I have 2 copies of XP with license keys, can I use one disk to install on 2 machines?

[Guest]

Sorry if this has been posted before, but I have a question about installing WinXP Pro on 2 machines. I bought my Dell laptop and it included WinXP Pro (pre-SP1). I liked the OS enough to dump Win98 off of my main machine and purchase another copy of WinXP Pro w/ SP1. The question I have is: Can I use the disk that has SP1 on it to install on either machine as long as I use my seperate Product Keys that are tied to each machine? (The Dell key that came with my laptop for the laptop and my MS key that came with the XP Pro disk that I purchased seperately for my desktop PC)

 

[Epona]

Sorry if this has been posted before, but I have a question about
installing WinXP Pro on 2 machines. I bought my Dell laptop and it
included WinXP Pro (pre-SP1). I liked the OS enough to dump Win98
off of my main machine and purchase another copy of WinXP Pro w/ SP1.
The question I have is: Can I use the disk that has SP1 on it to
install on either machine as long as I use my seperate Product Keys
that are tied to each machine? (The Dell key that came with my laptop
for the laptop and my MS key that came with the XP Pro disk that I
purchased seperately for my desktop PC)

No. The Dell disc may only be installed on the Dell system a) because OEM
licences are tied to the system they came with and cannot be separated and
b) because Dell 'BIOS-lock' their installations which means it would
(probably) fail to install on any other system.

 

[Guest]

I was thinking more along the lines of using my disk that I purchased seperately... Use the product key from Dell for the Dell and the other for my PC

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

That won't work either, as the OEM CD Key(s) on works with OEM CD's and the
Retail CD Key(s) only work with Retail CD's.

I was thinking more along the lines of using my disk that I purchased

seperately... Use the product key from Dell for the Dell and the other for
my PC

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

I'm afraid not. Product Keys are bound to the specific type and
language of CD/license (OEM, Volume, retail, full, or Upgrade) with
which they are purchased. For example, a WinXP Home OEM Product Key
won't work for any retail version of WinXP Home, or for any version of
WinXP Pro, and vice versa. An upgrade's Product Key cannot be used
with a full version CD, and vice versa. An OEM Product Key will not
work to install a retail product. An Italian Product Key will not
work with an English CD. Product Keys and CDs cannot be mixed &
matched.

However, an experiment that might be worth pursuing would be to
see if you could create a slip-streamed installation CD from the Dell
OEM CD. These instructions are for Win2K, but they should also work
for WinXP:

HOW TO Integrate Service Pack 1 into a Windows 2000 Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;271791

Making a bootable Windows 2000 CD
http://www.thetechguide.com/win2kbootcd/


Bruce Chambers

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Sorry if this has been posted before, but I have a question about

installing WinXP Pro on 2 machines. I bought my Dell laptop and it
included WinXP Pro (pre-SP1). I liked the OS enough to dump Win98 off
of my main machine and purchase another copy of WinXP Pro w/ SP1. The
question I have is: Can I use the disk that has SP1 on it to install
on either machine as long as I use my seperate Product Keys that are
tied to each machine? (The Dell key that came with my laptop for the
laptop and my MS key that came with the XP Pro disk that I purchased
seperately for my desktop PC)

 

[Guest]

Thank you VERY much Bruce... If I can integrate SP1 into the Dell install disk, that would work for me just as well is installing the SP1 version of XP I bought... That was the basic reason I wanted to find out if I could do that... One less reboot to worry about