XP KEY Will not work

[Daave]

T wrote:

So for all intents and pruposes, your laptop *didn't* come with XP!
You'll need to obtain a copy and license. Or you could try one of the
many Linux distos.

Scratch that!!! (I'm not quite sure what I was thinking...)

Presumably you still have the license because there's a sticker with the
key on it!

You need to obtain a *generic* OEM disc and do a clean install (using
the key on your laptop sticker).

You've mentioned playing around with three or four discs, but none of
them is a generic OEM. Get one!

 

[Guest]

The other cd is an OEM Home cd a friend of mine ordered with a hard drive not
long after xp came out, it is a full install. I tried it earlier this
morning. This whole thing has been me trying to find out which cd this OEM
key on the laptop works with. All of these different cd's have just been me
trying to get one of them to accept the key. I am not going to buy another
license as I have one on the bottom of the laptop. In the past I have used
the OEM cd I have and the factory codes on My compaq my Sister in-laws dell
and an hp to reload them. I have also loaded others using a generic OEM cd.
This is the only one I have ever ecountered that won't work with any of them.
I am beginning to suspect that the code may be misprinted and has never
worked. The label is absolutely perfect, even has the Holograms. The Retail
and the alleged VLM as well as the older CD are irrelevant as I know the OEM
SP2 cd is generic.

I really appreciate the replies, I am out of cd's to try

I have formatted the drive and done a new install everytime I try it
with each cd. The Dell restore thing was an experiment, nothing
more. The retail CD is a full install not an upgrade and SP2,

[snip]

The full retail CD came with a key. Where is it? That's the key that you
need.

I also borrowed a friends CD which is an early version pre sp2 and it
does not work either.

A fourth disc!

What kind of CD is it? OEM or retail? Full or upgrade? The only way an
OEM disc should work with your key from the sticker on the laptop is if
it's a *generic* OEM disc. If it's a royalty OEM disc (like Dell, HP,
etc.), then you're out of luck. If it's full, then again you will need
the key associated with it (not the OEM one on your laptop). And still,
according to the license it cannot be installed on more than one machine
at the same time.

The Laptop came with XP, I don't have the original cd. The HDD was
wiped long before I received it.

So for all intents and pruposes, your laptop *didn't* come with XP!
You'll need to obtain a copy and license. Or you could try one of the
many Linux distos.

The VLM is a full install, I only
take the install as far as it asking for the KEY.

Again, what is this "VLM" disc associated with? Is it OEM or retail?
Full or upgrade?

This is a R41 Thinkpad, I have reloaded others using an OEM cd and the
factory code.

What do you mean by "others?" And when you did this, what disc or discs
did you use?

 

[Guest]

HA, looks like we were posting at the same time.

The other cd is an OEM Home cd a friend of mine ordered with a hard drive not
long after xp came out, it is a full install. I tried it earlier this
morning. This whole thing has been me trying to find out which cd this OEM
key on the laptop works with. All of these different cd's have just been me
trying to get one of them to accept the key. I am not going to buy another
license as I have one on the bottom of the laptop. In the past I have used
the OEM cd I have and the factory codes on My compaq my Sister in-laws dell
and an hp to reload them. I have also loaded others using a generic OEM cd.
This is the only one I have ever ecountered that won't work with any of them.
I am beginning to suspect that the code may be misprinted and has never
worked. The label is absolutely perfect, even has the Holograms. The Retail
and the alleged VLM as well as the older CD are irrelevant as I know the OEM
SP2 cd is generic.

I really appreciate the replies, I am out of cd's to try

I have formatted the drive and done a new install everytime I try it
with each cd. The Dell restore thing was an experiment, nothing
more. The retail CD is a full install not an upgrade and SP2,

[snip]

The full retail CD came with a key. Where is it? That's the key that you
need.

I also borrowed a friends CD which is an early version pre sp2 and it
does not work either.

A fourth disc!

