XP key automatically entered??

[02befree]

I put a brand new hard drive into a Dell laptop I'm fixing, threw in the old
Dell Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home, made a note of the Product
Key on the bottom label of the laptop and started setup. After some yes and
no's and all that and creating some partitions on a brand new hard drive
(old one died) the installation process started and stepped away to grab
breakfast. I came back and answered the few setup questions for XP to start
running (time zone, etc.) and it started up. I realized I hadn't entered a
product key along the way. I hadn't installed XP for a while on anything so
I thought for a minute and it seems you need to enter a key at the
beginning. I got the Jellybean Keyfinder program and checked and a key had
been used but not the one from the Windows sticker on the bottom of the
laptop. I looked for an Activate button, but there isn't one on the
programs list as usual. How did this happen????

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Dell Windows XP Reinstallation CDs are BIOS-locked to
the Dell computer. It does not require entering a Product
Key since the Reinstallation CD only works with a Dell computer.

The COA is not a software license.
The Certificate of Authenticity is only a visual identifier that helps
assist in determining whether Microsoft software is genuine.

See: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/en/coa.mspx
--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

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:

| I put a brand new hard drive into a Dell laptop I'm fixing, threw in the old
| Dell Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home, made a note of the Product
| Key on the bottom label of the laptop and started setup. After some yes and
| no's and all that and creating some partitions on a brand new hard drive
| (old one died) the installation process started and stepped away to grab
| breakfast. I came back and answered the few setup questions for XP to start
| running (time zone, etc.) and it started up. I realized I hadn't entered a
| product key along the way. I hadn't installed XP for a while on anything so
| I thought for a minute and it seems you need to enter a key at the
| beginning. I got the Jellybean Keyfinder program and checked and a key had
| been used but not the one from the Windows sticker on the bottom of the
| laptop. I looked for an Activate button, but there isn't one on the
| programs list as usual. How did this happen????

 

[02befree]

Thanks. Later I was prompted to Activate. I tried through the Internet,
but it said invalid key (the one that was automatically entered). I changed
the key to the one on the label, as instructed and it wouldn't work either.
I telephoned, and then after going through the sequence with the rep, it
activated fine. Whew!