Win XP licensing question

[stevew]

I purchased an emachine about 4 years ago with WinXP. Due to it being a pile of crap, it broke last summer, and i got a new computer. This christmas I am thinking about putting together a cheap computer for my 6 year old, using some spare parts(hard drive, etc), and was wondering if i could possibly use the Product Key from that copy of XP to install windows on a new machine. My wife has access to a blank copy of the software at work. I'm guessing that I would have to talk to Microsoft?

If that doesnt work, I guess i could go with an OEM copy.

[jeff061]

Legally I don't believe you can. The license that comes with an emachine, or a Dell, or whatever is tied in with that machine and is non-transferable

Whether it will work, I'm not sure. If you get denied trying to activate it you could probably do the voice activation and tell them you upgraded the emachine and they'd probably unlock the key and activate the copy for you. I can't remember if the OEM copies have any more leeway than retail copies when it comes to activation.