What kind of CD is it? OEM or retail? Full or upgrade? The only way an
OEM disc should work with your key from the sticker on the laptop is if
it's a *generic* OEM disc. If it's a royalty OEM disc (like Dell, HP,
etc.), then you're out of luck. If it's full, then again you will need
the key associated with it (not the OEM one on your laptop). And still,
according to the license it cannot be installed on more than one machine
at the same time.

The Laptop came with XP, I don't have the original cd. The HDD was
wiped long before I received it.

So for all intents and pruposes, your laptop *didn't* come with XP!
You'll need to obtain a copy and license. Or you could try one of the
many Linux distos.

The VLM is a full install, I only
take the install as far as it asking for the KEY.

Again, what is this "VLM" disc associated with? Is it OEM or retail?
Full or upgrade?

This is a R41 Thinkpad, I have reloaded others using an OEM cd and the
factory code.

What do you mean by "others?" And when you did this, what disc or discs
did you use?

:

T wrote:
Not too sure about those, What I was referring to is a cd I dug out
of one of the Microsoft Binders we received a few years ago. VLM is
how the accompanying paperwork referred to it.

You mentioned you had three discs altogether: "Home OEM, Home Retail
and Home VLM." I assume VLM stands for Volume License Media and that
it uses
a volume license key (which often doesn't need to be manually
activated, by the way), but I still need more information.

You also mentioned that you used "a Dell recovery cd and a Key
changer."
I wonder if that last step is what permanently messed things up.

That OEM disc is useless (as you now know), so don't use it again
(unless you want to reinstall XP Home on whichever Dell PC this
particular OEM license is tied to).

What kind of retail disc do you have? Is it Full or Upgrade? What
Service Pack is it and what Service Pack do you have on your IBM
laptop? And what model is this laptop? Did it come with XP
installed, or was it upgrade along the way?

Describe this "Home VLM" disc you mentioned. Is it OEM or retail?
Full
or upgrade? Is this what came with your IBM laptop? If not, did you
get
an installation (or other) disc along with your laptop, or might you
have the installation files on a hidden partition.
What are you trying to do: a clean install or a repair install?

If your retail disc is Full, your easiest solution might be to format
the hard drive and perform a clean install. However, you will need
the
key that came with that particular disc!

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

I really appreciate the replies, I am out of cd's to try

It's time to buy one.

 

[Daave]

The other cd is an OEM Home cd a friend of mine ordered with a hard
drive not long after xp came out, it is a full install. I tried it
earlier this morning. This whole thing has been me trying to find out
which cd this OEM key on the laptop works with. All of these
different cd's have just been me trying to get one of them to accept
the key. I am not going to buy another license as I have one on the
bottom of the laptop. In the past I have used the OEM cd I have and
the factory codes on My compaq my Sister in-laws dell and an hp to
reload them. I have also loaded others using a generic OEM cd. This
is the only one I have ever ecountered that won't work with any of
them. I am beginning to suspect that the code may be misprinted and
has never worked. The label is absolutely perfect, even has the
Holograms. The Retail and the alleged VLM as well as the older CD are
irrelevant as I know the OEM SP2 cd is generic.

I really appreciate the replies, I am out of cd's to try

The OS installation CD needs to match the type represented by the PID.
Look at the PID on your laptop sticker. Which type of XP is it?


(From http://wiki.djlizard.net/Product_IDs

Microsoft uses various Product IDs to identify variants of the Windows
platform. A Windows product ID (currently, as of XP/2003/Vista) has the
following format: xxxxx-yyy-zzzzzzz-zzzzz


'xxxxx' -- the Microsoft Product Code
The xxxxx section is the Microsoft Product Code, which in this case
describes the platform, build, and version of Windows. Other product IDs
with the same format, such as those found in Microsoft Office (and many
other Microsoft products), serve the same purpose.

