Installing Win XP Pro

[stulemanski]

My wife's Toshiba Satellite laptop was bought in 2006 with Win XP Pro
preinstalled. (So we own a license to run XP Pro on this machine - I assume
this is an OEM license). Unfortauntely, the laptop recently developed a
software fault and would not boot.

The recovery disks that were supplied with the laptop were unable to recover
this problem, so I tried to reinstall Windows XP Pro onto this laptop from
scratch.

I have a genuine OEM Win XP Pro SP2 disc (from when I built my desktop PC)
and I used the 25-digit Product Key on the COA that is stuck on the underside
of the laptop (i.e. what I assume is the OEM license that relates to the
laptop).

During installation, when I was asked to input the product key I was then
told that the product key was not valid! This product key is 100% genuine and
was running perfectly well on this laptop from the day it was purchased until
now.

Can anyone tell me how to get Win XP Pro installed on this machine again?
Considering the number of illegal copies tha MS tell us are in use out there,
it is particularly frustrating to own a license and not be able to install
the software!

Thanks!

 

[Shenan Stanley]

My wife's Toshiba Satellite laptop was bought in 2006 with Win XP
Pro preinstalled. (So we own a license to run XP Pro on this
machine - I assume this is an OEM license). Unfortauntely, the
laptop recently developed a software fault and would not boot.

The recovery disks that were supplied with the laptop were unable
to recover this problem, so I tried to reinstall Windows XP Pro
onto this laptop from scratch.

I have a genuine OEM Win XP Pro SP2 disc (from when I built my
desktop PC) and I used the 25-digit Product Key on the COA that is
stuck on the underside of the laptop (i.e. what I assume is the OEM
license that relates to the laptop).

During installation, when I was asked to input the product key I
was then told that the product key was not valid! This product key
is 100% genuine and was running perfectly well on this laptop from
the day it was purchased until now.

Can anyone tell me how to get Win XP Pro installed on this machine
again? Considering the number of illegal copies tha MS tell us are
in use out there, it is particularly frustrating to own a license
and not be able to install the software!

Not all OEM Windows XP CDs are created equally - unfortunately. The
manufacturer (OEM) can (and will on occassion) change the CD to suit their
needs. That may be what you are running into.

You have an OEM license, for that you get support from the OEM, not
Microsoft. It's one of those nice things the OEM agrees to so they can safe
a couple of bucks and not pass on the savings to you. ;-)

I'd call Toshiba and ask for an installation CD and/or working recovery set.

 

[smlunatick]

My wife's Toshiba Satellite laptop was bought in 2006 with Win XP Pro
preinstalled. (So we own a license to run XP Pro on this machine - I assume
this is an OEM license). Unfortauntely, the laptop recently developed a
software fault and would not boot.

The recovery disks that were supplied with the laptop were unable to recover
this problem, so I tried to reinstall Windows XP Pro onto this laptop from
scratch.

I have a genuine OEM Win XP Pro SP2 disc (from when I built my desktop PC)
and I used the 25-digit Product Key on the COA that is stuck on the underside
of the laptop (i.e. what I assume is the OEM license that relates to the
laptop).

During installation, when I was asked to input the product key I was then
told that the product key was not valid! This product key is 100% genuineand
was running perfectly well on this laptop from the day it was purchased until
now.

Can anyone tell me how to get Win XP Pro installed on this machine again?
Considering the number of illegal copies tha MS tell us are in use out there,
it is particularly frustrating to own a license and not be able to install
the software!

Thanks!

Toshiba's OEM XP License seems to be "tweaked" to only use the
officially supplied XP "recovery" media version of the install CD.

 

[XP Guy]

Toshiba's OEM XP License seems to be "tweaked" to only use the
officially supplied XP "recovery" media version of the install CD.

First of all, you will get no satisfaction from Macro$haft. According
to their EULA, you are restricted from obtaining even a correct copy of
the XP CD for your laptop by any means. If you no longer have the
original CD that came with your laptop, or (if it never came with one)
the recovery partition that would have a copy of the XP installation
files is no longer functional, then you have no "legit" way (according
to Microsoft) to put XP back onto your laptop other than buying a new
license key.

