Advice on XP Reinstall

[Joseph]

I have a 7 year old Dell computer that was donated to our
church a year ago but was just put in storage. I now want
to use it. The company that donated it had upgraded it
from a Win 2000 Pro to an XP Pro system. However, I'd
like to clean it up by doing a clean install.

I have the Win 2000 product key, but don't have information
regarding a Win XP product key as, I believe, it was a
corporate upgrade license.

Would I be able to use the Win 2000 product key with
a Win XP installation? If not, what other options do
I have? The donating company no longer exists so
I can't get historical info.

TIA

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

I have a 7 year old Dell computer that was donated to our
church a year ago but was just put in storage. I now want
to use it. The company that donated it had upgraded it
from a Win 2000 Pro to an XP Pro system. However, I'd
like to clean it up by doing a clean install.

I have the Win 2000 product key, but don't have information
regarding a Win XP product key as, I believe, it was a
corporate upgrade license.

Would I be able to use the Win 2000 product key with
a Win XP installation?
Nope.

If not, what other options do I have?

Install Win2K using your product key or buy WinXP.

 

[Rich Barry]

Joseph, no you will not be able to use the Win2000 Product Key, however
if your Win
XP is still intact and working you can download and install a Product Key
finder such as
Jellybean Magical Key finder.
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

That will give you the proper Product Key and if it's a Corporate License
then it will
work fine doing a New Install. You have the WinXP CD right?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a 7 year old Dell computer that was donated to our
church a year ago but was just put in storage. I now want
to use it. The company that donated it had upgraded it
from a Win 2000 Pro to an XP Pro system. However, I'd
like to clean it up by doing a clean install.

I have the Win 2000 product key, but don't have information
regarding a Win XP product key as, I believe, it was a
corporate upgrade license.

Would I be able to use the Win 2000 product key with
a Win XP installation?

No. Moreover if the copy of XP was part of a volume license to that
company, your church does not have a license to use it anyway.

If not, what other options do
I have? The donating company no longer exists so
I can't get historical info.

Whether the donating company exists would appear to be irrelevant. You
apparently have only a single option. Buy a valid copy of the
operating system of your choice--Windows XP, Windows 2000, or other,

 

[Alias]

I have a 7 year old Dell computer that was donated to our
church a year ago but was just put in storage. I now want
to use it. The company that donated it had upgraded it
from a Win 2000 Pro to an XP Pro system. However, I'd
like to clean it up by doing a clean install.

I have the Win 2000 product key, but don't have information
regarding a Win XP product key as, I believe, it was a
corporate upgrade license.

Would I be able to use the Win 2000 product key with
a Win XP installation? If not, what other options do
I have? The donating company no longer exists so
I can't get historical info.

TIA

You might want to consider Linux Ubuntu. No product key, free and
available RIGHT now from www.ubuntu.com/

 

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?_db_=B4=AF`=B7.._=3E=3C=29=29=29=BA]

(forget about cleaning
it up at this time)

the question is can
you log into windows
xp on that machine?

if you can, then there
is some hope....

--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[HeyBub]

You might want to consider Linux Ubuntu. No product key, free and
available RIGHT now from www.ubuntu.com/

Wrong religion.

 

[Joseph]

Rich,

Well I had high hopes for it. I tested it on my Dell system and it
didn't match my Microsoft sticker. Could that be because it was
preinstalled by Dell? I'll write down what is displayed and try it
out. I did a ghost backup so I can always cleanup if I have to.

BTW, if I do load from scratch and give a bogus key, will the
installation process stop?

Thanks...

 

[Rich Barry]

Joseph, so you used Jellybean and it gave you a Product Code. Then you
said that it
didn't match the Microsoft Sticker. That's good. It shouldnt. Give it
try. Remember, you
get into legal issues when using a corporate version for personal use but
I don't think
MS is going to be knocking on your door.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Rich,

Well I had high hopes for it. I tested it on my Dell system and it
didn't match my Microsoft sticker. Could that be because it was
preinstalled by Dell?

Exactly. If you have a factory-installed OEM license, and haven't
since reinstalled the OS, the revealed Product Key is probably of the
drive image used at the factory and not your specific Product Key;
therefore, it probably cannot be -- and definitely should not be --
used for a re-installation.


--

Bruce Chambers

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[Joseph]

Joseph wrote:
Exactly. If you have a factory-installed OEM license, and haven't
since reinstalled the OS, the revealed Product Key is probably of the
drive image used at the factory and not your specific Product Key;
therefore, it probably cannot be -- and definitely should not be -- used
for a re-installation.

Well, if that is the case, then the program probably works, which
is what I was wondering about. The test was made on my 'legal' new
laptop, but the actual target is another system which is what I
want to preserve the information for.