How many computers can windows XP be installed on?

im wondering if i buy JUST the windows XP operating system ONLY if i could install it on as many computers as i want, or only a certain number? does anyone know this? thanks!

How many computers can windows XP be installed on?windows

I believe that the operating system can only be installed on a single computer but other application software from microsoft allows 2 installations on other computers owned by the same person.

Read the "how does microsoft product activation work" paragraph for your answer.

http://www.microsoft.com/norge/piracy/ac...

How many computers can windows XP be installed on?antivirus download

windows xp needs to activated in order to be used fully. a retail version is intended for one computer only. however, you can still install it on as many computers as you want. you can't however, activate them all and microsoft servers keep tabs on how many times a certain serial has been activated and how long are the intervals between the activations of the same serial. if they realized that a certain serial is used more time than an average consumer, they can investigate or put your serial under their blacklist which makes it impossible to be activated again.
from what I've learned Microsoft(the company XP is from just in case you didn't know) usually has a 3 time downloading limit.
IF you are talking about simultaneously then one at a time. IF you are talking about uninstalling/reinstalling on different machines at different times, then I am not to sure. I personally have had this same copy of XP on about five or six machines and more times on different hard drives.
If its an OEM Version then you can only install it on one computer as once youve activated on that machine then it wont activate on any other machine but that one, but if you buy a proper retail version thenyou may be able to install it on more than one but they would find out eventually!. As every product key can only be used on 1 pc
Legally, you can only install it on 1 computer. You may find that the system won't prevent you from installing it on perhaps 2 or 3, but this is actually illegal and you may find that you are prevented from downloading important security updates. If you want an OS for lots of computers and you don't want to pay, look at Linux instead.