Microsoft Product Code list

55274 : XP Pro generic OEM
55276 : XP Pro (upgrade)
55276 : XP Home (?) ?
55277 : XP Home generic OEM
55285 : XP Pro ?
55661 : XP Pro (retail)
76475 : XP Home (upgrade) (?)
76477 : XP Home Royalty OEM ?
76481 : XP Pro Dell OEM
76487 : XP Media Center Edition 2005
76487 : XP Pro Royalty OEM ?
76487 : XP Pro volume license (with '640' channel ID)
76500 : XP MCE 2005 (which is XP Pro with no domain capability)
76588 : XP Pro x64 OEM
55372 : XP Home - German (OEM)
55375 : XP Pro - German (VLK)
55677 : XP Home - Dutch
55679 : XP Pro - Dutch
76392 : XP Pro - Danish
76396 : XP Pro (also Home?) - Dutch
76412 : XP Home - French (OEM)
76413 : XP Pro - French (OEM)
76440 : XP Pro - Norwegian (retail)
76460 : XP Home - Spanish (Royalty OEM) ?
76470 : XP Home - Traditional Chinese (Royalty OEM) ?

Notes:

? : DjLizard has an English version of XP Home upgrade that uses 55285,
and XP Professional Upgrade that uses 55276.
? : Royalty OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) means manufacturers
that are special to Microsoft's endearing heart. They get their own
private key and generated product keys that typically don't require
activation (or are different than the product key on the COA sticker
affixed to the computer). Certain big OEMs [Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq,
and more] are Royalty OEMs, and the little guys (your local mom + pop
store) are obviously not. The mom + pop stores get 55277 for Home and
55285 for Pro. Typically, generic OEM discs (such as 55277 and 55274)
will work on these systems, but activation will often fail -- you will
have to call Microsoft's activation hotline and speak to a
representative in order to activate Windows. This usually only takes a
few minutes.

'yyy' -- the Channel ID
This section of the PID describes the channel (OEM, Volume License,
Retail, bundle/Not For Resale) a given XP CD/system has come from.

Channel ID list

000 : Other (includes some retail, upgrade and evaluation versions)
007 : FIXME : Retail
009 : Not for resale - bundle
011 : Upgrade (XP Home?)
OEM : OEM (This does not specify royalty or normal OEM)
270 : Volume License
296 : MSDN
308/347 : Microsoft Action Pack subscription
335 : Retail
640 through 652 : Volume License (usually generated via 270 CID in
setupp.ini)
699 : Volume Windows XP Tablet Edition
071 : FIXME : Unknown.

NOTE: According to DjLizard.net visitor Catalyst, newer discs now check
to see if the CD's volume label matches the type of CD you have. So if
you make a CD with the wrong volume label, then it still won't work. I
haven't been able to confirm this because most of my CDs have a custom
label and all of them work fine thus far. Visit TACKtech to see a list
of volume labels.

 

[Guest]

I tried yet another "OEM" CD and this one worked. The product id indicates
that it is an XP Home Generic OEM.

Thanks for all of the replies and especially for the Produt ID list (Daave).

T

The other cd is an OEM Home cd a friend of mine ordered with a hard
drive not long after xp came out, it is a full install. I tried it
earlier this morning. This whole thing has been me trying to find out
which cd this OEM key on the laptop works with. All of these
different cd's have just been me trying to get one of them to accept
the key. I am not going to buy another license as I have one on the
bottom of the laptop. In the past I have used the OEM cd I have and
the factory codes on My compaq my Sister in-laws dell and an hp to
reload them. I have also loaded others using a generic OEM cd. This
is the only one I have ever ecountered that won't work with any of
them. I am beginning to suspect that the code may be misprinted and
has never worked. The label is absolutely perfect, even has the
Holograms. The Retail and the alleged VLM as well as the older CD are
irrelevant as I know the OEM SP2 cd is generic.

I really appreciate the replies, I am out of cd's to try

The OS installation CD needs to match the type represented by the PID.
Look at the PID on your laptop sticker. Which type of XP is it?