But don't worry.

Take your XP-pro SP2 cd and the license key it came with and use that
instead.

Don't let it bother your conscience. Meekro$oft is an illegal, criminal
monopoly that has been convicted of countless crimes around the world.
Think of them not like a respectible, decent company, but more like the
Mafia. Just like how you can't steal from the Mafia, reusing an XP
license key is no real crime.

And for any Milkro$oft appologists or sycophants that want to take issue
with what I've just said, then be prepared for several paragraphs of
verbal abuse if you attempt to defend your precious, stinking
piece-of-shit Microsoft and their corrupt and illegal business
practices.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

First of all, you will get no satisfaction from Macro$haft.
According to their EULA, you are restricted from obtaining even a
correct copy of the XP CD for your laptop by any means. If you no
longer have the original CD that came with your laptop, or (if it
never came with one) the recovery partition that would have a copy
of the XP installation files is no longer functional, then you have
no "legit" way (according to Microsoft) to put XP back onto your
laptop other than buying a new license key.

But don't worry.

Take your XP-pro SP2 cd and the license key it came with and use
that instead.

Don't let it bother your conscience. Meekro$oft is an illegal,
criminal monopoly that has been convicted of countless crimes
around the world. Think of them not like a respectible, decent
company, but more like the Mafia. Just like how you can't steal
from the Mafia, reusing an XP license key is no real crime.

And for any Milkro$oft appologists or sycophants that want to take
issue with what I've just said, then be prepared for several
paragraphs of verbal abuse if you attempt to defend your precious,
stinking piece-of-shit Microsoft and their corrupt and illegal
business practices.

Or the op could just get a Windows XP generic CD (the one they have maybe)
and change the SETUPP.INI so that it works with whatever particular type of
product key they need it to...

Seems like the easiest thing to do.

Verbal abuse away - although not sure what I would have said to offend your
sensibilities. Should be funny.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

First of all, you will get no satisfaction from Macro$haft. According
to their EULA, you are restricted from obtaining even a correct copy of
the XP CD for your laptop by any means. If you no longer have the
original CD that came with your laptop, or (if it never came with one)
the recovery partition that would have a copy of the XP installation
files is no longer functional, then you have no "legit" way (according
to Microsoft) to put XP back onto your laptop other than buying a new
license key.

But don't worry.

Take your XP-pro SP2 cd and the license key it came with and use that
instead.

Don't let it bother your conscience. Meekro$oft is an illegal, criminal
monopoly that has been convicted of countless crimes around the world.
Think of them not like a respectible, decent company, but more like the
Mafia. Just like how you can't steal from the Mafia, reusing an XP
license key is no real crime.

And for any Milkro$oft appologists or sycophants that want to take issue
with what I've just said, then be prepared for several paragraphs of
verbal abuse if you attempt to defend your precious, stinking
piece-of-shit Microsoft and their corrupt and illegal business
practices.

Re-using a license key is allowed.. all you need is the appropriate media
for the key..

 

[stulemanski]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

Shenan - your initial suggestion won't work for me becuase unfortunately,
Toshiba tell me that "For your device no recovery medium can be ordered,
because it comes either not from the region of Toshiba Europe, or it is too
old for this service." [Since the laptop was bought at John Lewis in the UK,
I can only assume that they feel 3 years is too old for someone still to be
running the same laptop. If that's what they consider to be beyond the upper
limit of the lifecycle for their product, it will make be seriously consider
alternatives next time a laptop purchase comes around!]

SMLunatic - this is a bit worrying as it implies that unless I can get a
Toshiba recovery disk (which they've already told me is not available) then
my license has just effectively been revoked?

XP guy - thanks for your viewpoint. I'd rather stay legit as far as using
the licenses that I've paid for. I suspect that parts of the EULA may not
stand up in a European court, and since we've actuall paid for the license on
the laptop I think I should be entitled to use it.

Shenan - I have an OEM XP Pro SP2 CD. Can you explain in a little more
detail what I need to do in order to the SETUPP.INI file in order to get it
to work with the Toshiba laptop license key? (I don't know whether this
breaks some of the terms of the EULA, but given that I have paid for a
license, I believe I have a legal right to use it - after all it is the
license you are paying for not the media it comes on!)

