lost xp home sp2 install cd

[talldude123]

i just noticed yesterday that i can find my xp home sp2 booklet, cd case, and plastic packaging, but i lost the cd!

Is it possible to get a new cd from microsoft, or use another persons xp home cd, and use my activation number?

 

[Osiris]

I do and yes you can too

 

[EricB]

burn a cd from you friend and use your serial

 

[talldude123]

my parents have an xp home install cd

so i can use their cd and use my install key?

 

[EricB]

my parents have an xp home install cd

so i can use their cd and use my install key?

yep. if it don't accept your number, use theirs. then when you get done, when you activate it and it don't go through, click change product key, then enter your serial. it will go through now

 

[Osiris]

sometimes rockxp brings up a different key thay what is listed with the pc itself so you might get lucky and find a serial that hasnt been used yet

 

[tractorboy]

you can also use magic jellybean , which will also allow you to swap xp cd keys , does not work in win 2000 or 2003

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

 

[Osiris]

yep. if it don't accept your number, use theirs. then when you get done, when you activate it and it don't go through, click change product key, then enter your serial. it will go through now

How does this work, Im confused

 

[tractorboy]

basically magic jellybean will let you view and change your encrypted cdkey from within windows, though you can only change the cd key in xp. You can not change the key in 2000 or 2003 with mjb. You can also view change the cd key in 98 and me.

here is an example, here in the shop I will get a pc in that has a
coa ( cd key , 5 groups of 5 alpha-numeric characters) on the side.
I BU the data then do a WAR ( wipe and reload ) of the HD.
I install xp with a " slipstreamed " version of xp that needs no intervention or user imput ( except for at the end of the text mode part, where xp asks to format ) . So the slipstream xp installs a cdkey, my cdkey. So after xp is installed I use MJB to exchange my cdkey for the one on the side, sometimes this does not work, especially if it is an OEM pc. Sometimes it does and it goes to the part where xp forces you to call and get a setting code that is ok. They ask you twenty question, then give you the setting code.

 

[EricB]

when I first started fixing computers, all I had was my gateway xp 2600 cd. nobody's serial would work on it, because they were made for gateway pc's only.

But I figure out if I put my serial in during the install part that it would accept it. but I didn't want that person using my serial. I would then activate it and the activation would not go through, because it isn't my hardware on my gateway.

I would then hit 'change product key ' option which shows up now. I put their original serial in. then the activation will go through..

I'd learned that this worked with all XP cd as I assemble a lot of them over the years. different versions of xp uses different keys. this is my workaround to installing xp on a cd that a certain key won't work