Johnny Fasterer

No, I built my machine, and bought the XP Disk at CompUSA, so I guess that makes mine "Retail". So it seems the "Service Pack" question is then irrelevent. Thanks for the help. This weekend I will see if I can get a Retail XP Home Disk and make a copy. If I understand this correctly, I should be able to just use my own Product Key when it comes time to install the O/S. Thanks again, Johnny

To make sure I understand... The original Disk I had was WinXP Home Edition. Can I assume that ALL disks of this version are exactly alike ? So then the only thing I need to do is get a disk of the exact same version of the XP disk and everything should be good from there ? I've been reading about it here & there, and it sounds like the (for lack of a better word) "encryption" for the Product Keys is dependant on which version you are using. I read a bit about creating your own (seemingly valid) encryption keys and someone said something like that. Anyways, for my immediate purpose, I just need confirmation that I understand the situation. My product key should work just find for any copy of XP Home that I should find, right ? One question this raises is what about the XP disks that are sold with either SP1 or SP 2 pre-installed? I would think that if an original (legal) Product key would work for an XP disk that didn't have them pre-installed (like mine) then it should also work on a disk that has SP2 slipstreamed, right ? Because I would like to slipstream SP2 into the disk, if possible. I did it before with my original disks data, so I should have no problem doing it with another disk, correct ? This causes me to then wonder about the idea that Product Keys are different based on which disk you are using. Does this idea only apply to Hone vs. Pro, or do the functionality of the Product Keys also depend on which Service Pack is involved. Thanks for the advice, above. I will read the thread from the link about and also thanks in advance for the latest questions. Johnny

I lost the CD for my WinXP Installation Disk. I know it's real common to lose the key, but in my case that's the thing I have. What I don't have is the disk itself, and I need it in order to re-install XP on a machine that just lost it's Hard Drive. I've read a bit about Product Key "Identifiers", but I already know my key. And I've got a copy of XP available to use, but it's not mine and it's not legal. So what I would like to do is take the "data" from the CD that isn't mine, and change it's Product Key to that of the one I legally own, and create another WinXP disk. This seems like it would be a pretty common thing to want to do (given that the XP product code was stuck to the box XP came in), but I can't find out how to do it. Also, my "skill set" includes using Nero and Alcohol and a few other of the more common CD utilities, so if the advise could be geared to what I already know, I would be most appreciative. Thanks in advance, Johnny