DELL "Reinstallation CD" contains two Product Keys

[MRWumpus]

Hey Gang, can someone enlighten me here. I bought a refurb Dell Latitude D610 which shipped with the official green DELL "Reinstallation CD" of XP SP2. I was using this CD as the basis for a custom one containing newer drivers and such. I got to the point of creating a WINNT.SIF answer file when I realized the CD already contained one. In fact, it contains both WINNT.SIF and UNATTEND.TXT answer files, each of which contains a different Product Key. What's more, those two keys are different from the one on my official DELL/MS Product Key sticker on the bottom of my laptop. So I have three Product Keys associated with my laptop?

Is this normal for DELL OEM Operating System CDs? Last time I used this CD to reinstall I noticed that it never asked me to activate Windows. That means it must have used the Product Key on the CD, right? So that means my Product Key on my sticker is not used?

I'm tempted to remove those keys and try the one on my sticker but not until someone helps me understand what's going on. Thanks!

[Takeshi]

It's similar scenario in my Inspiron 600m (but blue CD - XP Pro).

The product key that came with the LT (used in the install - the one in WINNT.SIF) did NOT pass Windows Genuine Advantage verification when I tried to download something from M$ (I think it was the PhotoStory 3). I had to answer some questions in a few window pop-ups and entered the key on the bottom label to get it verified ..... eventually.

Edited June 21, 2005 by Takeshi

[Noise]

If I remember correctly, when you slipstream SP2 in to your source it will create an unattend.txt file with a CDkey inside it. There was a topic about this here a long time ago. That may be the "extra" CDKey you are seeing.

[Alanoll]

The key in the WINNT.SIF file is provided by Dell to masproduce the CDs and still have them install.

The key in the UNATTEND.TXT is a fake key to demonstrate the file.

[DonDamm]

Alanoll is correct. Dell uses a key that will allow the install to complete, but it won't activate, thus causing the Enter product key screen to appear on first boot. Very sneaky of them. This caused a lot of headaches when I was preparing a network with Dell machines, some new and some old, but not with VLKs! In the end we just wiped the delivered installations and put on our custom build based on their CD.

[MRWumpus]

Hmmm, it is still somewhat of a mystery to me because this CD has never asked me to activate Windows and neither answer file has the option to activate turned ON. There are a couple of custom DELL post-install files in there that I am guessing do the activation. I suppose I could remove those and see what happens.