Reinstalling WIn200 says Invalid key, but MS (On Phone) say its va

[Guest]

I needed to re-install Win2000 Professional & have valid CD & Key,

But on re-install setup says "Product Key is invalid".

I phone microsoft support (& gave them the key & product No from the back of
the CD) & they said it was valid, but directed me to their £199 tech support
to fix.

This seems a bit heavy handed to me. Is their someone that can help me? ...
I've paid already once for the product.

I found this article on KB that explains that it can happens:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/256597/en-us
...which includes this text:
"...If this error message persists even though you are using an appropriate
Product Key, you can work around the issue by supplying the part number from
the back of the Windows 2000 CD-ROM itself, not the jewel case, to a
Microsoft Customer Representative who can generate a valid Product Key..."

But I cant find WHO can do the above

PS - Please excuse, this is the 2nd time Ive posted, but I can't find the
original ... so if you gave me the answer, id be grateful if you would again
... Hopefully Illl find it this time ;-)

 

[DL]

That kb article seems to allude to using an upgrade version of win.

Are you using such, or is your a *full* retail edition, the key for which is
on the orange sticker affixed to the cd case
PS I cannot find your earlier post.

 

[philo]

I needed to re-install Win2000 Professional & have valid CD & Key,

But on re-install setup says "Product Key is invalid".

I phone microsoft support (& gave them the key & product No from the back of
the CD) & they said it was valid, but directed me to their £199 tech support
to fix.

This seems a bit heavy handed to me. Is their someone that can help me? ....
I've paid already once for the product.

I found this article on KB that explains that it can happens:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/256597/en-us
..which includes this text:
"...If this error message persists even though you are using an appropriate
Product Key, you can work around the issue by supplying the part number from
the back of the Windows 2000 CD-ROM itself, not the jewel case, to a
Microsoft Customer Representative who can generate a valid Product Key..."

You will get that problem if you try to perform a 2nd install from within an
existing win2k installation...
and the original install was using a different product number ...

You should be ok if you boot off the CD and install that way.


Otherwise google for a utility called Magic Jelly Bean
you can get the product number from the original install and use that one

 

[Guest]

Thanks for you suggestionsm but this discussion DB was refreshing so slowly
(ie I could not see my own post until today) that I finished formatting and
re-sinstalling from scratch.

fyi - I was booting from the cd (which as far as I know had the same key as
the original install). Luckily, it was a dual boot machine, so I entered
via the alternate OS (NT) reformatted, then used the CD and it woked that
time.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Better to use an NNTP reader such as Outlook Express pointed to
news.microsoft.com

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/chats/faq.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/guide/newsgroupfaq.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/guide/nntpnews.mspx
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=171164


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Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

(ie I could not see my own post until today)

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