Hard drive problems

i bought a new 160g hd for my compaq and decidedto put the older 80 into an cpu that had a burnt hd for the kids to use. everything is installed on both but i am havin problems with the 80g ha in the other machine. it gives me a screen sayin i need to activate windows. so i called microsoft and they told me that the windows software was only licensed to the original machine that it was in and that i need to buy a retail copy of XP and install it in order for it to work. i dont want to pay 199 for xp for a old computer for the kids. is there anything else i can do?

Hello, sc2665, and welcome to Techspot :wave:

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This should be in the Windows OS forum really but i expect a mod will move it for you.

With regards to your problem, please see the PM that i have sent you.

thanks for the quick reply. thats not gonna help me. it doesnt let me get past the log in screen before goin to the windows activation screen. it wont even acknowledge an internet connection. i have to do it manually by phone.

If i enter the old product key that was on the burnt drive will this let me get into it?

No

This is what licensing is all about.
You will need to follow the instructions given OR ask them for a new key and pay for it electronically.

somebody else is in a similar situation for you, take a look at this thread

i'm not retarded i do know what licensing is all about. but i have three machines in my house. all had the software installed by the manufacturer. 2 had the hard drives burn up. now if i went and bought a brand new hard drive and installed it straight into the ones with a burnt one how would i get windows on it. technically i have already paid for the license for the software on that machine, but there were no discs so its impossible to reload the windows with that key code. I'm not trying to get a boot leg copy or anything like that but theres got to be a way to do this without payin 200 to microsoft. i can go to walmart and get a hole cpu for 250. any help will be greatly appreciated