Just a comment on a potential "gotcha" I experienced when waiting 30 days to
activate.

I installed Windows XP Pro for the first time about 2 years ago. I made a
Ghost image after installing WinXP with updates and drivers, but before
activating. I then made periodic images as I installed lots of software.
Didn't activate until everything was installed. Everything worked fine but I
eventually came to the point after an extended period of time where I wanted
to do a "clean" install. Rather than going all the way back to a clean hard
drive and installing Win XP and drivers, etc., I dug up the initial Ghost
image and re-installed it.

I could never get the system to boot. I seem to remember getting an
activation expired type error message and then a basically blank screen. I
was never given the option to re-activate. The computer was useless. Rather
than wasting time trying to figure out the problem, I did a complete
re-install. No problems activating (it had been more than 6 months which I
believe is the magic number to activate a retail version of WinXP a second
time without issue of previous install). Of coure, YMMV, and you might not
experience any problems in this scenario.

Jim Maki
[log in to unmask]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Glazier
>
> Mixed in...        Rick Glazier

> I take the full thirty (or fifteen-YMMV) days before
> activation... Doing it "at the last
> minute" allows you to start over as much as you want until you
> get things "just right"...
> I must have tried my first install of XP-Pro around 5-6 times
> till I liked it...
>
> > I also wonder, since I've already activated XP will there be a
> problem activating it the
> > second time.
>

>
> Rick Glazier
>

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