Activation Key Question

[Bob Horton]

I apologize in advance if this question has been asked and answered many
times, but I can't seem to Google the magic word sequence to find my answer.
I'll try to describe the situation clearly.

One of our machines at work is/was an old 700 MHZ PIII that I finally
decided to put out to pasture (take apart/put out of its misery ) when
the user threatened me with bodily harm if I didn't do something. This
machine came new with Windows ME but had been upgraded at some point to XP
Pro. I retrieved the product key with one of the web tools, then verified
that we still had the upgrade disk and license (we did, and even have the
old ME disk and license).

Anyway, I built a new machine and attempted to use the retrieved key from
the old retired machine on the new install on the new machine (the install
was from a slipstreamed XP SP2 disk). The install routine kept returning
"invalid key" messages. At first I thought that I had entered the key
incorrectly, then it hit me that I was attempting to use an upgrade key. I
used one of our new XP licenses/keys and all was fine.

My question is this: since the old machine is no longer in service and I
still own the license from the original ME software (as well as the upgrade
XP Pro license), it seems to me that I should be able to use the upgrade
license in the scenario I'm describing. I guess I could have installed ME
and then done an upgrade install, but then I wouldn't have really had a
clean install. Is there another way I could have done this and had the key
work? The drive in the new machine in this case was formatted NTFS, if that
makes any difference.

TIA for any input, as I can certainly use the answer for the next machine I
build.

 

[mdp]

You can perform a clean install with your XP Upgrade CD. If you wish, start
fresh with a new partition or let the XP Upgrade CD create a fresh partition
for you. Configure the BIOS to boot from the XP Upgrade CD (i.e. CDROM
first). When it asks for verification of a previously installed Windows
version, insert the Windows ME disk. It will then ask for the XP Upgrade CD
and allow you to clean install with the XP Upgrade Product Key. You will
need to upgrade to SP2 separately but that's the price of being able to use
the XP Upgrade CD.

 

[Admiral Q]

If the original 700MHz PIII cam with an OEM version of ME, the it can't be
used as an upgrade on the new machine - OEM versions are tied to the first
machine installed, and thus dies and the first machine installed - that's
the EULA cliff note version, but let your conscience guide you in what you
and your company really does .

 

[Bob Horton]

If the original 700MHz PIII cam with an OEM version of ME, the it can't be
used as an upgrade on the new machine - OEM versions are tied to the first
machine installed, and thus dies and the first machine installed - that's
the EULA cliff note version, but let your conscience guide you in what you
and your company really does .

--

Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!
Google is your friend!
http://www.google.com

Thanks for the replies, Admiral and mdp. FWIW, the original ME install was
from a retail, not OEM, disk (we built the machine ages ago and had no
access to volume/OEM discounts), so I think the upgrade path was legit.

Too bad you can't slipstream an upgrade copy of XP, I guess. Thanks again!

 

[mdp]

I thought about the notion of slipstreaming an upgrade CD after I left the
post. It may be possible, I never tried it. If you have time, it might be
worth it to try. One other note, while you may be able to get the
installation going, getting it activated may present another challenge.
Since the original key has been activated using a different configuration,
the data at MS may flag this and MS might reject the key during activation.
Only way to tell is to try I suppose. If this happens, call MS and explain
what you are doing - nothing to lose.

 

[Bob Horton]

I thought about the notion of slipstreaming an upgrade CD after I left the
post. It may be possible, I never tried it. If you have time, it might be
worth it to try. One other note, while you may be able to get the
installation going, getting it activated may present another challenge.
Since the original key has been activated using a different configuration,
the data at MS may flag this and MS might reject the key during activation.
Only way to tell is to try I suppose. If this happens, call MS and explain
what you are doing - nothing to lose.

Good point. I have all the files/folders/directories/etc. saved to burn new
slipstreamed XP CD's. The change from SP1 to SP2 was easy. I think I'll
try it with the upgrade contents just for the heck of it. As to the
activation, since the upgrade key I will be using has to be 2-3 years old
(and hasn't been reactivated in that time), I don't think the activation
should be a problem, but one never knows.