I have two computers, computer A and computer B. On Computer A I bought the Windows XP Pro Upgrade, I went from XP Home to XP Pro, I did the online activation thing and it worked fine.

Now here is the problem, on computer B I wanted to do the same thing, it already had XP Home Edition on it, so I wanted to upgrade it to Pro, when I tried activating the windows online it said that I have reached my maximum number of activations for that product key, ok I understand that, I will just go back to Home Edition that is no big deal, I understand that Microsoft only wants one copy of windows installed per CD, I have no problem with that.

But I was thinking, what happens if I had to get a new hard drive or had to format and re-install Windows on Computer A, after I install and try to activate will I get the same message that I cannot activate? Or is it possible that Microsoft has a system, or a way of telling what computer you have installed windows on? So would I be able to install XP Pro on computer A as much as I want or only once?

Thank You

You can only install one "license" or "key" on one machine at a time.

If it's been activated previously, and gives you an error when reinstalling, call Microshafted on the phone. There should be a phone number on the error screen that you get.

Please don't pirate software. That's why we all are paying the price now, with this incredibly irritating "activation" ka--rap

take a look here....

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/WindowsXP/UserTips/Miscellaneous/BackupRestoreXPActivation.html

or here....

http://www.aviransplace.com/index.php/archives/2005/09/18/keep-your-windows-activated-after-reinstall/

in the event that lets say...your hard drive crashes and you don’t have a backup of the activation files. Now you reload xp and it wants to activate...but you try it and it fails...all you have to do is call Microsoft and explain what you did....they will give you an activation code to type in. (As the previous post suggests)

windows/system32/wpa.dbl & wpa.bak - activation file...............thats all i am gonna say .............DONT STEAL SOFTWARE>>>>>>>>