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Trying to move from illegal to legal windows xp


systemchris

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I picked up an old desktop my workplace was throwing out, and it happened to have an illegal XP VLK sp3 on it....

anyway, this machine actually has an oem sticker on the side with a COA for xp pro, and no hardware inside has been changed so it should suit the oem license still, is there a way to change the product key to the one on the side of the desktop? i suspect the install will have to be changed to an oem version?

delete this post if you want, but i am trying to be on the straight and narrow :)

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Yea, you may have to find a retail or oem xp disk and do a fresh install

XP COAs are tied to specific Install CD part numbers. I've found this out in the past, so if you go about finding actual media to install with, don't be surprised if the first one doesn't work. All the OEM CDs I have for XP (the hologram ones) have the part-number of the COA written on the CD so I know which one to use.

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You can also find help about the keys here:

Preserving OEM Pre-Activation when Re-installing Windows XP

Updated: April 20, 2005

By Stephanie Ybarra

Large PC Manufacturers known as Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) have the ability to pre-activate Microsoft® Windows XP software installed on new PCs. As a result, end users are typically not required to activate the software during the set up process by typing in the product key found on the Certificate of Authenticity attached to the PC (COA Key).

In order to reduce a significant source of piracy, Microsoft has disabled online activation for COA Keys that are attached to PCs that have been pre-activated by OEMs. This change should have a minimal impact on licensed users who generally do not use their COA Key to activate the software because it has been pre-activated by the OEM. However, if a licensed end user needs to activate because the OEM pre-activation does not work as expected (e.g., after the replacement of a defective motherboard) they can do so via phone-based activation.

To help minimize the potential impact on licensed users, this whitepaper provides steps licensed end users can take to preserve OEM pre-activation when reinstalling the operating system using any of the four scenarios outlined below (sysprep, OOBEinfo, manual and unattended).

The following product keys should be substituted for XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX in the solutions discussed below.

Windows XP Professional 32 bit

MVF4D-W774K-MC4VM-QY6XY-R38TB

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

XT67V-GY7FW-GR6FR-WDK2C-8T97J

Windows XP Professional x64 bit

FM634-HJ3QK-6QVTY-RJY4R-XCR9J

Backup and Save the Windows XP Activation Status (WPA.DBL) to Reinstall Without Activate Again

Edited by myselfidem
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