cd keys for win xp pro

[darrylp 0]

hi everyone, okay hers the deal i've got two machines and of course two legal copies of win xp pro.

 

one is a plain oem version of xp pro, of which i've done a slipstream copy of it with sp1 included. ( i havent used it to re-install yet, but it should be okay, as win2k versions used to work okay )

so my serial number is on my normal home workstation.

 

i also have a toshiba laptop ( which came with xp pro ) and it also has its own serial number. but it comes with a set of preinstalled recovery cd's

now i need to do a re-install... so do i go the route of using the slipstreamed sp1 disk with my toshiba serial ? and only put the newest drivers and apps and so forth, or do i have to do the whole upgrade thing with sp1, and then the drivers and put back my apps.

 

(the presupplied apps are not used, by me so they arent important... i use a newer virus scaner than came with the laptop.)

 

thoughts ? or has anyone used large OEM keys on a normal oem disk with sp1 slipstreamed into it ?

[duhmez 0]

If they are both OEM, it won't matter. Both CD key's will work for both installations.

Reinstall whichever you like, your slipstream or your recovery, and put in the second available key for your laptop. Make sure to have all your laptop drivers handy before you do this.

[darrylp 0]

i did think i'd try it, but i cant remember how late in the process xp asks for the key, it was a long time ago i put on my home workstation, and i didnt fancy wasting an hour or more ( which i'm fairly sure this laptop is going to take to install xp pro on. )

 

of course i've got drivers on a cd ready.

 

 

a slight side line.... i've got several encrypted folders, or stuff, even removable media encrypted - dont worry i have a backup of the key used to encrypt. for safety sake should i decrypt these files/folders first ?

 

i've got the laptop drive partitioned, so i'll only format the first partition for the reinstall if i go the slipstream approach, the recover cd's will probably fdisk the drive back to one partition, this being part of the reason i want to go the slip streamed approach. i know i dont have to repartiton and format , which i am guessing will automagically be done with the toshiba recovery cd's.

[s0l1d 0]

XP's installation asks for the key when it is few minutes into the GUI portion of the installation, I think.

 

Since both keys are OEM, they should both work with your slipstreamed XP. If you don't want/need all the extra (sometimes useless) goodies that came with your toshiba laptop, I would recommend you just keep your partitions and install XP using the slipstreamed disk to the first partition.

 

As for the encrypted files, I'm not familiar with it so I don't really have an answer for that. I guess if the encrypted files are not extremely sensitive, you can decrypt them, back them up somewhere temporarily. Once you have XP up and running again, then encrypt those files again.

 

Solid

[Tomay 0]

I've tried the same thing on a IBM workstation and windows2000. And everything went ok without any problems.

 

 

As for the encrypted data I'd recommend to decrypt it. A frend of mine lost 10GB of valuable information that way. (He forgot to backup the key)

 

It should work of, but better be safe than sorry.

[darrylp 0]

well the serial went in just fine, had to reactivate the copy, but again no problems on that front.

 

just waiting for this damn thing to re-install all the critical updates now.

 

thanx for thoughts everyone.

[adamvjackson 0]

Sorry for the 11th hour post, but keep this in mind; Some OEMs have the copy on the recovery CD 'preactivated' with a GUID or something to that effect in the BIOS, so if you're ever in a situation where internet connectivity is not possible within the 14-day activation grace period, reinstalling from the recovery CDs may circumvent that, by design.

 

Not all OEM CDs are that way, obviously, and IIRC, it was primarily desktop systems that did that.

[darrylp 0]

yeah i had heard something like that, a friend had tried to use an OEM disk to add the recovery console option on his sony vaio laptop.... it wouldnt accept it. saying it wasnt the right cd or something like that. go figure.