Re: XP Licenses and CD Images
- From: "Daave" <dcwashNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:45:36 -0400
Mike Lang wrote:
Hi all,
Over the last 5 years I've accumulated a number of defunct XP PCs -
mainly notebooks. I have at least 10 or 12 VALID Xp licenses in a mix
of Home and Pro from various sources. Although I have a Windows XP
Pro and Windows XP Home CD, these are quite old and do not seem to
match the licenses I have.
I've tried on a number of occasions to use these license keys in clean
Windows XP installs (to stay legal) but always end up with the install
telling me that the license is not valid for that version.
My question is:
Is there any way of telling which version a license number is for?
Do you mean Product Key? Not unless it's a Volume License Key. It
doesn't sound like that's your situation!
Is there anyway of getting a valid CD image for the identified
version
Yes, but it's generally frowned upon. And frankly, if you have to ask,
you're probably not sophisitcated enough to avoid other CD images that
are very similar but not valid and often riddled with malware.
or is there a way of forcing XP to accept the keys.
It's possible to create your own installation CD, conceivably turning a
Retail CD into an OEM one, but you will still need a valid key!
I don't
mind going through the Microsoft phone based authentication procedure
AFTER I've installed the XP version.
That probably won't even happen in your case. As long as you have a
vaild Product Key, automatic activation over the Net should occur.
Please bear in mind the fact that I wish to stay legal on this.
Your choices are:
1. If the PC came with a hidden recovery partition on the hard drive,
simply use it!
2. Contact the PC manufacturers. They might ship you the proper
installation media for a modest fee.
3. If #2 doesn't work, this site might help:
http://www.restoredisks.com/
4. Obtain generic OEM install CDs -- one for Home and the other for Pro.
Then simply use the Product ID on the COA sticker on the PC. Perhaps you
can borrow these disks from friends, neighbors, relatives, or
colleagues. If not, they are still available for sale. Newegg.com is one
online retailer you can use. Although it's possible to find images for
these CDs online (albeit not authorized by Microsoft), I'd caution
against it for the reason mentioned above -- it's just too easy to get
images riddled with malware. If you insist on doing that anyway, it's
imperative you spend a lot of time researching, paying special attention
to things like MD5 hash values, but again, it's not recommended! There
are some here who will say it's not legal. I'm more on the pragmatic
side that it's not SAFE. If these PCs have licenses to run XP and you
have the associated Product Keys (found on the COA stickers), that meets
the ethical test as far as I'm concerned. But borrowing an actual
installation CD from someone you know is much safer than downloading an
image of it! And since there are no legit avenues of download (even if
the final *outcome* is above board), you will see few people
recommending it.
HTH.
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: XP Licenses and CD Images
- From: Mike Lang
- Re: XP Licenses and CD Images
- References:
- XP Licenses and CD Images
- From: Mike Lang
- XP Licenses and CD Images
- Prev by Date: Re: LOCALS~1\Temp
- Next by Date: Re: LOCALS~1\Temp
- Previous by thread: Re: XP Licenses and CD Images
- Next by thread: Re: XP Licenses and CD Images
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
