OEM key on retail windows xp?

[dominican2589]

I have a dell desktop with xp home. I lost the installation cd but still have my genuine windows key. if i download a version of xp home, could i use that as my installation cd and use the key that came with my desktop so that i can install xp again?

 

[Trotter]

Yes, as I have done it many times. I also use a retail copy of XP to repair OEM installations quite often.