Mike Hall - I assuem by "re-using a license key" you mean re-entering the
license key that was originally used on the laptop, and not *ahem* "re-using"
the license key that came with my OEM XP Pro SP2 CD (as this license is
already in use on my desktop). [I guess XP guy wouldn't have a problem with
this - and since I've paid for two licenses, I guess he would be right from a
moral standpoint]. Given Toshiba's inability to help so far, can you suggest
how to get the appropriate media?

Thanks again to all for your help - you can e-mail me direct if you want at:
stuart_lemanski (at) hotmail.com

 

[XP Guy]

I doubt anyone here will be able to walk or talk you through a method of
modifying your XP CD such that it would be recognized as a correct
Toshiba installation media by the product key that came with your
Toshiba.

I doubt that it's as simple as modifying a single .ini file.

The only complication from re-using the product key that came with your
XP-cd is that you will need to avoid downloading the WGA thing from
Micro$haft when ever you perform a windoze update on that system. So
never set that system to perform automatic updates. Always perform
supervised, interactive updates where you can see what is available and
choose to NOT download WGA when offered.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

My wife's Toshiba Satellite laptop was bought in 2006 with Win XP
Pro preinstalled. (So we own a license to run XP Pro on this
machine - I assume this is an OEM license). Unfortauntely, the
laptop recently developed a software fault and would not boot.

The recovery disks that were supplied with the laptop were unable
to recover this problem, so I tried to reinstall Windows XP Pro
onto this laptop from scratch.

I have a genuine OEM Win XP Pro SP2 disc (from when I built my
desktop PC) and I used the 25-digit Product Key on the COA that is
stuck on the underside of the laptop (i.e. what I assume is the OEM
license that relates to the laptop).

During installation, when I was asked to input the product key I
was then told that the product key was not valid! This product key
is 100% genuine and was running perfectly well on this laptop from
the day it was purchased until now.

Can anyone tell me how to get Win XP Pro installed on this machine
again? Considering the number of illegal copies tha MS tell us are
in use out there, it is particularly frustrating to own a license
and not be able to install the software!

Toshiba's OEM XP License seems to be "tweaked" to only use the
officially supplied XP "recovery" media version of the install CD.

First of all, you will get no satisfaction from Macro$haft.
According to their EULA, you are restricted from obtaining even a
correct copy of the XP CD for your laptop by any means. If you no
longer have the original CD that came with your laptop, or (if it
never came with one) the recovery partition that would have a copy
of the XP installation files is no longer functional, then you have
no "legit" way (according to Microsoft) to put XP back onto your
laptop other than buying a new license key.

But don't worry.

Take your XP-pro SP2 cd and the license key it came with and use
that instead.

Don't let it bother your conscience. Meekro$oft is an illegal,
criminal monopoly that has been convicted of countless crimes
around the world. Think of them not like a respectible, decent
company, but more like the Mafia. Just like how you can't steal
from the Mafia, reusing an XP license key is no real crime.

And for any Milkro$oft appologists or sycophants that want to take
issue with what I've just said, then be prepared for several
paragraphs of verbal abuse if you attempt to defend your precious,
stinking piece-of-shit Microsoft and their corrupt and illegal
business practices.

Or the op could just get a Windows XP generic CD (the one they have
maybe) and change the SETUPP.INI so that it works with whatever
particular type of product key they need it to...

Seems like the easiest thing to do.

Verbal abuse away - although not sure what I would have said to
offend your sensibilities. Should be funny.

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

Shenan - your initial suggestion won't work for me becuase
unfortunately, Toshiba tell me that "For your device no recovery
medium can be ordered, because it comes either not from the region
of Toshiba Europe, or it is too old for this service." [Since the
laptop was bought at John Lewis in the UK, I can only assume that
they feel 3 years is too old for someone still to be running the
same laptop. If that's what they consider to be beyond the upper
limit of the lifecycle for their product, it will make be seriously
consider alternatives next time a laptop purchase comes around!]

SMLunatic - this is a bit worrying as it implies that unless I can
get a Toshiba recovery disk (which they've already told me is not
available) then my license has just effectively been revoked?

