Windows valid license

[ELJAC]

Over the past several years, I have both acquired PC's with Windows XP on
them and I have also purchased CD's of Windows XP for Barebones kits. These
barebones kits were for family members.
Now I know I have installed a full copy of Vista Home Premium on 1 of my
PC's that originally had XP on it , and now that version of Vista has been
upgraded to Vista Ultimate. I know the original Vista Home Premium is not
valid because of the upgrade.
I need to restore XP back on another PC, and I don't know which license it is.
Is there a way that I can determine if an original XP license has been
upgraded or not ????
In other words, can I type in a Windows licens number and have Microsoft
tell me if it is valid or not ?
ELJAC

 

[Charles W Davis]

Download and run Belarc Advisor. It will tell you the numbers...

 

[Daave]

Over the past several years, I have both acquired PC's with Windows
XP on them and I have also purchased CD's of Windows XP for Barebones
kits. These barebones kits were for family members.
Now I know I have installed a full copy of Vista Home Premium on 1 of
my
PC's that originally had XP on it , and now that version of Vista has
been upgraded to Vista Ultimate. I know the original Vista Home
Premium is not valid because of the upgrade.
I need to restore XP back on another PC, and I don't know which
license it is. Is there a way that I can determine if an original XP
license has been upgraded or not ????

Try the General tab of System Properties (right-click My Compter and
select Properties) to obtain your Product ID (PID). The channel ID (CID)
is the second string of characters in the PID. If Vista works the same
way XP does (and I'm not sure it does), if the CID is 011, an upgrade
occurred.

In other words, can I type in a Windows licens number and have
Microsoft
tell me if it is valid or not ?

Without actually attempting to activate it? Not that I am aware of.

 

[LVTravel]

Download and run Belarc Advisor. It will tell you the numbers...

Belarc will only tell you the currently installed OS license key, not one
from an upgraded XP which has been overwritten by Vista.