Product keys & CD's

[Sirius]

Hello,

I have a weird question, hope you don't mind.
I have some windows xp cd's without product keys, genuine of course, and
then I have some product keys without the win xp software cd's from
computers that have dead harddrives and did not have a cd come with them
because the recovery was on the harddrive itself on a hidden partition,
can't get the software due to warranty expiration.

home with home, oem with oem, pro with pro, etc.

Sooo, I would like to know if it's possible to put the disks and keys
together, should I even try or is it a waste of time.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[David B.]

Sure, take the CD's and put them in a bag, then take the product keys and
put them in the same bag, now they are together.
The OEM COA sticker that contains the product key should state which version
of XP it is for, the retail version keys are inside the big envelope, look
on the outside to see which version it is (green is Home, blue is Pro).
If you just have the keys scribbled on paper your pretty much out of luck.
Also be aware that any OEM licenses you have are NOT transferable to another
PC per the EULA.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hello,

I have a weird question, hope you don't mind.
I have some windows xp cd's without product keys, genuine of course, and
then I have some product keys without the win xp software cd's from
computers that have dead harddrives and did not have a cd come with them
because the recovery was on the harddrive itself on a hidden partition,
can't get the software due to warranty expiration.

home with home, oem with oem, pro with pro, etc.

Sooo, I would like to know if it's possible to put the disks and keys
together, should I even try or is it a waste of time.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

CDs and keys go together in types, but keys are not assigned to specific CDs
otherwise.

For example, a retail version of XP Home has a specific type of key that
won't work with an XP Pro or OEM version, but will work with *any* XP Home
retail CD.

Systems that use a recovery partition will be OEM installs, so if you have
retail CDs, they will not work together. But if they are the correct type
of OEM CDs, they may.

It's not hard to try, and MS thoughtfully moved the key check to fairly
early in the install process, so you don't have to wait until the very end
to find out you used the wrong disk or key.

HTH
-pk

 

[Sirius]

Thank you so much. That sounds encouraging.

CDs and keys go together in types, but keys are not assigned to specific
CDs otherwise.

For example, a retail version of XP Home has a specific type of key that
won't work with an XP Pro or OEM version, but will work with *any* XP Home
retail CD.

Systems that use a recovery partition will be OEM installs, so if you have
retail CDs, they will not work together. But if they are the correct
type of OEM CDs, they may.

It's not hard to try, and MS thoughtfully moved the key check to fairly
early in the install process, so you don't have to wait until the very end
to find out you used the wrong disk or key.

HTH
-pk

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hello,

I have a weird question, hope you don't mind.
I have some windows xp cd's without product keys, genuine of course, and
then I have some product keys without the win xp software cd's from
computers that have dead harddrives and did not have a cd come with them
because the recovery was on the harddrive itself on a hidden partition,
can't get the software due to warranty expiration.

home with home, oem with oem, pro with pro, etc.

Sooo, I would like to know if it's possible to put the disks and keys
together, should I even try or is it a waste of time.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Well for those OEM Products keys that came installations on with
defunct systems, there'd be no point. After all, an OEM license expires
when the first computer on which it's installed expires.



--

Bruce Chambers

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~ Denis Diderot

 

[Lil' Dave]

CDs and keys go together in types, but keys are not assigned to specific
CDs otherwise.

For example, a retail version of XP Home has a specific type of key that
won't work with an XP Pro or OEM version, but will work with *any* XP Home
retail CD.

Systems that use a recovery partition will be OEM installs, so if you have
retail CDs, they will not work together. But if they are the correct
type of OEM CDs, they may.

It's not hard to try, and MS thoughtfully moved the key check to fairly
early in the install process, so you don't have to wait until the very end
to find out you used the wrong disk or key.

HTH
-pk

Something I ran into recently too. XP asks for product key etc.
Afterwards, still early in installation, asks if want to activate at this
time. XP has my driver for the external phone modem. It dialed out and
connected when I opted for the activation. A moment later, said activation
failed. However, after the installation was completed, and I had installed
the hardware drivers for the motherboard, I opted to attempt activation
again. Activation was successful. My guess is MS wanted to bounce my
hardware against a prior installation it had record of. Installation was of
XP with SP3 slipstreamed into the CD, generic OEM.