XP guy - thanks for your viewpoint. I'd rather stay legit as far as
using the licenses that I've paid for. I suspect that parts of the
EULA may not stand up in a European court, and since we've actuall
paid for the license on the laptop I think I should be entitled to
use it.

Shenan - I have an OEM XP Pro SP2 CD. Can you explain in a little
more detail what I need to do in order to the SETUPP.INI file in
order to get it to work with the Toshiba laptop license key? (I
don't know whether this breaks some of the terms of the EULA, but
given that I have paid for a license, I believe I have a legal
right to use it - after all it is the license you are paying for
not the media it comes on!)

Mike Hall - I assuem by "re-using a license key" you mean
re-entering the license key that was originally used on the laptop,
and not *ahem* "re-using" the license key that came with my OEM XP
Pro SP2 CD (as this license is already in use on my desktop). [I
guess XP guy wouldn't have a problem with this - and since I've
paid for two licenses, I guess he would be right from a moral
standpoint]. Given Toshiba's inability to help so far, can you
suggest how to get the appropriate media?

Thanks again to all for your help - you can e-mail me direct if you
want at: stuart_lemanski (at) hotmail.com

I doubt anyone here will be able to walk or talk you through a
method of modifying your XP CD such that it would be recognized as
a correct Toshiba installation media by the product key that came
with your Toshiba.

I doubt that it's as simple as modifying a single .ini file.

The only complication from re-using the product key that came with
your XP-cd is that you will need to avoid downloading the WGA thing
from Micro$haft when ever you perform a windoze update on that
system. So never set that system to perform automatic updates.
Always perform supervised, interactive updates where you can see
what is available and choose to NOT download WGA when offered.

Modifying the OPS CD so it can work? Who knows - maybe so. Depends on
what the actual issue ius when the original poster is trying to use the CD
and a few other points...

First - verification is needed... These points, one by one, must be
verified:

- The product sticker on the Toshiba Satellite laptop (the one with the
problem) - what does it say it is for?
(Windows XP Professional? Windows XP Home? Windows Media Center?)
- The " genuine OEM Win XP Pro SP2" CD you have, are you sure it is Windows
XP Professional with SP2 integrated OEM? (See below for what to look for in
the CD's SETUPP.INI to verify generic OEM.)
- The " genuine OEM Win XP Pro SP2" CD you have, since you said it was "from
when I built my desktop PC", is it a generic CD - unmodified - bought from
someplace virtually alone (not bought with a PC like an IBM, Dell, HP,
etc...)?

If the sticker on the bottom of the Toshiba Satellite laptop is for Windows
XP Professional and that CD is truly generic - it should be no problem to
use that product key *unless* that product key has been deemed leaked
(possible, unlikely.)

But the sticker on the bottom of the Toshiba and the CD needs to match
flavor and type (Home, Professional, Media Center, etc; OEM, Retail, MSDN,
etc.) If - by chance - Windows XP Home is involved - you may have to
concern yourself with SP2b <- a special release where the product keys
changed up a bit. If Windows XP Home is not involved - no big deal.

Modifying (as I said) a Windows XP generic CD so it can use differing
product keys (OEM, Volume, Retail, etc)? As for actually doing what I said,
"change the SETUPP.INI" - just assuming I made no typos (in the quoted part,
I did not) it looks like I could use other advice I give all the time:

Now is a great time to point you to one of the easiest ways to find
information on problems you may be having and solutions others have found:

Search using Google!
http://www.google.com/
(How-to: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html )

One could search for no more than "setupp.ini" and find plenty of ways to
modify the CD.
http://www.google.com/search?q=setupp.ini

Like:
http://www.thetechguide.com/howto/setuppini.html

Which gives you the basics of what you need to change on the CD itself
(before burning a new bootable CD from the results) to accept a given type
of key. You could use this knowledge to confirm the CD you have is an OEM
CD. Locate "SETUPP.INI" on the CD itself, open it with Notepad, find the
"Pid" line and see if it ends with "OEM". Then you will know what you might
have to do next...

