As a matter of general interest, once Microsoft stop supporting XP, will it be possible to activate it if someone still wants to use it and do a fresh installation?
I don't think they would kill the activation servers. All that would do is piddle a lot of people off and generate a lot of negative press. The update servers will likely also stay online too. No new patches will be added but you should still be able to get the updates already issued. At some point they will likely deep six it but I don't think you'll need to worry about it for a while yet.
Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
CPU
AMD 4400+/4200+
Motherboard
Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
Memory
2 GB/3GB
Graphics Card(s)
GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
Sound Card
nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
Monitor(s) Displays
Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
Screen Resolution
"1842 x 1036"
Hard Drives
WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
WD My Book 1140 USB Device
PSU
Works 550w
Case
MSI "M-Box"
Cooling
Water Cooled
Keyboard
Dell Keyboard
Mouse
Microsoft Intellimouse
Internet Speed
Cable Medium Speed
Browser
Chrome/IE 10
Antivirus
Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
Other Info
Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
XP can be a pain on preinstalled OEM PC's. If you lose your custom branded matching OEM install media you have to use the code on the COA sticker. If you can read it. Even then the code on the sticker will not activate automatically online. You have to call and activate over the phone. The new embedded keys for Windows 8 do away with a lot of that type of hassle.
You can use Windows XP Manager to stick the branding back in, all ya gotta do is download the Images form the net and convert to BMP. I have a 32-in-1 XP install disk, that has a program that reads your OEM info and inserts it all for you. It does not activate it though.
Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
CPU
AMD 4400+/4200+
Motherboard
Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
Memory
2 GB/3GB
Graphics Card(s)
GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
Sound Card
nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
Monitor(s) Displays
Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
Screen Resolution
"1842 x 1036"
Hard Drives
WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
WD My Book 1140 USB Device
PSU
Works 550w
Case
MSI "M-Box"
Cooling
Water Cooled
Keyboard
Dell Keyboard
Mouse
Microsoft Intellimouse
Internet Speed
Cable Medium Speed
Browser
Chrome/IE 10
Antivirus
Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
Other Info
Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
I roll my own $OEM$ folder and add it to my install media to add the OEM info during the install. I have a customized USB thumb drive for each PC I own.