Will XP work ok?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Smith
  • Start date Start date
J

John Smith

4 years ago bought a pc unit from a pc builder with Windows XP Home
installed and he provided the Windows CD.

After a few weeks noticed I didn't have the XP Product key. Builder couldn't
(wouldn't!) help....and so I reluctantly bought from him another copy of XP
just in case I needed to reinstall sometime in the future...this time XP
Professional, which did have a Product key.
pc continued ok using Home...
.....About a year later when things went belly up re-installed using the
Pro...and all is still ok.

....so, the question is, would I be able to use my original XP Home CD in a
separate pc I'm considering building?
 
John Smith said:
4 years ago bought a pc unit from a pc builder with Windows XP Home
installed and he provided the Windows CD.

After a few weeks noticed I didn't have the XP Product key. Builder
couldn't (wouldn't!) help....and so I reluctantly bought from him another
copy of XP just in case I needed to reinstall sometime in the
future...this time XP Professional, which did have a Product key.
pc continued ok using Home...
....About a year later when things went belly up re-installed using the
Pro...and all is still ok.

...so, the question is, would I be able to use my original XP Home CD in a
separate pc I'm considering building?
Click to expand...

Not without the product key. You might look around on your old PC for a
rectangular sticker with a product key on it. MS recomends placing the OEM
sticker on the case of the PC. I used to do that, but in the last couple of
years I have been using a single OEM cd to install on all systems (I have an
overstock of XP Pro and use it unless the customer specifies otherwise),
using the product key of the customer's copy and just giving them the
unopened and brand new OEM cd. I leave the product key on the cd sleeve. If
you didn't recieve a product key and your builder will not supply it I would
be very suspicios of this kind of behaviour.

Ed
 
Ed Medlin said:
Not without the product key. You might look around on your old PC for a
rectangular sticker with a product key on it. MS recomends placing the OEM
sticker on the case of the PC. I used to do that, but in the last couple
of years I have been using a single OEM cd to install on all systems (I
have an overstock of XP Pro and use it unless the customer specifies
otherwise), using the product key of the customer's copy and just giving
them the unopened and brand new OEM cd. I leave the product key on the cd
sleeve. If you didn't recieve a product key and your builder will not
supply it I would be very suspicios of this kind of behaviour.
Click to expand...
---------------------
No didn't have the key on the pc or in the pack...supplier said I must have
lost it!
No don't think the supplier was crooked...I think he accepted the key had
been lost
somewhere but he was unwilling to replace.
 
No didn't have the key on the pc or in the pack...supplier said I must have
lost it!
Click to expand...

You couldn't have, HE should have put it on the case.
No don't think the supplier was crooked...I think he accepted the key had
been lost
Click to expand...

He must have been. It was a requirement that the CoA sticker was to be
placed on the case of the computer it was assigned to.
 
Conor said:
You couldn't have, HE should have put it on the case.


He must have been. It was a requirement that the CoA sticker was to be
placed on the case of the computer it was assigned to.
Click to expand...
 
John said:
--------------
Requirement...or recommendation?...he said he put the pack.

Anyway that's water under etc..but seems the bottom line is ...if no Product
Key no way I can use it?
Click to expand...

Contact microsoft, let them know you have an original cdrom and explain
the situation. They may charge you a fee, but if they do it'll be less
than a whole new WinXP. If it's an OEM copy of XP, don't say you want to
put it on a different computer, say you need to reinstall it on the
original.

Best of luck,

Ari

--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
spodosaurus said:
Contact microsoft, let them know you have an original cdrom and explain
the situation. They may charge you a fee, but if they do it'll be less
than a whole new WinXP. If it's an OEM copy of XP, don't say you want to
put it on a different computer, say you need to reinstall it on the
original.

Best of luck,
Click to expand...
 
I'm not certain about XP, but in general the product
key is in the Registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\ProductKey

Also, you could probably use any XP Home product
key. The real issue is whether you can get an activation
code. If it's OEM then Microsoft claims it's actually
"licensed to the PC", which amounts to the motherboard.

The OEM license essentially renders your PC as
a single piece of hardware with embedded operating
system, and MS Product Activation enforces that.
So you'd have to buy another OEM CD for another
machine.
 
mayayana said:
I'm not certain about XP, but in general the product
key is in the Registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\ProductKey

Also, you could probably use any XP Home product
key. The real issue is whether you can get an activation
code. If it's OEM then Microsoft claims it's actually
"licensed to the PC", which amounts to the motherboard.

The OEM license essentially renders your PC as
a single piece of hardware with embedded operating
system, and MS Product Activation enforces that.
So you'd have to buy another OEM CD for another
machine. -----------------------
So you'd have to buy another OEM CD for another
machine.
Click to expand...

Damn!!
 
Contact microsoft, let them know you have an original cdrom and explain
the situation. They may charge you a fee, but if they do it'll be less
than a whole new WinXP. If it's an OEM copy of XP, don't say you want to
put it on a different computer, say you need to reinstall it on the
original.
Click to expand...

That won't work. If the hardware is different, you must activate the OS by
phone. So it won't do any good to claim that you are reinstalling on the
same system. Yeah, you might get it to install OK, but that will only work
for 30 days or less. -Dave
 
Mike said:
That won't work. If the hardware is different, you must activate the OS by
phone. So it won't do any good to claim that you are reinstalling on the
same system. Yeah, you might get it to install OK, but that will only work
for 30 days or less. -Dave
Click to expand...

And then you have to phone for an activation key, at which point you
tell them that you've upgraded due to x or y failure...

--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
Get a new key from MS.

John Smith said:
--------------
Requirement...or recommendation?...he said he put the pack.

Anyway that's water under etc..but seems the bottom line is ...if no Product
Key no way I can use it?
Click to expand...
 
spodosaurus said:
And then you have to phone for an activation key, at which point
you tell them that you've upgraded due to x or y failure...
Click to expand...

Or you use the hack and forget about the activation garbage.
 
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