Reinstalling Win XP Pro

[Jon12345]

A friend has what I believe is a pirate version of Win XP Pro. He owns a
legitimate license but has been worried about installing it on his
Server as he does not know the consequences of reinstalling another
version over the top.

Is it safe to use a legitimate copy and reinstall using a bootup disk?
Or will it kick out all the currently installed software and settings?

Or can he run the setup from Windows itself?

I want to advise him correctly without blowing up his system.

Thanks,

Jon

 

[Harry Ohrn]

If he has a legitimate product key for XP Pro (Not an XP Home key or an OEM
key) then he can use the process below to change the key from the pirated
key to the legitimate key (By legitimate I am assuming that this is a key
that he legally obtained)

Download and run this app http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/keyfinder.exe It
will display his pirated key. Go to Options->Change Windows Key. Enter the
legitimate key. Reboot.

The app uses the process here
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;321636 it just
stream lines it.