If the OP will come back with the requested verifications - we can try to go
from there. Some people would love to help the op instead of pushing their
own opinions. ;-)


In the end - all the OP loses is time in trying.

Worst case scenario - once versions are verified the same - they can install
using the product key that came with the CD they are trying to use, get it
installed and use a Microsoft tool to change the product key to the one on
the sticker on the bottom of the laptop.

The Genuine Advantage Product Key Update Tool is only valid for
users attempting to change their current non-genuine Product Key
to a genuine COA sticker or genuine Product Key - all without a
reinstall!
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=50346&clcid=0x409

That may be - in the end - the fastest solution. Although the workaround
would have to be remembered for any future needs (or better backup
techniques/tools used - like imaging software.)

 

[XP Guy]

Modifying the OPS CD so it can work? Who knows - maybe so.

Search using Google!

One could search for no more than "setupp.ini" and find plenty
of ways to modify the CD.

Like:
http://www.thetechguide.com/howto/setuppini.html

====================
The Pid value is what we're interested in. What's there now looks like
a standard default. There are special numbers
that determine if it's a retail, oem, or volume license edition. First,
we break down that number into two parts. The
first five digits determines how the CD will behave, ie is it a retail
cd that lets you clean install or upgrade, or an
oem cd that only lets you perform a clean install?

The last three digits determines what CD key it will accept. You are
able to mix and match these values. For example you could make a WinXP
cd that acted like a retail cd, yet accepted OEM keys.

Now, for the actual values. Remember the first and last values are
interchangable, but usually you'd keep them as a
pair:

Retail = 51882 335
Volume License = 51883 270
OEM = 82503 OEM

So if you wanted a retail CD that took retail keys, the last line of
your setupp.ini file would read:

Pid=51882335

And if you wanted a retail CD that took OEM keys, you'd use:

Pid=51882OEM
======================

Ok, this is useful information. I had always thought that there were
differences in some of the actual files (key kernel files for example)
between different flavors (OEM, VLK, System Builder) of the same version
of XP.

Here's more examples of Pid numbers. These are taken from the "System
Builder" version of XP-pro (specifically the "2002" version). The
System Builder CD is what small or medium-sized PC builders use when
assembing systems from scratch.


This is from an XP-Pro SP1 CD with files dates March 31, 2003:

[Pid]
ExtraData = 786F687170637175716954806365EF
Pid=55274OEM


This is the same product, except with SP2. These numbers are the same
even for different file or release dates (and even for the last version
which included SP3):

- Aug 4, 2004 (sp2)
- Feb 28, 2006 (sp2)
- April 14, 2008 (sp3)

[Pid]
ExtraData = 786F687170637175716954806365EF
Pid=76487OEM

 

[Shenan Stanley]

My wife's Toshiba Satellite laptop was bought in 2006 with Win XP
Pro preinstalled. (So we own a license to run XP Pro on this
machine - I assume this is an OEM license). Unfortauntely, the
laptop recently developed a software fault and would not boot.

The recovery disks that were supplied with the laptop were unable
to recover this problem, so I tried to reinstall Windows XP Pro
onto this laptop from scratch.

I have a genuine OEM Win XP Pro SP2 disc (from when I built my
desktop PC) and I used the 25-digit Product Key on the COA that is
stuck on the underside of the laptop (i.e. what I assume is the OEM
license that relates to the laptop).

During installation, when I was asked to input the product key I
was then told that the product key was not valid! This product key
is 100% genuine and was running perfectly well on this laptop from
the day it was purchased until now.

Can anyone tell me how to get Win XP Pro installed on this machine
again? Considering the number of illegal copies tha MS tell us are
in use out there, it is particularly frustrating to own a license
and not be able to install the software!

Toshiba's OEM XP License seems to be "tweaked" to only use the
officially supplied XP "recovery" media version of the install CD.

First of all, you will get no satisfaction from Macro$haft.
According to their EULA, you are restricted from obtaining even a
correct copy of the XP CD for your laptop by any means. If you no
longer have the original CD that came with your laptop, or (if it
never came with one) the recovery partition that would have a copy
of the XP installation files is no longer functional, then you have
no "legit" way (according to Microsoft) to put XP back onto your
laptop other than buying a new license key.