(From http://wiki.djlizard.net/Product_IDs

Microsoft uses various Product IDs to identify variants of the Windows
platform. A Windows product ID (currently, as of XP/2003/Vista) has the
following format: xxxxx-yyy-zzzzzzz-zzzzz


'xxxxx' -- the Microsoft Product Code
The xxxxx section is the Microsoft Product Code, which in this case
describes the platform, build, and version of Windows. Other product IDs
with the same format, such as those found in Microsoft Office (and many
other Microsoft products), serve the same purpose.

Microsoft Product Code list

55274 : XP Pro generic OEM
55276 : XP Pro (upgrade)
55276 : XP Home (?) ?
55277 : XP Home generic OEM
55285 : XP Pro ?
55661 : XP Pro (retail)
76475 : XP Home (upgrade) (?)
76477 : XP Home Royalty OEM ?
76481 : XP Pro Dell OEM
76487 : XP Media Center Edition 2005
76487 : XP Pro Royalty OEM ?
76487 : XP Pro volume license (with '640' channel ID)
76500 : XP MCE 2005 (which is XP Pro with no domain capability)
76588 : XP Pro x64 OEM
55372 : XP Home - German (OEM)
55375 : XP Pro - German (VLK)
55677 : XP Home - Dutch
55679 : XP Pro - Dutch
76392 : XP Pro - Danish
76396 : XP Pro (also Home?) - Dutch
76412 : XP Home - French (OEM)
76413 : XP Pro - French (OEM)
76440 : XP Pro - Norwegian (retail)
76460 : XP Home - Spanish (Royalty OEM) ?
76470 : XP Home - Traditional Chinese (Royalty OEM) ?

Notes:

? : DjLizard has an English version of XP Home upgrade that uses 55285,
and XP Professional Upgrade that uses 55276.
? : Royalty OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) means manufacturers
that are special to Microsoft's endearing heart. They get their own
private key and generated product keys that typically don't require
activation (or are different than the product key on the COA sticker
affixed to the computer). Certain big OEMs [Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq,
and more] are Royalty OEMs, and the little guys (your local mom + pop
store) are obviously not. The mom + pop stores get 55277 for Home and
55285 for Pro. Typically, generic OEM discs (such as 55277 and 55274)
will work on these systems, but activation will often fail -- you will
have to call Microsoft's activation hotline and speak to a
representative in order to activate Windows. This usually only takes a
few minutes.

'yyy' -- the Channel ID
This section of the PID describes the channel (OEM, Volume License,
Retail, bundle/Not For Resale) a given XP CD/system has come from.

Channel ID list

000 : Other (includes some retail, upgrade and evaluation versions)
007 : FIXME : Retail
009 : Not for resale - bundle
011 : Upgrade (XP Home?)
OEM : OEM (This does not specify royalty or normal OEM)
270 : Volume License
296 : MSDN
308/347 : Microsoft Action Pack subscription
335 : Retail
640 through 652 : Volume License (usually generated via 270 CID in
setupp.ini)
699 : Volume Windows XP Tablet Edition
071 : FIXME : Unknown.

NOTE: According to DjLizard.net visitor Catalyst, newer discs now check
to see if the CD's volume label matches the type of CD you have. So if
you make a CD with the wrong volume label, then it still won't work. I
haven't been able to confirm this because most of my CDs have a custom
label and all of them work fine thus far. Visit TACKtech to see a list
of volume labels.

 

[Daave]

I tried yet another "OEM" CD and this one worked. The product id
indicates
that it is an XP Home Generic OEM.

Hooray! I knew you'd get there sooner or later.

(And in your face, Grumpy)

Thanks for all of the replies and especially for the Produt ID list
(Daave).

YW

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I wasn't buying a license.

Thanks again

T

 

[Kat]

I have an issue with a windows XP OEM disc.... I'm trying to upgrade Windows
98 to windows XP Pro and the system will not accept the key.... what's up
with that?

 

[Jerry]

Because an OEM disc can only be installed on a 'clean' system; not as an
upgrade to anything.

