Going back to Win XP Pro. Can it still be activated?

[SkyScape]

Just bought a notebook exclusively for tethering my old Canon DSLRs and have had nothing but problems since the drivers/software are no longer supported for new Windows operating systems, so have been trying using virtual XP running on Win 7 Pro, but I'm just going round in circles!

Instead, if I can find an old disk, I want to try installing Win XP Pro, but I'm not sure if it can still be activated?

[kalniel]

Do you still have the CoA?

[SkyScape]

I have an old laptop with the sticker/key on the underside. Is that what you mean? Either way, I rarely throw anything away, so I should have it somewhere.

[kalniel]

If it's a sticker on the old laptop then it's unlikely the license is valid for a different machine - which makes it more likely you'd have to argue the case with MS directly, and hence run into end of life problems.

[SkyScape]

Thanks. Starting to see why some people hate MS so much!

[kalniel]

Thanks. Starting to see why some people hate MS so much!

Not sure this is anything negative on them - you had the choice when buying previously whether you buy a normal priced copy or whether to get a discounted/free copy that's tied to one machine. To get the benefits of the discount/freeness while expecting the perks of the full-priced is a little unfair

Also even if you did have a license, it's quite likely you'd get problems running it on the new laptop hardware. Unfortunately it's one of those situations where if you want to stay legacy (old canon) then you have to keep everything else legacy with it. You should probably ask Canon to fix their software with newer OSen

[SkyScape]

Yeah, I blame Canon just as much!

I'm fairly sure I bought the full price copy, but could be a pain finding the key that came with it. I suppose if I do, then activation is possible?

[DDY]

XP activation is still very much possible.

If you do "find the key" , you may find automatic online activation will fail, in that case, give the activation number a ring, ignore the computer when it asks for your installation ID, wait for a real person and explain that you're just reinstalling XP.

Even having the correct licence, some activations may require telephone activation for one reason or another.

[stevie lee]

before installing XP, make sure the notebook actually has XP compatible drivers first.
then burn them to a cd/dvd if its got that drive.
mainly because I once put XP onto a vista era laptop, it didn't have XP drivers and half the I/o ports, keyboard, usb and neytwork didn't work just the dvd drive.

just a heads up before you start..

[SkyScape]

Thanks for the tips guys. Going to have a rummage