Guest Sirius Posted September 11, 2008 Posted September 11, 2008 Hello, I have a weird question, hope you don't mind. I have some windows xp cd's without product keys, genuine of course, and then I have some product keys without the win xp software cd's from computers that have dead harddrives and did not have a cd come with them because the recovery was on the harddrive itself on a hidden partition, can't get the software due to warranty expiration. home with home, oem with oem, pro with pro, etc. Sooo, I would like to know if it's possible to put the disks and keys together, should I even try or is it a waste of time. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Guest David B. Posted September 11, 2008 Posted September 11, 2008 Re: Product keys & CD's Sure, take the CD's and put them in a bag, then take the product keys and put them in the same bag, now they are together. The OEM COA sticker that contains the product key should state which version of XP it is for, the retail version keys are inside the big envelope, look on the outside to see which version it is (green is Home, blue is Pro). If you just have the keys scribbled on paper your pretty much out of luck. Also be aware that any OEM licenses you have are NOT transferable to another PC per the EULA. -- ---- Crosspost, do not multipost http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm How to ask a question http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 Help Us Help You http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm "Sirius" <nospam22-nospam@yahoo.nul> wrote in message news:uZTYsACFJHA.3840@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... > Hello, > > I have a weird question, hope you don't mind. > I have some windows xp cd's without product keys, genuine of course, and > then I have some product keys without the win xp software cd's from > computers that have dead harddrives and did not have a cd come with them > because the recovery was on the harddrive itself on a hidden partition, > can't get the software due to warranty expiration. > > home with home, oem with oem, pro with pro, etc. > > Sooo, I would like to know if it's possible to put the disks and keys > together, should I even try or is it a waste of time. > > Any input would be greatly appreciated. >
Guest Patrick Keenan Posted September 11, 2008 Posted September 11, 2008 Re: Product keys & CD's "Sirius" <nospam22-nospam@yahoo.nul> wrote in message news:uZTYsACFJHA.3840@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... > Hello, > > I have a weird question, hope you don't mind. > I have some windows xp cd's without product keys, genuine of course, and > then I have some product keys without the win xp software cd's from > computers that have dead harddrives and did not have a cd come with them > because the recovery was on the harddrive itself on a hidden partition, > can't get the software due to warranty expiration. > > home with home, oem with oem, pro with pro, etc. > > Sooo, I would like to know if it's possible to put the disks and keys > together, should I even try or is it a waste of time. > > Any input would be greatly appreciated. CDs and keys go together in types, but keys are not assigned to specific CDs otherwise. For example, a retail version of XP Home has a specific type of key that won't work with an XP Pro or OEM version, but will work with *any* XP Home retail CD. Systems that use a recovery partition will be OEM installs, so if you have retail CDs, they will not work together. But if they are the correct type of OEM CDs, they may. It's not hard to try, and MS thoughtfully moved the key check to fairly early in the install process, so you don't have to wait until the very end to find out you used the wrong disk or key. HTH -pk
Guest Sirius Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 Re: Product keys & CD's Thank you so much. That sounds encouraging. "Patrick Keenan" <test@dev.null> wrote in message news:uXRJYIFFJHA.5484@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... > > "Sirius" <nospam22-nospam@yahoo.nul> wrote in message > news:uZTYsACFJHA.3840@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... >> Hello, >> >> I have a weird question, hope you don't mind. >> I have some windows xp cd's without product keys, genuine of course, and >> then I have some product keys without the win xp software cd's from >> computers that have dead harddrives and did not have a cd come with them >> because the recovery was on the harddrive itself on a hidden partition, >> can't get the software due to warranty expiration. >> >> home with home, oem with oem, pro with pro, etc. >> >> Sooo, I would like to know if it's possible to put the disks and keys >> together, should I even try or is it a waste of time. >> >> Any input would be greatly appreciated. > > CDs and keys go together in types, but keys are not assigned to specific > CDs otherwise. > > For example, a retail version of XP Home has a specific type of key that > won't work with an XP Pro or OEM version, but will work with *any* XP Home > retail CD. > > Systems that use a recovery partition will be OEM installs, so if you have > retail CDs, they will not work together. But if they are the correct > type of OEM CDs, they may. > > It's not hard to try, and MS thoughtfully moved the key check to fairly > early in the install process, so you don't have to wait until the very end > to find out you used the wrong disk or key. > > HTH > -pk
Guest Bruce Chambers Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 Re: Product keys & CD's Sirius wrote: > Hello, > > I have a weird question, hope you don't mind. > I have some windows xp cd's without product keys, genuine of course, and > then I have some product keys without the win xp software cd's from > computers that have dead harddrives and did not have a cd come with them > because the recovery was on the harddrive itself on a hidden partition, > can't get the software due to warranty expiration. > > home with home, oem with oem, pro with pro, etc. > > Sooo, I would like to know if it's possible to put the disks and keys > together, should I even try or is it a waste of time. > > Any input would be greatly appreciated. > > Well for those OEM Products keys that came installations on with defunct systems, there'd be no point. After all, an OEM license expires when the first computer on which it's installed expires. -- Bruce Chambers Help us help you: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers. ~ Denis Diderot
Guest Lil' Dave Posted September 13, 2008 Posted September 13, 2008 Re: Product keys & CD's "Patrick Keenan" <test@dev.null> wrote in message news:uXRJYIFFJHA.5484@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... > > "Sirius" <nospam22-nospam@yahoo.nul> wrote in message > news:uZTYsACFJHA.3840@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... >> Hello, >> >> I have a weird question, hope you don't mind. >> I have some windows xp cd's without product keys, genuine of course, and >> then I have some product keys without the win xp software cd's from >> computers that have dead harddrives and did not have a cd come with them >> because the recovery was on the harddrive itself on a hidden partition, >> can't get the software due to warranty expiration. >> >> home with home, oem with oem, pro with pro, etc. >> >> Sooo, I would like to know if it's possible to put the disks and keys >> together, should I even try or is it a waste of time. >> >> Any input would be greatly appreciated. > > CDs and keys go together in types, but keys are not assigned to specific > CDs otherwise. > > For example, a retail version of XP Home has a specific type of key that > won't work with an XP Pro or OEM version, but will work with *any* XP Home > retail CD. > > Systems that use a recovery partition will be OEM installs, so if you have > retail CDs, they will not work together. But if they are the correct > type of OEM CDs, they may. > > It's not hard to try, and MS thoughtfully moved the key check to fairly > early in the install process, so you don't have to wait until the very end > to find out you used the wrong disk or key. > > HTH > -pk Something I ran into recently too. XP asks for product key etc. Afterwards, still early in installation, asks if want to activate at this time. XP has my driver for the external phone modem. It dialed out and connected when I opted for the activation. A moment later, said activation failed. However, after the installation was completed, and I had installed the hardware drivers for the motherboard, I opted to attempt activation again. Activation was successful. My guess is MS wanted to bounce my hardware against a prior installation it had record of. Installation was of XP with SP3 slipstreamed into the CD, generic OEM. -- Dave
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