Moving XP to another PC

I purchased a reconditined PC off ebay, and I also purchased a non-OEM XP Pro CD (with product key) off ebay. I installed XP and activated it. My question is, what if some time in the future I want put my XP Pro on another PC (perhaps the one I have now will "give up the ghost" or become inadequate). Can I do that? How would I do it? Would the procedure be different if it was an OEM copy of XP?

Thanks.

 

OEM copies of XP are tied to the hardware they are first used on.
They are only capable of a clean installation.
The license cannot be transferred to another machine.

XP Retail editions can be used on a new machine by uninstalling from the first machine.
They can be used for clean installations or upgrades.
The license can be used on a new machine or transferred to another user if uninstalled from the original machine.

 

Thanks for the info.

Just out of curiosity, what is it about a computer, for the purposes of an XP installation, that makes it unique? (What if your hard drive dies, and you replace it with a new one. Do you now have a "new computer ", and you're outta luck with respect to an OEM CD?)

Do you have to contact MS (and how would you do that)? How to you prove to MS that you've uninstalled the original installation? What if the hard drive on which it was installed dies (then you can't uninstall it)?

 

Essentially it is whatever Microsoft decides, although there are rules. A hard drive does not make a new computer, for example. If you want to see the activation rules for XP:

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/evaluate/xpactiv.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...net/prodtechnol/winxppro/evaluate/xpactiv.asp

There are no absolutes. (The hard drive issue I have already answered). For an OEM installation, you are almost assured of having to call Microsoft anymore, as the on-line registration option is most cases is no longer accepted by Microsoft for OEM releases. For retail licenses you likely will be able to use an on-line activation, but there are no gaurantees.

Fundamentally you are asking if Microsoft can tell if there is another active workstation using the same license of XP. The answer is yes.