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re: Question about 'How do I skip the Product Activation in Windows XP?' Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 2:21 pm Posted by Llamallamadingdong (404 messages posted) Don't know if this will help, but you can use 'Magical Jellybean Keyfinder' to change your product key. On Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 12:38 pm, MJ wrote: >I have a question about How >do I skip the Product Activation in Windows XP?: > >OK, its complicated, I'll try to make it easy. > >1) Get computer, comes with Gateway OEM copy of XP. Yay. > >2) XP install trashes and OEM CD not found. > >3) XP Pro Retail purchased, installed, activated. > >4) Then I find the OEM CD. > >OK, so I have computer A, with a working OEM copy not installed and a working retail >copy installed. Then I have computer B, sad and lonley w/o a copy of XP. > >I'm not a pirate, I've purchased XP legit. I'd rather not reinstall windows on the >old computer. If I tell them that I switched, and get the XP Pro on the new computer, >will they be able to tell when I connect to Windows Update? Will the old key cease >to work? etc. > >Thanks :) > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Question about 'How do I skip the Product Activation in Windows XP?' Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 2:23 pm Posted by Llamallamadingdong (404 messages posted) Oh, and a call to M$ and/or gateway explaining the situation wouldn't hurt, either. NOt sure if changing the key will help in your situation, since it's an OEM copy. On Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 12:38 pm, MJ wrote: >I have a question about How >do I skip the Product Activation in Windows XP?: > >OK, its complicated, I'll try to make it easy. > >1) Get computer, comes with Gateway OEM copy of XP. Yay. > >2) XP install trashes and OEM CD not found. > >3) XP Pro Retail purchased, installed, activated. > >4) Then I find the OEM CD. > >OK, so I have computer A, with a working OEM copy not installed and a working retail >copy installed. Then I have computer B, sad and lonley w/o a copy of XP. > >I'm not a pirate, I've purchased XP legit. I'd rather not reinstall windows on the >old computer. If I tell them that I switched, and get the XP Pro on the new computer, >will they be able to tell when I connect to Windows Update? Will the old key cease >to work? etc. > >Thanks :) > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] No, OEM and retail copies Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 2:26 pm Posted by MJ (8 messages posted) Thanks, but that won't help me b/c both keys are tied to my hardware; also, if I can't change the key of my retail copy to my OEM key, different versions of Windows, would be detected as such. Thanks for the reply though :/ [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: No, OEM and retail copies Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 6:13 pm Posted by Rich Kurtz (12246 messages posted) Call MS, explain the situation and see what they say. I suspect though that you will have to Clean install the OEM XP unless you can get away with a Repair install over the existing XP install. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Question about 'How do I skip the Product Activation in Windows XP?' Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 7:27 pm Posted by Dan Sarandrea, MCSE (7096 messages posted) Install the retail copy onto other computer, but choose to delay activation. You can put it off for 30 days. Install your programs, etc. Transfer docs, pix, data, music, etc from Gateway to other computer. When the Gateway is ready, run the OEM CD to put the right copy of XP onto the Gateway. Finally, activate your retail copy of XP on the other computer. Now that it's activated you can finish up by installing Windows Updates. [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows XP Discussion Forum