- Do i need new windows if i change motherboard upgrade#
- Do i need new windows if i change motherboard license#
Nobody would reasonably expect you to scour eBay for weeks looking for a motherboard of the same era as your original.
Do i need new windows if i change motherboard upgrade#
You have not chosen to upgrade because you fancied a new motherboard with new features. The difference is here you are forced to upgrade because your motherboard has failed. So then you go through the process of changing the guts of the machine. In fact chances are you would struggle to get *any* motherboard that was compatible with your CPU and memory. However as you rightly point out, if a motherboard dies 4 years on (not wishing it on you!) it is very unlikely that same model will be available. If you replaced it with the same make and model of motherboard there would be no issue as Windows would just carry on working as the hardware is the same. A bit of an extreme comparison I know but you get the idea! but nobody found out and you got away with it. Just because you didn't wrap your car round a tree or kill anyone, and didn't see any police on the road, doesn't mean what you did was legal. You could compare it to drinking four pints and then driving home. It would be your word against theirs, and I'm sure many people play the system a bit and 'bend' the rules.
Do i need new windows if i change motherboard license#
If the computer cannot be repaired an OEM license effectively dies with the machine.īeing realistic, I cannot see how anybody could prove that you changed your motherboard out of choice rather than necessity. If however the motherboard change is because you are performing an upgrade, Microsoft take the view that you are deliberately changing the machine and consider the license non-transferrable to the new hardware.
If you are changing the motherboard because the original one failed, Microsoft accept this is a repair and therefore a legitimate hardware change and your license is still valid (re-activation will be required of course). Specifically relating to a motherboard replacement, there are two different scenarios. The license cannot be transferred to another computer. If it is an OEM copy of Windows XP, which typically would be bundled with a new computer, or sold with specific items of computer hardware, the licensing is less flexible. Of course, you may be prompted to re-activate, and in the case of a motherboard change sometimes you need to re-install Windows XP completely. Certainly it should be fine from a licensing point of view on the same machine no matter what parts are replaced. If you have a Retail copy of Windows XP then I *think* you can move this between computers, so long as it is only installed on any one computer at a time.