Dell WinXP Pro "unprotected" CD question

[RichTJ99]

Hi,

I have an unprotected winxp cd. By unprotected I mean, no activation or product key is needed when installing on any make or model Dell PC. I was curious how that works exactly? Would I look at the winnt.sif file or somewhere else to see whats on the disc to see how it works?

Thanks,

Rich

[gamehead200]

Probably has a saved Windows Activation file somewhere on the CD... Is there a file called wpa.dbl on the CD?

[Famer]

dell has been known to hard lock the xp cd to the bios. if you really want to find out if it's unlocked try installing it on a non dell computer.

[RyanVM]

Yeah, the CD looks for a Dell BIOS and won't install without it.

[Phoon]

Oh, it will install on a non-dell system, but you will have to activate it.

[prathapml]

Amazing how much a googling can help. Third time I'm posting this link here, in as many days.

http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/activation.html

These CDs use something called SLP, and their BIOS-locked activation is in OEMBIOS.BIN probably.