 

[Bob I]

OEM means Original Equipment Manufacturer. There will be nothing to
upgrade. If you wish to "upgrade" an Win98 installation, you will need
either an Upgrade version of XP or a Full version of XP.

 

[Paul Bradley]

You think you might be able to help me? I have a tablet pc with a product
key, but I have a retail version of the software. This is a gateway pc. I
have no restore disks and the original hard drive was damaged and had to be
replaced. Gateway does not offer restore cd's for this and only have the
retail one (like I have) to send to me (that does not even have the sata
drivers to where I can even install windows on the computer). I know how to
change the PID # inside the setupp.ini file, but not sure what it needs to
be. Between trying to get the installation to recognize the hard drive and
trying to figure out what the pid value needs to be to match this Product
Key, I have went through about 30 cd's. (starting to get old!!) The only
number I found on the sticker with the same format (xxxxx-yyy-zzzzzzz-zzzzz)
as you described is 00045-173-167-253 and it does not match it exactly as you
can see. The only other number bseide the product key is sideways X11-45380.
Think anyone can help me with this?

The other cd is an OEM Home cd a friend of mine ordered with a hard
drive not long after xp came out, it is a full install. I tried it
earlier this morning. This whole thing has been me trying to find out
which cd this OEM key on the laptop works with. All of these
different cd's have just been me trying to get one of them to accept
the key. I am not going to buy another license as I have one on the
bottom of the laptop. In the past I have used the OEM cd I have and
the factory codes on My compaq my Sister in-laws dell and an hp to
reload them. I have also loaded others using a generic OEM cd. This
is the only one I have ever ecountered that won't work with any of
them. I am beginning to suspect that the code may be misprinted and
has never worked. The label is absolutely perfect, even has the
Holograms. The Retail and the alleged VLM as well as the older CD are
irrelevant as I know the OEM SP2 cd is generic.

I really appreciate the replies, I am out of cd's to try

The OS installation CD needs to match the type represented by the PID.
Look at the PID on your laptop sticker. Which type of XP is it?


(From http://wiki.djlizard.net/Product_IDs

Microsoft uses various Product IDs to identify variants of the Windows
platform. A Windows product ID (currently, as of XP/2003/Vista) has the
following format: xxxxx-yyy-zzzzzzz-zzzzz


'xxxxx' -- the Microsoft Product Code
The xxxxx section is the Microsoft Product Code, which in this case
describes the platform, build, and version of Windows. Other product IDs
with the same format, such as those found in Microsoft Office (and many
other Microsoft products), serve the same purpose.

Microsoft Product Code list

55274 : XP Pro generic OEM
55276 : XP Pro (upgrade)
55276 : XP Home (?) ?
55277 : XP Home generic OEM
55285 : XP Pro ?
55661 : XP Pro (retail)
76475 : XP Home (upgrade) (?)
76477 : XP Home Royalty OEM ?
76481 : XP Pro Dell OEM
76487 : XP Media Center Edition 2005
76487 : XP Pro Royalty OEM ?
76487 : XP Pro volume license (with '640' channel ID)
76500 : XP MCE 2005 (which is XP Pro with no domain capability)
76588 : XP Pro x64 OEM
55372 : XP Home - German (OEM)
55375 : XP Pro - German (VLK)
55677 : XP Home - Dutch
55679 : XP Pro - Dutch
76392 : XP Pro - Danish
76396 : XP Pro (also Home?) - Dutch
76412 : XP Home - French (OEM)
76413 : XP Pro - French (OEM)
76440 : XP Pro - Norwegian (retail)
76460 : XP Home - Spanish (Royalty OEM) ?
76470 : XP Home - Traditional Chinese (Royalty OEM) ?

