Difficulty upgrading to SP2

[Craig Williams]

My son's Dell Optiplex GX300 was purchased new in 2000, when he was a
student at the U S Naval Academy. He graduated last June, and now the PC is
at our home. I'm trying to do all the latest upgrades in preparation for
selling it or giving it away.

The PC had Windows ME or 2000 when first bought. The USNA IT department
deployed upgrades while he was there, including the upgrade to Windows XP.
Neither SP1 or SP2 has been installed on it.

When I try to run the SP2 CD, it says that there is a problem with the
current installation, and to go to "howtotell.com." I tried to upgrade to
SP1 from the MS Windows Update site, but was told that the product key is
incorrect.

Is there a way that I can do upgrades to the OS on this machine, or am I
stuck with what it has? BTW, I'm not interested in purchasing another OS
version.

TIA,
Craig

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

See if this applies:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/invalpk.htm

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Please see the following:


You receive a "The product key used to install Windows is invalid" error message
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=326904

Run the Windows XP Product Key Validation Assistant:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/ww/windows/default.mspx

Reporting Software Piracy
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/Reporting.mspx

If you are getting the following error message when attempti­ng to update:

"The product key used to install Windows is invalid"

You'll have to purchase a new "Full Version" of Windows XP P­rofessional
and perform a "Repair Install" using the new Windows XP Pro ­CD and Product Key
that comes with it. (You cannot simply change the Product K­ey)

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.mspx

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:

| My son's Dell Optiplex GX300 was purchased new in 2000, when he was a
| student at the U S Naval Academy. He graduated last June, and now the PC is
| at our home. I'm trying to do all the latest upgrades in preparation for
| selling it or giving it away.
|
| The PC had Windows ME or 2000 when first bought. The USNA IT department
| deployed upgrades while he was there, including the upgrade to Windows XP.
| Neither SP1 or SP2 has been installed on it.
|
| When I try to run the SP2 CD, it says that there is a problem with the
| current installation, and to go to "howtotell.com." I tried to upgrade to
| SP1 from the MS Windows Update site, but was told that the product key is
| incorrect.
|
| Is there a way that I can do upgrades to the OS on this machine, or am I
| stuck with what it has? BTW, I'm not interested in purchasing another OS
| version.
|
| TIA,
| Craig

 

[D.Currie]

My son's Dell Optiplex GX300 was purchased new in 2000, when he was a
student at the U S Naval Academy. He graduated last June, and now the PC
is
at our home. I'm trying to do all the latest upgrades in preparation for
selling it or giving it away.

The PC had Windows ME or 2000 when first bought. The USNA IT department
deployed upgrades while he was there, including the upgrade to Windows XP.
Neither SP1 or SP2 has been installed on it.

When I try to run the SP2 CD, it says that there is a problem with the
current installation, and to go to "howtotell.com." I tried to upgrade to
SP1 from the MS Windows Update site, but was told that the product key is
incorrect.

Is there a way that I can do upgrades to the OS on this machine, or am I
stuck with what it has? BTW, I'm not interested in purchasing another OS
version.

TIA,
Craig

If you're going to sell it or give it away, you're best off backing up to
the original OS that you have the license and recovery media for. Format the
drive and install it clean so there's nothing left of the the Navy's or your
son's.

Otherwise you may have someone coming after you for selling them a PC with
unlicensed software, because they'll eventually want to update it or they'll
want to format and reinstall the OS and they won't be able to. I can
understand that you don't want to buy new software for it, but you don't
know what the new owner will want, anyway. They might decide to wipe the
drive and install Linux or something. If you don't have the software, you
could simply wipe the hard drive and sell it that way, and you needn't worry
about OS licensing.