Windows XP Inside & Out

Product Activation: Not So Bad After All

Windows Product Activation, which is designed to enforce Microsoft's license terms by preventing users from running one copy of Windows XP on several PCs, has alarmed people who fear it will hamper legitimate hardware upgrades. But Microsoft appears to have listened to the complaints (see " Readers to Microsoft: Copy Controls? No Way!" from August 2001.)

Within 30 days of installing the OS, you must activate it with Microsoft, a process every participating PC World editor found painless. Windows XP sends a numeric identifier generated from ten of your system's components to Microsoft's server, which in turn sends you a certificate activating your copy of Windows XP on that particular machine.

Calling Microsoft

If you try to install Windows XP on a different computer, producing a new hardware identifier, a dialog box will pop up asking you to call a Microsoft operator (Microsoft says operators will be available around the clock) and explain the discrepancy. If satisfied with your response (and Microsoft says it will always give users the benefit of the doubt), the operator will issue you a new certificate, which you'll type into a dialog box to complete the boot process.

If you have a network card and leave it alone, you should be able to remove or replace up to six other signature elements (including the display and IDE adapters, the CPU, the amount of installed RAM, the hard drive, and the CD-ROM/RW or DVD drive) without triggering activation, Microsoft says. Otherwise, you can still change up to four other elements before having to contact Microsoft. Adding components never triggers a challenge.

More importantly, WPA resets after 120 days, considering whatever you have to be the activated configuration. That means that after four months you can install XP on a second PC, activate it, and keep the first one operating without running afoul of WPA.

Doing so would violate the software license, but Microsoft is probably wise to cut us all some slack here.