Asad Mehmood said:
Is it possible to check from a licesence key what version of windows
you installed. I have installed a License key and still have it. But
using a key checker it says that my key is an invalid key for XP
Profesional and XP professional VLK. IS there any way of finding what
kind of Windows CD i need to use with my CD Key
What you need to check is the Product ID.
(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.