OEM Number

[Phil Long]

A customer has bought in a PC and hes not sure if the copy
of XP on his machine is a legimate copy. He wasnt given a
disk and there isnt a OEM sticker on his PC anywhere.
Whats the best way of going about checking if it is a
legal copy. He also mentioned that whenever he tries to do
a Windows Update, it boots him of the website, is that a
signal that the copy isnt correct.
Thanks

 

[Kernelpanic]

A customer has bought in a PC and hes not sure if the copy
of XP on his machine is a legimate copy. He wasnt given a
disk and there isnt a OEM sticker on his PC anywhere.
Whats the best way of going about checking if it is a
legal copy. He also mentioned that whenever he tries to do
a Windows Update, it boots him of the website, is that a
signal that the copy isnt correct.
Thanks

Where did he get his PC from? Perhaps he should speak to the manufacturer
of his PC and ask were the media is incase of a reinstall. If a "friend"
built it, well then there's a good chance it's not legit.

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Try the following, then contact MS:

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

and here for WU problems:

http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/troubleshoot/

Will

 

[Taurarian]

I hope this information assists you:-


If Windows XP is still installed on the computer you can view the Product
Key:
Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder v1.41
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml
or
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
Near the bottom "View Product Key XP"
This will enable you to view the Product Key of the Windows installation
which is currently on your computer.

Product keys that have been determined by Microsoft to not be valid are
(where X is any numeric value): XXXXX-640-0000356-23XXX and
XXXXX-640-2001765-23XXX

 

[Donald McDaniel]

I hope this information assists you:-


If Windows XP is still installed on the computer you can view the Product
Key:
Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder v1.41
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml
or
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
Near the bottom "View Product Key XP"
This will enable you to view the Product Key of the Windows installation
which is currently on your computer.

Product keys that have been determined by Microsoft to not be valid are
(where X is any numeric value): XXXXX-640-0000356-23XXX and
XXXXX-640-2001765-23XXX

My friend, you are confusing the Product Key (an alpha-numeric string of
25 characters, in the pattern "XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX", provided
(usually) with the installation media and used for installation of
Windows) with the Product ID (all numbers, in the pattern "nnnnn-XXX-
nnnnnnn-nnnnn", and used when you contact Microsoft Support).
MagicalJellyBean, and other like programs, will display your PRODUCT
KEY, not your PRODUCT ID. You do not need any special software to
display your Product ID. Just open Internet Explorer, and type
"Help|About", and it will be displayed.