acitvation / licensing problem OEM vs eMOLP

[Guest]

I had to replace a hard drive that went bad on a Compaq Evo n600c and, under
warranty, was shipped a new drive without an OS. The original had Windows
2000 on it and I wanted to install XP Pro. Now we use open licensing and I
ordered a new license yesterday and have the media for that but a co-worker
said "use this disk - it is a newer version and more stable and you can use
our new key code". Well it turns out it was an OEM disk and uses a different
license key scheme so I had to use his key to load it which is where I should
have quit and re-started with the medie that goes with out open licenses.
Anyway, I finish the OEM install and, of course, can't activate it because
the license has already been used. So within the next thirty days I need to
resolve this. I have the correct media and will have the new license key by
email in a couple days. The vendor tells me I will need to un-install the
OEM XP and re-installthe open license version and add the license key. Is
this true? Shouldn't I be able to keep the install and somehow use the new
license key to activate it?

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Jon;
Since the versions are dissimilar, you can not simply change the key.
However a Repair Installation with the new Product Key and CD should
work:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/repaxp.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Jupiter - that makes sense and sounds pretty painless. I'll give it
a shot.

Jon