But don't worry.

Take your XP-pro SP2 cd and the license key it came with and use
that instead.

Don't let it bother your conscience. Meekro$oft is an illegal,
criminal monopoly that has been convicted of countless crimes
around the world. Think of them not like a respectible, decent
company, but more like the Mafia. Just like how you can't steal
from the Mafia, reusing an XP license key is no real crime.

And for any Milkro$oft appologists or sycophants that want to take
issue with what I've just said, then be prepared for several
paragraphs of verbal abuse if you attempt to defend your precious,
stinking piece-of-shit Microsoft and their corrupt and illegal
business practices.

Or the op could just get a Windows XP generic CD (the one they have
maybe) and change the SETUPP.INI so that it works with whatever
particular type of product key they need it to...

Seems like the easiest thing to do.

Verbal abuse away - although not sure what I would have said to
offend your sensibilities. Should be funny.

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

Shenan - your initial suggestion won't work for me becuase
unfortunately, Toshiba tell me that "For your device no recovery
medium can be ordered, because it comes either not from the region
of Toshiba Europe, or it is too old for this service." [Since the
laptop was bought at John Lewis in the UK, I can only assume that
they feel 3 years is too old for someone still to be running the
same laptop. If that's what they consider to be beyond the upper
limit of the lifecycle for their product, it will make be seriously
consider alternatives next time a laptop purchase comes around!]

SMLunatic - this is a bit worrying as it implies that unless I can
get a Toshiba recovery disk (which they've already told me is not
available) then my license has just effectively been revoked?

XP guy - thanks for your viewpoint. I'd rather stay legit as far as
using the licenses that I've paid for. I suspect that parts of the
EULA may not stand up in a European court, and since we've actuall
paid for the license on the laptop I think I should be entitled to
use it.

Shenan - I have an OEM XP Pro SP2 CD. Can you explain in a little
more detail what I need to do in order to the SETUPP.INI file in
order to get it to work with the Toshiba laptop license key? (I
don't know whether this breaks some of the terms of the EULA, but
given that I have paid for a license, I believe I have a legal
right to use it - after all it is the license you are paying for
not the media it comes on!)

Mike Hall - I assuem by "re-using a license key" you mean
re-entering the license key that was originally used on the laptop,
and not *ahem* "re-using" the license key that came with my OEM XP
Pro SP2 CD (as this license is already in use on my desktop). [I
guess XP guy wouldn't have a problem with this - and since I've
paid for two licenses, I guess he would be right from a moral
standpoint]. Given Toshiba's inability to help so far, can you
suggest how to get the appropriate media?

Thanks again to all for your help - you can e-mail me direct if you
want at: stuart_lemanski (at) hotmail.com

I doubt anyone here will be able to walk or talk you through a
method of modifying your XP CD such that it would be recognized as
a correct Toshiba installation media by the product key that came
with your Toshiba.

I doubt that it's as simple as modifying a single .ini file.

The only complication from re-using the product key that came with
your XP-cd is that you will need to avoid downloading the WGA thing
from Micro$haft when ever you perform a windoze update on that
system. So never set that system to perform automatic updates.
Always perform supervised, interactive updates where you can see
what is available and choose to NOT download WGA when offered.

Modifying the OPS CD so it can work? Who knows - maybe so.
Depends on what the actual issue ius when the original poster is
trying to use the CD and a few other points...

First - verification is needed... These points, one by one, must be
verified:

- The product sticker on the Toshiba Satellite laptop (the one with
the problem) - what does it say it is for?
(Windows XP Professional? Windows XP Home? Windows Media
Center?) - The " genuine OEM Win XP Pro SP2" CD you have, are you
sure it is Windows XP Professional with SP2 integrated OEM? (See
below for what to look for in the CD's SETUPP.INI to verify generic
OEM.) - The " genuine OEM Win XP Pro SP2" CD you have, since you
said it was "from when I built my desktop PC", is it a generic CD -
unmodified - bought from someplace virtually alone (not bought with
a PC like an IBM, Dell, HP, etc...)?

