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Different CD, Original Key, Possible?

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iqwertyi

Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2004
I have two desktops, using (for this purpose) XPa and XPb.
Each is the same xp cd with different keys of course.

For some reason, desktop one is acting up on me.
50% of the time I sart it, it says boot drive not found or something like that. I had pulled a second drive (not the C drive) before this started acting up.

So, I was thinking of doing a full reinstall, but cannot find XPa. I have XPb for my second desktop.
Can I use XPb when for reinstalling and when it comes up to ask for the CDKey pop in the CDKey for XPa? I do have the key written down for XPa.

Will this work or is the key specific to the disc, even for installation purposes?
Can I install XPb fully in the desktop, then change my key after installation?

Thanks in advance.
 
it will work fine, seeing the key is legit, but registering it to activate the copy of XP, may run into a problem. I did the same, but my XP CD was scratched and one file would never copy, so I used another copy I got cheap at school, and used the old cd key, and it worked fine.
 
so, when installing with the second disc, simply use the key I want to use and activate with that?

is that how you did it?

THanks
 
A lot of the xp cds were tied to cd keys so they will not work with just any xp key unlike 2000 and NT4. Depending on when you got the cds and where you got them from, it is possible.
 
The only difference you need to worry about is if one version is a retail version and one is an OEM version. As long as they are the same, it will work fine. Individual keys are not tied to CDs.
 
Both are OEM, but I don't remember if the original CD was SP1 and the other one I have is definitely SP2.

Will that be a problem?
 
yes, both are legit keys and cd's.
will give it a try.
I'll hoping to try to boot it for one last time so I can try and back up files.
 
Ebola said:
A lot of the xp cds were tied to cd keys so they will not work with just any xp key unlike 2000 and NT4. Depending on when you got the cds and where you got them from, it is possible.

Only the original release of XP (non SP) was like that, and it wasn't key specific, it was revision specific. After the second revision, all the keys were interchangable provided you were using the same version of XP. Upgrade keys with upgrade CD's, retail keys with retail CD's, OEM keys with OEM CD's.
 
CrystalMethod said:
After the second revision, all the keys were interchangable provided you were using the same version of XP. Upgrade keys with upgrade CD's, retail keys with retail CD's, OEM keys with OEM CD's.

I too concur and can confirm this also . :D
 
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