WinXP License Key issues

[Kevin S]

I have recently taken over PC help desk & deployment for
a company. I would like to get a better feel for what
licenses I have installed where (they
have 'open', 'upgrade' and 'oem' licenses in varying
quantities based on various upgrade projects, etc.

2 questions, really.

1) Is there a way to view the actual WinXP license key?

and

2) Is there a way to change the WinXP license key (i.e.
future projects may have us doing image-installs - how
can I reset the license key on the target machines)?

Thanks in advance for information that is probably shared
here often.

 

[tropi]

you may apply sysprep to reset license key or product ID.
before you make an image do system preparation before
imaging.
visit this website for more info on sysprep:

http://www.uea.ac.uk/itcs/software/xp/xp-sysprep.html

 

[Kevin S]

I started at the sysprep page this morning, believe it or
not. Both the microsoft sysprep page and the writeup you
list in your post include steps on restoring the image to
a new workstation, but neither lists the license key in
those steps. Before I spend the time going off in that
direction, I was just hoping for some verification that
it does, in fact, work that way.

Thanks for the help!

 

[OKlier]

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321636

 

[Ron Martell]

I have recently taken over PC help desk & deployment for
a company. I would like to get a better feel for what
licenses I have installed where (they
have 'open', 'upgrade' and 'oem' licenses in varying
quantities based on various upgrade projects, etc.

2 questions, really.

1) Is there a way to view the actual WinXP license key?

and

2) Is there a way to change the WinXP license key (i.e.
future projects may have us doing image-installs - how
can I reset the license key on the target machines)?

Thanks in advance for information that is probably shared
here often.

Windows XP Product Key finder:
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/keyfinder.exe
Includes an option to change the existing product key to a valid one
without doing a reinstall.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Kevin S]

Thanks to all! Jellybean and/or Keyfinder completely
rules!

Kevin S

 

[Larry Samuels MS-MVP XP \(Shell/User\)]

If you like those,check out AIDA32
http://aida32.org/
It will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about your PC and allow
you to track the install keys and licenses for all installed software.

--
Larry Samuels MS-MVP (Windows-Shell/User)
Associate Expert
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://home.earthlink.net/~larrysamuels/WS2003FAQ.htm
Expert Zone -