If the sticker on the bottom of the Toshiba Satellite laptop is for
Windows XP Professional and that CD is truly generic - it should be
no problem to use that product key *unless* that product key has
been deemed leaked (possible, unlikely.)

But the sticker on the bottom of the Toshiba and the CD needs to
match flavor and type (Home, Professional, Media Center, etc; OEM,
Retail, MSDN, etc.) If - by chance - Windows XP Home is involved -
you may have to concern yourself with SP2b <- a special release
where the product keys changed up a bit. If Windows XP Home is not
involved - no big deal.

Modifying (as I said) a Windows XP generic CD so it can use
differing product keys (OEM, Volume, Retail, etc)? As for actually
doing what I said, "change the SETUPP.INI" - just assuming I made
no typos (in the quoted part, I did not) it looks like I could use
other advice I give all the time:

Now is a great time to point you to one of the easiest ways to find
information on problems you may be having and solutions others have
found:

Search using Google!
http://www.google.com/
(How-to: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html )

One could search for no more than "setupp.ini" and find plenty of
ways to modify the CD.
http://www.google.com/search?q=setupp.ini

Like:
http://www.thetechguide.com/howto/setuppini.html

Which gives you the basics of what you need to change on the CD
itself (before burning a new bootable CD from the results) to
accept a given type of key. You could use this knowledge to
confirm the CD you have is an OEM CD. Locate "SETUPP.INI" on the
CD itself, open it with Notepad, find the "Pid" line and see if it
ends with "OEM". Then you will know what you might have to do
next...

If the OP will come back with the requested verifications - we can
try to go from there. Some people would love to help the op
instead of pushing their own opinions. ;-)


In the end - all the OP loses is time in trying.

Worst case scenario - once versions are verified the same - they
can install using the product key that came with the CD they are
trying to use, get it installed and use a Microsoft tool to change
the product key to the one on the sticker on the bottom of the
laptop.

The Genuine Advantage Product Key Update Tool is only valid for
users attempting to change their current non-genuine Product Key
to a genuine COA sticker or genuine Product Key - all without a
reinstall!
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=50346&clcid=0x409

That may be - in the end - the fastest solution. Although the
workaround would have to be remembered for any future needs (or
better backup techniques/tools used - like imaging software.)

====================
The Pid value is what we're interested in. What's there now looks
like a standard default. There are special numbers
that determine if it's a retail, oem, or volume license edition.
First, we break down that number into two parts. The
first five digits determines how the CD will behave, ie is it a
retail cd that lets you clean install or upgrade, or an
oem cd that only lets you perform a clean install?

The last three digits determines what CD key it will accept. You
are able to mix and match these values. For example you could make
a WinXP cd that acted like a retail cd, yet accepted OEM keys.

Now, for the actual values. Remember the first and last values are
interchangable, but usually you'd keep them as a
pair:

Retail = 51882 335
Volume License = 51883 270
OEM = 82503 OEM

So if you wanted a retail CD that took retail keys, the last line of
your setupp.ini file would read:

Pid=51882335

And if you wanted a retail CD that took OEM keys, you'd use:

Pid=51882OEM
======================

Ok, this is useful information. I had always thought that there
were differences in some of the actual files (key kernel files for
example) between different flavors (OEM, VLK, System Builder) of
the same version of XP.

Here's more examples of Pid numbers. These are taken from the
"System Builder" version of XP-pro (specifically the "2002"
version). The System Builder CD is what small or medium-sized PC
builders use when assembing systems from scratch.

This is from an XP-Pro SP1 CD with files dates March 31, 2003:

[Pid]
ExtraData = 786F687170637175716954806365EF
Pid=55274OEM

This is the same product, except with SP2. These numbers are the
same even for different file or release dates (and even for the
last version which included SP3):

- Aug 4, 2004 (sp2)
- Feb 28, 2006 (sp2)
- April 14, 2008 (sp3)

[Pid]
ExtraData = 786F687170637175716954806365EF
Pid=76487OEM

Okay. Yes. I did provide that information via links and keywords a while
back. ;-)

 

[stulemanski]

Hi Shenan,

The product sticker on the Laptop does not say what product it is for - it
is a "blue-green with keyboard" type of COA sticker that looks pretty much
exactly like the one on the "how to tell" section of the microsoft website,
but without the Product name or OEM name at the top. However, the laptop was
bought new from a large chain department store in the UK - Win XP Pro was
preinstalled and this COA was already attached to the underside of the
laptop.

