Guest zdotb Posted August 18, 2008 Posted August 18, 2008 i bought a laptop from dell about 2 years ago and its now time to reinstall windows. all i recieved was a disc from dell that will restore the computer to its original state, but that wasnt good enough. dell is now sending me xp media centre discs and drivers. will i be able to use the same product key that is currently active on my computer? i believe its a 25 letter and number key on a little sticker on the bottom of my laptop...is this true, and can it be used again? thanks
Guest Carey Frisch [MVP] Posted August 18, 2008 Posted August 18, 2008 Re: reinstalling windows xp - product key Because a Dell Windows Reinstallation CD is BIOS-locked to a Dell motherboard BIOS, you will not be prompted to type in a product key. -- Carey Frisch Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience - Windows Vista Enthusiast --------------------------------------------------------------- "zdotb" <zdotb@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:7B5A8034-7405-4AB1-84C4-15C8EC84AD5C@microsoft.com... i bought a laptop from dell about 2 years ago and its now time to reinstall windows. all i recieved was a disc from dell that will restore the computer to its original state, but that wasnt good enough. dell is now sending me xp media centre discs and drivers. will i be able to use the same product key that is currently active on my computer? i believe its a 25 letter and number key on a little sticker on the bottom of my laptop...is this true, and can it be used again? thanks
Guest Big_Al Posted August 18, 2008 Posted August 18, 2008 Re: reinstalling windows xp - product key Carey Frisch [MVP] wrote: > Because a Dell Windows Reinstallation CD is BIOS-locked to > a Dell motherboard BIOS, you will not be prompted to type in > a product key. > I have a Dell Laptop myself and Carey is right. I don't get the opportunity to enter a key, nor do I have to go on line and activate. You should have a 'service tag' on the bottom too. If you go to Dell.com and enter that under the download drivers page, you will get all the proper drivers for your laptop. Do so and put them on a CD / thumb drive, so you can load them later after you load the OS if you need any of them. My XP install is just like a retail copy but modified for Dell and this 'locked to the motherboard' thing. So it does not come with Dell drivers. I can't get on the internet till I load nic or wireless drivers. Good luck.
Guest Ken Blake Posted August 18, 2008 Posted August 18, 2008 Re: reinstalling windows xp - product key "zdotb" <zdotb@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:7B5A8034-7405-4AB1-84C4-15C8EC84AD5C@microsoft.com... >i bought a laptop from dell about 2 years ago and its now time to reinstall > windows. a Why? It's never "time" to reinstall Windows. Witha modicum of care, Winodws never needs toi be reinstalled. The only time you should reinstall is when you have a serious problem, and all other attempts at troubleshooting the problem have failed. > all i recieved was a disc from dell that will restore the computer > to its original state, but that wasnt good enough. dell is now sending me > xp > media centre discs and drivers. will i be able to use the same product key > that is currently active on my computer? i believe its a 25 letter and > number > key on a little sticker on the bottom of my laptop...is this true, and can > it > be used again? thanks Yes.
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