Windows XP activation question

[Eric Kazer]

Will Windows XP need reactivation after a CPU upgrade? Windows XP pro retail. I know that Windows was a pain in the ass with activation before Windows 10. Been so long that I forgot.

[Aimi]

I'm pretty sure XP only wants your product key, I don't think they had anything deactivate based on hardware changes.

[vanished]

Since it's been officially discontinued for years now I wouldn't even expect the activation servers to be up.  Whether such a thing would mean everyone gets a working copy without a key, or no one does, I couldn't say, but if there are any troubles, I'm not sure it would even be unethical or illegal to "force" activation through other means.  I seem to recall there's some sort of clause for "abandon-ware" like that.

[Eric Kazer]

Activation servers are still up believe it or not, The phone thing is still present too. It will also update to the last update. It may be necessary to activate XP. I'm just running older games. Also I just want something to start that I won't update or go online with. Ya it sounds stupid to use XP but GOG offline installers are great for old games. Far Cry, F.E.A.R., Unreal Tournament to name a few. No hacking to get a older game to run the way it should. EAX is disabled in F.E.A.R.. Stuff goes on. If anyone acn get EAX to work for Surround sound, that would be awesome.

 

Anyway just to go from a E8500 to a Q9650 to have some fun, and never worry about updating XP system. Just turn it on and run with it.

 

I think that 6 hardware changes trigger a reactivation. I also know not to run it online as a daily driver. 

 

Some older games require flash player. Can't even download that with Windows 10. Security threat. Why I don't know,but it is. XP downloaded it with Chrome, (Old Version). The game that wouldn't work was a indy kina puzzle game called Dream Chronicles. It requires Flash Player for some weird reason. Only works on XP because of flash player. The crap goes on.

 

Windows 10 is best for everything else. At least they learned with it to tie the activation to the motherboard.

 

Good reason to hate DRM. There are XP only games too. I will probably get away with it, but if I don't, I will use the phone to activate it. Service still works. Just say 1 when it asks how many computers, because there is only one anyway. You can probably lie to it anyway. I'll just try the CPU swap and see what happens when I get it.