G
Guest
Okay, I'm an idiot.
A friend had a problem. Their machine had XP Home, an OEM version, and it
wouldn't boot. I fixed that, but there were other problems, so I decided to
do a repair from the setup disk. The owner had lost the original XP Home
disk. I borrowed one, and didn't even think to check if it was OEM or retail.
It was retail.
I started what I thought was the repair process. I was wrong. It was an
upgrade process. Got to the point of entering the CD Key, and entered the
number on the COA ticket -- got "CD Key is invalid" message, and couldn't go
any further.
Called MS Support. Tried to explain, but at that point I had not yet
realized I had inadvertently started an upgrade, not a repair. They verified
that my key was valid, and gave me a new one. (It didn't work either, of
course.)
I now have another borrowed XP Home OEM disk, but it doesn't find the
previous installation, probably because I never got past the CD Key entering
screen. I am afraid to go ahead with the OEM installation -- afraid I will
lose the owner's applications and data. And I'm afraid to finish the retail
upgrade.
If I finish the retail upgrade, can I go back and "upgrade" to OEM and use
the original OEM Key? Is there any way out of this mess?
A friend had a problem. Their machine had XP Home, an OEM version, and it
wouldn't boot. I fixed that, but there were other problems, so I decided to
do a repair from the setup disk. The owner had lost the original XP Home
disk. I borrowed one, and didn't even think to check if it was OEM or retail.
It was retail.
I started what I thought was the repair process. I was wrong. It was an
upgrade process. Got to the point of entering the CD Key, and entered the
number on the COA ticket -- got "CD Key is invalid" message, and couldn't go
any further.
Called MS Support. Tried to explain, but at that point I had not yet
realized I had inadvertently started an upgrade, not a repair. They verified
that my key was valid, and gave me a new one. (It didn't work either, of
course.)
I now have another borrowed XP Home OEM disk, but it doesn't find the
previous installation, probably because I never got past the CD Key entering
screen. I am afraid to go ahead with the OEM installation -- afraid I will
lose the owner's applications and data. And I'm afraid to finish the retail
upgrade.
If I finish the retail upgrade, can I go back and "upgrade" to OEM and use
the original OEM Key? Is there any way out of this mess?