Installing XP - question about key - oem vs retail

PC Hobbyist

PC Hobbyist

New Member
I have an old HP desktop PC that came with XP Home edition, and so it has the sticker on the side with the genuine windows key on it.

I have to put a new HDD in it and I want to reinstall XP on that. I no longer have any of the CDs that came with the PC.

My question is:
Can I use my friend's retail XP Home disk and simply use the key on the side of my computer to intall? I assume my key is for an oem version of xp home. Is it the same CD, but upon using an oem key, it is installed as oem and not retail? Or will that not work that way?

Does it matter if I had xp with no service packs when I purchased the PC, and my friend's retail CD has SP2?

Thanks for any input.
 
PC Hobbyist said:
I have an old HP desktop PC that came with XP Home edition, and so it has the sticker on the side with the genuine windows key on it.

I have to put a new HDD in it and I want to reinstall XP on that. I no longer have any of the CDs that came with the PC.

My question is:
Can I use my friend's retail XP Home disk and simply use the key on the side of my computer to intall? I assume my key is for an oem version of xp home. Is it the same CD, but upon using an oem key, it is installed as oem and not retail? Or will that not work that way?

Does it matter if I had xp with no service packs when I purchased the PC, and my friend's retail CD has SP2?

Thanks for any input.
Click to expand...

What you are planning to do will work exactly as you want it. That's how things worked at the computer shop I worked for.

Word of advice though: Use nLite to slipstream SP3 into the installation. It'll save a lot of needless update downloading.
 
voyagerfan99 said:
What you are planning to do will work exactly as you want it. That's how things worked at the computer shop I worked for.

Word of advice though: Use nLite to slipstream SP3 into the installation. It'll save a lot of needless update downloading.
Click to expand...

Not sure how you got an OEM key to work for a full RETAIL install!!!!
 
I've never tried a OEM key with a retail disc, but its not suppost to work. It might install but I bet it would not activate. You could modify the setupp.ini file, but I'm not getting into that.
 
Last edited:
oem keys should not work with just a regular retail disc, i know that u can use other say its a hp and some you know has the hp xp cd it will work with your oem, and as far as nlite and slip streaming sp3, unless nlite fixed the bug i havent messed with it in awhile but when it first came out, it wouldnt work properly, sp3 would slipstream but when u tried to install xp it would prompt u to insert the sp3 cd.
 
What you do is try to install it, it should install, but it won't activate. Call up microsoft and tell them that you had to change your hard drive and you have to reactivate windows. They would give you a new activation code.
 
Vizy said:
What you do is try to install it, it should install, but it won't activate. Call up microsoft and tell them that you had to change your hard drive and you have to reactivate windows. They would give you a new activation code.
Click to expand...

its pretty rare that an oem key from dell, hp, acer, etc.. will work with a retail disc meaning when xp prompts you at install to input the cd key it will tell u invalid, most of the hp, acer, etc now and days have the recover partition and a program that allows u to actually make recovery cds from windows instead of providing cds
 
Thanks for all the replies!

Well, the retail disk did not accept my oem key. I couldn't even complete the installation. I did read about the setupp.ini thing, but I didn't even try it, because although it will allow you to enter the oem key, it will not activate windows. So, you basically end up with a 30-day windows version.

I was able to get a hold of an oem disk and it accepted my key and activated it without any problems.

So, I learned one more thing about windows installation. :)
Thanks again for the help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top