Litespeed said:
Is this possible to do: "I used my disk and the product key off of your
computer. You can use any ones disk, but you have to use a legit product
key.
Please: Definition of legit product key and how it works.
This is true in specific circumstances, and not outside them.
First, you can use anyone's disk that is *exactly the same type as yours*.
For example, retail, retail upgrade, OEM, and Home or Pro in each of those
versions. And, there are different types within the OEM grouping; an OEM
Dell disk is not the same as an OEM disk you buy with a motherboard or hard
disk.
With that kind of identical disk, you can use the full range of file
operations, such as repair or full installs, that the CD supports. If the
disks are not the same, you won't be able to install, partly because your
key won't be valid, or "legit" and the installer will halt. While the key
is not stored on the CD (except for some OEM versions that use scripted
installs) the installer does check that the key used matches the type of
disk used.
A "legit" product key is the install key that was assigned to a particular
system, that came with a system and/or a CD install package. It will match
the type of disk (as above, retail, upgrade, OEM, Home Pro, and variations)
and will *not* have been used on any other system - though there's an
exception to that for the VLA (volume license agreement) versions. Those
use the same key and the same CD and are intended for larger business and
corporate installations. Sales of these start at 5 units and go way, way
up, and I've never seen them sold in retail stores.
If you aren't in the VLA context, a legit key is specific to your system and
matches the install type of your CD. There should be a sticker on your
machine with the legit key. If for some reason the sticker isn't there,
there are tools to recover a key from a working system. Belarc Advisor and
the Magical JEllybean tools will recover these.
An invalid key either won't match the CD type, and the Windows installer
will reject it and not proceed, or be already in use, and in that case on
activation the key will be detected as duplicate or invalid and activation
will be refused.
But, if you are trying to get to the recovery console, *not* to do an
install, you may find that you can in fact use *any* bootable XP CD to do
this. The recovery console isn't an install and doesn't ask for the key;
it just boots the system, logs onto an account, and lets you perform a few
system tasks.
HTH
-pk