Notes:

? : DjLizard has an English version of XP Home upgrade that uses 55285,
and XP Professional Upgrade that uses 55276.
? : Royalty OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) means manufacturers
that are special to Microsoft's endearing heart. They get their own
private key and generated product keys that typically don't require
activation (or are different than the product key on the COA sticker
affixed to the computer). Certain big OEMs [Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq,
and more] are Royalty OEMs, and the little guys (your local mom + pop
store) are obviously not. The mom + pop stores get 55277 for Home and
55285 for Pro. Typically, generic OEM discs (such as 55277 and 55274)
will work on these systems, but activation will often fail -- you will
have to call Microsoft's activation hotline and speak to a
representative in order to activate Windows. This usually only takes a
few minutes.

'yyy' -- the Channel ID
This section of the PID describes the channel (OEM, Volume License,
Retail, bundle/Not For Resale) a given XP CD/system has come from.

Channel ID list

000 : Other (includes some retail, upgrade and evaluation versions)
007 : FIXME : Retail
009 : Not for resale - bundle
011 : Upgrade (XP Home?)
OEM : OEM (This does not specify royalty or normal OEM)
270 : Volume License
296 : MSDN
308/347 : Microsoft Action Pack subscription
335 : Retail
640 through 652 : Volume License (usually generated via 270 CID in
setupp.ini)
699 : Volume Windows XP Tablet Edition
071 : FIXME : Unknown.

NOTE: According to DjLizard.net visitor Catalyst, newer discs now check
to see if the CD's volume label matches the type of CD you have. So if
you make a CD with the wrong volume label, then it still won't work. I
haven't been able to confirm this because most of my CDs have a custom
label and all of them work fine thus far. Visit TACKtech to see a list
of volume labels.

 

[ericjenkins577]

X11-45380 is on my sticker too and it is windows xp tablet pc edition.

 

[Hot-Text]

| X11-45380 is on my sticker too and it is windows xp tablet pc edition.

We need to know the Make and Model of that IBM laptop
To be able to help out ot ses if it start out with a SP1 or SP2

| On Sunday, March 4, 2007 1:00:26 AM UTC-5, Rock wrote:
| > >I have a valid XP Home sticker that came on the IBM laptop I am trying
to
| > > reload, I have tried this key with Home OEM, Home Retail and Home VLM.
It
| > > doesn't work with any of them. Am I missing a version?

Where do you did the CD at

| >
| > Usually that product key will work with a generic OEM version of the
same
| > kind, ie OEM Home.
| > Surprising it's not working for you. It could be that
| > it only works with the recovery CD supplied by the OEM.
| >
| > --
| > Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
Who is Rock MS-MVP?
OEM Home come in a SP 1 or 2

 

[casey.o]

X11-45380 is on my sticker too and it is windows xp tablet pc edition.

Are you sure your sticker is for XP-Home, and not XP-Pro?
Just a thought.......

What do you mean by "Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]".

One other thing, I'm wondering if the COA is for SP2 or SP3 and you're
trying to install SP1? (I'm not sure if that can be a problem or
now????). Someone else on here might know.....

And last but not least, make sure your CD drive is working properly. I
had one computer which refused to let me install XP, it would error out
halfway thru. Turned out the CD drive was defective.

(I dont know how you test those damn things, I just plugged in another
drive, from a computer that I know the drive worked on, and I installed
XP without further problems.).

 

[BillW50]

X11-45380 is on my sticker too and it is windows xp tablet pc edition.

Are you sure your sticker is for XP-Home, and not XP-Pro?
Just a thought.......

What do you mean by "Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]".

One other thing, I'm wondering if the COA is for SP2 or SP3 and you're
trying to install SP1? (I'm not sure if that can be a problem or
now????). Someone else on here might know.....

I've seen this before. A different SP won't be a problem. Worse comes to
worse, you could buy a restore disc on eBay or at
http://restoredisks.com (usually around $27).

And last but not least, make sure your CD drive is working properly. I
had one computer which refused to let me install XP, it would error out
halfway thru. Turned out the CD drive was defective.

(I dont know how you test those damn things, I just plugged in another
drive, from a computer that I know the drive worked on, and I installed
XP without further problems.).

Nero has a nifty utility that tests CD and DVD drives and runs them
through all of the modes. It is/was available on their website for free.