The OEM XP Pro SP2 cd is an OEM version. The PID is: 76487OEM

It was bought when I built my PC from scratch (bought with some of the
components). It installed fine on the PC once I'd put all the hardware
together, so as far as I am aware is as unmodified and generic as they come.

So just to see if I've got this right... if I copy the files from my Win XP
Pro SP2 CD onto my desktop, modify the SETUPP.ini file so that the PID is
51883270, and then write these files onto the new CD, then presumably that
should give me a CD which I can use to install windows with the license code
on the bottom of the laptop?

Thanks again for all your help!

- Stuart

 

[Shenan Stanley]

The product sticker on the Laptop does not say what product it is
for - it is a "blue-green with keyboard" type of COA sticker that
looks pretty much exactly like the one on the "how to tell" section
of the microsoft website, but without the Product name or OEM name
at the top. However, the laptop was bought new from a large chain
department store in the UK - Win XP Pro was preinstalled and this
COA was already attached to the underside of the laptop.

The OEM XP Pro SP2 cd is an OEM version. The PID is: 76487OEM

It was bought when I built my PC from scratch (bought with some of
the components). It installed fine on the PC once I'd put all the
hardware together, so as far as I am aware is as unmodified and
generic as they come.

So just to see if I've got this right... if I copy the files from
my Win XP Pro SP2 CD onto my desktop, modify the SETUPP.ini file so
that the PID is 51883270, and then write these files onto the new
CD, then presumably that should give me a CD which I can use to
install windows with the license code on the bottom of the laptop?

Thanks again for all your help!

First - 270 would make it a volume license - it is not a volume license COA
sticker...
(Doesn't exist AFAIK)

As for the XP CD you have, if it has OEM in the PID in setupp.ini - then
that is what it is. OEM. If when you installed it - you had to answer all
sorts of questions, make all sorts of selections (like creating the
partitions, entering the user name, computer name, setting up the network,
time zone, etc...) - then it is likely generic as well.

Which of these:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/windows/quiz.aspx?method=oem_coa&displaylang=en

Matches the type on the bottom of your laptop?

Notice also that all the supposed valid COAs seem to have the name of the
product printed on them. The fact yours does not - that bothers me
somewhat.

In any case - assuming the product key *is* for Windows XP Professional (the
one on the sticker on the bum laptop) and is valid - you should go with
option (2)...

Install Windows XP Professional from the CD you have with the product key
the CD you have came with. After installing it (you may even be able to do
this before activating it - cannot recall) - change the product key using
the utility I pointed to earlier:

The Genuine Advantage Product Key Update Tool is only valid for
users attempting to change their current non-genuine Product Key
to a genuine COA sticker or genuine Product Key - all without a
reinstall!
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=50346&clcid=0x409

Pretty much that will verify if that product key is valid or not.

 

[stulemanski]

Okay, think I've finally got there now!

As Shenan suggested, I installed with the XP Pro CD and the OEM product
license, and then tried the WGA key updater to try and change to the product
key stuck to the underside of the laptop. Unfortunately, this key was still
not accepted! Fortunately, MS customer support were kind enough to let me
know that my product key was an OEM key for Win XP *Home*.

So there was no way I was going to get Win XP Pro to install with the
product key that was on the COA - d'oh!

Anyway, I managed to borrow a Win XP Home CD, so have now removed XP Pro and
installed Win XP Home back on the laptop using the product key on the COA
that is stuck to the bottom of the laptop. Now that I've actually used the
key on the correct product, the installation went completely smoothly
(followed by few hours of downloading and installing the various Toshiba
hardware drivers).

Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to spend their time offering various
suggestions. My wife's laptop is now back up and running.

- Stuart

PS. Hi Shenan - the type that matches the one on the bottom of the laptop is
the "blue-green with keyboard" type - but it doesn't have the product type on
it. (I guess if it had had XP Home written on it, I would have avoided this
particular problem entirely!)