OEM and retail Software

[Guest]

My friend asked me if a could let him use my Windows XO Home CD so he could
use it in his computer because of all the preinstalled junk in the recovery
CDs. my question is, can he use a reatial Windows XP CD with his OEM key? or
he needs a especial Windows XP OEM CD?

 

[Stephen]

GamerFX wrote:
| My friend asked me if a could let him use my Windows XO Home CD so he
| could use it in his computer because of all the preinstalled junk in the
| recovery CDs. my question is, can he use a reatial Windows XP CD with his
| OEM key? or he needs a especial Windows XP OEM CD?

No, probably not. The "Retail" and "OEM" sets of keys have different
patterns and are generally not interchangeable.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Product Keys must coincide with the appropriate
Windows XP installation CD. An OEM Product
Key will only work with an OEM Windows XP
CD and a retail Product Key will only work with
the appropriate version retail Windows XP CD.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| My friend asked me if a could let him use my Windows XO Home CD so he could
| use it in his computer because of all the preinstalled junk in the recovery
| CDs. my question is, can he use a reatial Windows XP CD with his OEM key? or
| he needs a especial Windows XP OEM CD?

 

[Guest]

So he'll have to use an OEM version?

 

[Donny Broome]

The retail and OEM keys are different.

 

[Annabelle]

He will most probably have to use the same OEM disk that came with his
computer, unfortunately. That is because most branded OEM copies of XP are
configured to work with that brand (maybe even model) of computer and no
other. Nowhere on Earth can he find a plain XP CD that will activate with
his activation code. It would be cheaper to tolerate the extra software than
to spend $100 or more on a valid key for XP.

 

[R. McCarty]

Sometimes - you can burn the original i386 folder (which has WinNT.Exe
WinNT32.Exe in it) and then use the 8-disk Floppy setup to do a clean
or fresh install using the OEM Product Key. Most OEM's put the i386
folder on the system partition. You can also modify the Setup information
file to remove any OEM add-ons you don't want applied. I've had to
recreate a few systems without a CD-ROM and it's possible to integrate
SP2 into the i386 before burning. Just a possible option - With all the
vendors and various setups, there isn't a static solution for the problem.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

My friend asked me if a could let him use my Windows XO Home CD so he could
use it in his computer because of all the preinstalled junk in the recovery
CDs. my question is, can he use a reatial Windows XP CD with his OEM key?

No, it won't work. Product Keys are bound to the specific type and
language of CD and/or license (OEM, Volume, retail, full, or Upgrade)
with which they are purchased. For example, a WinXP Home OEM Product
Key won't work for any retail version of WinXP Home, or for any version
of WinXP Pro, and vice versa. An upgrade's Product Key cannot be used
with a full version CD, and vice versa. An OEM Product Key will not
work to install a retail product. An Italian Product Key will not work
with an English CD. Bottom line: Product Keys and CD types cannot be
mixed & matched.

or
he needs a especial Windows XP OEM CD?

He should be able to (I haven't tested it, but others have reported
success) use his Product Key with a generic, unbranded OEM installation CD.


--

Bruce Chambers

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[kurttrail]

He will most probably have to use the same OEM disk that came with his
computer, unfortunately. That is because most branded OEM copies of
XP are configured to work with that brand (maybe even model) of
computer and no other. Nowhere on Earth can he find a plain XP CD
that will activate with his activation code. It would be cheaper to
tolerate the extra software than to spend $100 or more on a valid
key for XP.

BS! Any OEM Key will work with generic OEM media. At most he'll have
to activate by phone. I've done it plenty of times.

Who are you, Carey's sister?

--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."