Is the Key built into each CD, and a certain key will work with a certain CD??

And is there any legal way around putting in the Key.

What has happened is my uncle's computer needed reformatting, so I started doing it yesterday with a SP2 CD I had around here. The thing is I forgot all about the key issue until I was prompted for it. I basically misplaced the key that came with the CD and his daughter took the one off his computer. I tried using the key that came with my computer but it keeps saying Invalid key.

So is there anyway around this??

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The greatest feeling in the world is love, but the worse feeling
is to love someone and not be loved back. Stop breaking my heart
There is only one guarantee in life, and that is NOW.

Id my post deleted if i typed it in here

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Once a Red Bar, Always a Red Bar... Points are for lossers :)

Are you using home or pro?

Therefore, in theory, you could take a serial key from a different copy of XP and use it in yours, and it would work fine (as long as the key had not been blacklisted, i.e. reported stolen or used on too many different computers).

XP Home and XP Professional will have different sets of keys, so a Windows XP Professional key could not unlock a copy of XP Home.

In XP, I believe that you must enter the key upon installation.  Alternatively, with Vista, you are given a time period after installation (some number of weeks, can't remember for sure) within which you can enter a key and activate your copy of Windows.

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What?

You might try a legitimate number from a friend who is no longer using it. Running two copies with the same number is illegal. As a last resort, assuming all else is legitimate, you can contact microsoft by phone. I had to do this a couple of years ago but I can't remember where I found the number.

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A Parent, old geezer, and occasionally right. Good judgment comes from bad
experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

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Okay lets assume, that I have a Dell Recovery Disk, and he has a Dell Computer. Would it allow me to install that OS on his computer without any problems??

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I think so unless their firmware keep them incompatible. It's worth a try assuming you have data backups made. I've tried to install Dell version of XP on a  non-Dell computer and it wouldn't work but what have you got to lose by trying it on another Dell?

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A Parent, old geezer, and occasionally right. Good judgment comes from bad
experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

OEM These are given by the original equipment manufacturer such as Dell or Sony and these are the keys that is placed on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop. These keys will only work with the recovery disks that the OEM sends to you and won't work with retail copies.

Retail These keys are the ones you get when you physically go out and buy a copy of Windows from the shelves or order one online. These keys will only work with DVDs that you get in the box.

Volume Licensing These are the keys that will allow businesses and institutions to install Windows on their PCs whilst only having to use one key. Similarly this will only work with Volume Licensing DVDs that they purchase from Microsoft.

These limit you to the specific keys you can put in, and you have to be aware that Microsoft keep a blacklist for the ones available on the Internet so that users don't use the same ones over and over again.

If you want to install XP on your friends computer, and you want to use the Dell install disk, this should work on his computer most likely as long as you use the key that is on that computer's casing. However there may by incompatibilities as Dell might restrict the hardware that the OS can be installed on, so make sure you have made backups before going through with this.

Furthermore, it is possible to use keys with different versions of the install disk, however this involves slipstreaming a Service Pack onto an Install disk and using some tools to change the types of keys that can be used. It's not too hard but takes a bit of time to figure out.

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and victorious in war shall be made glorious in peace.