Replacing Product ID / Activation Key in XP SP2

[Guest]

Greetings:

A friend's Dell laptop that came with Win XP Home (pre sp1) but recently
updated to sp2 crashed - repeated blue screen and reboot. Anyway, when it
became apparent the only solution was a complete format and reinstall - I
decided to use the OS restore disk that just came with my brand new Dell
laptop which is XP Home SP2.

I did not want to use her pre sp1 disk and have to download all the updates,
etc.

Anyway, it installed just fine but put my OEM serial number in. I have her
XP Home key that came with her laptop - and I have tried the instructions
found on the Microsoft site about doing a regedit and replacing the key - but
it does not work.

When I call customer service via the activation wizard - all they could do
was give me the new lengthy activation code - but it is still using my serial
number.

How can I put her serial number (since she is a registered owner of XP Home)
into this install I just did using my OEM disk?

I don't want Microsoft to think her's is an illegal copy.

 

[Nepatsfan]

You might want to take a look at this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810892

You can also try using this utility:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/xppid.zip

The only other approach I can think of is to perform a repair
installation with your CD and this time use her CD key. Since
they are both OEM product keys, I don't think that the Service
Pack level would make a difference. It would be a different story
if you were trying to use a Retail key with an OEM cd.

Good luck

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

Greetings:

A friend's Dell laptop that came with Win XP Home (pre sp1) but recently
updated to sp2 crashed - repeated blue screen and reboot. Anyway, when it
became apparent the only solution was a complete format and reinstall - I
decided to use the OS restore disk that just came with my brand new Dell
laptop which is XP Home SP2.

I did not want to use her pre sp1 disk and have to download all the
updates,
etc.

Anyway, it installed just fine but put my OEM serial number in. I have
her
XP Home key that came with her laptop - and I have tried the instructions
found on the Microsoft site about doing a regedit and replacing the key -
but
it does not work.

When I call customer service via the activation wizard - all they could do
was give me the new lengthy activation code - but it is still using my
serial
number.

How can I put her serial number (since she is a registered owner of XP
Home)
into this install I just did using my OEM disk?

I don't want Microsoft to think her's is an illegal copy.

Redo the restore using HER disk key and then download or get the CD from one
of the numerous sources available and apply SP2.

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups