Guest Etienne C. Posted August 8, 2008 Posted August 8, 2008 One of my relatives has a laptop with an XP MCE2005 Key. Long story short, he installed crap that made it BSOD concistently so I decided to recover. Recovery procedure worked but system wasn't stable at all. I got an MSDN subscription at work so I reinstalled with a CD from it, hopping to use his key. It didn't work (invalid key) so I figured its not the same flavor of XP MCE2005 (oem vs retail?). Anyways I used my MSDN key to see if the system would be stable. It is. So finally, my question is: Is there any hope that I can change the installed key (from my office MSDN subscription) with my relative's own legitimate key? By the way, I tried explaining all this to an activation support lady but she either genuinely couldn't help me or she did not understand. Thanks for reading. Etienne
Guest Andrew E. Posted August 8, 2008 Posted August 8, 2008 RE: XP CD key question Try this page for key:http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/pkuinstructions.aspx "Etienne C." wrote: > One of my relatives has a laptop with an XP MCE2005 Key. > Long story short, he installed crap that made it BSOD concistently so I > decided to recover. > Recovery procedure worked but system wasn't stable at all. > I got an MSDN subscription at work so I reinstalled with a CD from it, > hopping to use his key. > It didn't work (invalid key) so I figured its not the same flavor of XP > MCE2005 (oem vs retail?). > Anyways I used my MSDN key to see if the system would be stable. > It is. > > So finally, my question is: > Is there any hope that I can change the installed key (from my office MSDN > subscription) with my relative's own legitimate key? > > By the way, I tried explaining all this to an activation support lady but > she either genuinely couldn't help me or she did not understand. > > Thanks for reading. > > Etienne
Guest Etienne C. Posted August 8, 2008 Posted August 8, 2008 RE: XP CD key question Yes, I tried that already. I should have mentionned it. I had great hopes it would work but when run, the program the page offers to download pops up an error box titled "Windows Product Key Update Tool" and the message says: "The application must be run on a supported version of the Windows XP operating system". It seems it does not like the fact that its an MCE2005 XP. But thanks for the suggestion. Etienne "Andrew E." wrote: > Try this page for > key:http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/pkuinstructions.aspx > > "Etienne C." wrote: > > > One of my relatives has a laptop with an XP MCE2005 Key. > > Long story short, he installed crap that made it BSOD concistently so I > > decided to recover. > > Recovery procedure worked but system wasn't stable at all. > > I got an MSDN subscription at work so I reinstalled with a CD from it, > > hopping to use his key. > > It didn't work (invalid key) so I figured its not the same flavor of XP > > MCE2005 (oem vs retail?). > > Anyways I used my MSDN key to see if the system would be stable. > > It is. > > > > So finally, my question is: > > Is there any hope that I can change the installed key (from my office MSDN > > subscription) with my relative's own legitimate key? > > > > By the way, I tried explaining all this to an activation support lady but > > she either genuinely couldn't help me or she did not understand. > > > > Thanks for reading. > > > > Etienne
Guest Dustin Cook Posted August 8, 2008 Posted August 8, 2008 Re: XP CD key question =?Utf-8?B?RXRpZW5uZSBDLg==?= <Etienne C.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in news:CEE398C0-D286-4860-AE3B-1CB9BA12127C@microsoft.com: > One of my relatives has a laptop with an XP MCE2005 Key. > Long story short, he installed crap that made it BSOD concistently so > I decided to recover. > Recovery procedure worked but system wasn't stable at all. > I got an MSDN subscription at work so I reinstalled with a CD from it, > hopping to use his key. > It didn't work (invalid key) so I figured its not the same flavor of > XP MCE2005 (oem vs retail?). > Anyways I used my MSDN key to see if the system would be stable. > It is. > > So finally, my question is: > Is there any hope that I can change the installed key (from my office > MSDN subscription) with my relative's own legitimate key? Have you tried the magical jellybean keyfinder? Failing that, I can't help you. http://magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ -- Regards, Dustin Cook, Author of BugHunter BugHunter - http://bughunter.it-mate.co.uk MalwareBytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org
Guest Etienne C. Posted August 8, 2008 Posted August 8, 2008 Re: XP CD key question No luck here neither. When I try to change it to my relative's key, its says the there was an error performing the operation, that the key might be invalid or mistyped. That's with keyfinder 1.51 Correct me if I am wrong, but version 2.01 doesn't the "change key" feature anymore right? Thanks Etienne "Dustin Cook" wrote: > =?Utf-8?B?RXRpZW5uZSBDLg==?= <Etienne C.@discussions.microsoft.com> > wrote in news:CEE398C0-D286-4860-AE3B-1CB9BA12127C@microsoft.com: > > > One of my relatives has a laptop with an XP MCE2005 Key. > > Long story short, he installed crap that made it BSOD concistently so > > I decided to recover. > > Recovery procedure worked but system wasn't stable at all. > > I got an MSDN subscription at work so I reinstalled with a CD from it, > > hopping to use his key. > > It didn't work (invalid key) so I figured its not the same flavor of > > XP MCE2005 (oem vs retail?). > > Anyways I used my MSDN key to see if the system would be stable. > > It is. > > > > So finally, my question is: > > Is there any hope that I can change the installed key (from my office > > MSDN subscription) with my relative's own legitimate key? > > Have you tried the magical jellybean keyfinder? > > Failing that, I can't help you. > > http://magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ > > -- > Regards, > Dustin Cook, Author of BugHunter > BugHunter - http://bughunter.it-mate.co.uk > MalwareBytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org > > >
Guest Dustin Cook Posted August 8, 2008 Posted August 8, 2008 Re: XP CD key question =?Utf-8?B?RXRpZW5uZSBDLg==?= <EtienneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in news:BF0C72FD-4D28-4BF0-B83F-AD396E146185@microsoft.com: > No luck here neither. > > When I try to change it to my relative's key, its says the there was > an error performing the operation, that the key might be invalid or > mistyped. > > That's with keyfinder 1.51 > > Correct me if I am wrong, but version 2.01 doesn't the "change key" > feature anymore right? I really dont know, I haven't tried the latest and greatest. The error your getting confirms my suspicion however. You must reinstall her copy of windows mce over your installation in order to be able to enter the proper key. -- Regards, Dustin Cook, Author of BugHunter BugHunter - http://bughunter.it-mate.co.uk MalwareBytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org
Guest Etienne C. Posted August 8, 2008 Posted August 8, 2008 Re: XP CD key question Yeah, by reading other posts, I got into thinking that I could probably "build" a cd with the i386 folder I can find in the recovery partition, and then do a repair install using that CD. In an other post, somebody mentionned that a repair install would ask for the CD key, and in yet another post, somebody said a repair install did not screw-up its installed programs. By doing that, I hope to be able to use the laptop's own CD key and bypass all the Acer crap thats being "recovered" by the recovery tool. I'll probably try that next week and will post back results here. Any other suggestions are welcome though. Thanks Etienne "Dustin Cook" wrote: > =?Utf-8?B?RXRpZW5uZSBDLg==?= <EtienneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote > in news:BF0C72FD-4D28-4BF0-B83F-AD396E146185@microsoft.com: > > > No luck here neither. > > > > When I try to change it to my relative's key, its says the there was > > an error performing the operation, that the key might be invalid or > > mistyped. > > > > That's with keyfinder 1.51 > > > > Correct me if I am wrong, but version 2.01 doesn't the "change key" > > feature anymore right? > > I really dont know, I haven't tried the latest and greatest. The error your > getting confirms my suspicion however. You must reinstall her copy of > windows mce over your installation in order to be able to enter the proper > key. > -- > Regards, > Dustin Cook, Author of BugHunter > BugHunter - http://bughunter.it-mate.co.uk > MalwareBytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org > > >
Guest Dustin Cook Posted August 9, 2008 Posted August 9, 2008 Re: XP CD key question =?Utf-8?B?RXRpZW5uZSBDLg==?= <EtienneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in news:B627573D-3676-4527-8DB7-E18D1F3C5E08@microsoft.com: > Yeah, by reading other posts, I got into thinking that I could > probably "build" a cd with the i386 folder I can find in the recovery > partition, and then do a repair install using that CD. > > In an other post, somebody mentionned that a repair install would ask > for the CD key, and in yet another post, somebody said a repair > install did not screw-up its installed programs. > > By doing that, I hope to be able to use the laptop's own CD key and > bypass all the Acer crap thats being "recovered" by the recovery tool. The OEMBIOS files present in the i386 folder will allow the acer to load without asking for its key. -- Regards, Dustin Cook, Author of BugHunter BugHunter - http://bughunter.it-mate.co.uk MalwareBytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org
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