutterby1947

Legal and activation reasons aside, if you try to install a
desktop-configured OEM version of XP on a laptop, it may simply refuse to
install. Or it might install but much things up horribly afterward when it
tries to run hardware that isn't there.