lost xp cd

lemd

Hi all, I have a question for ye, apoligies if it has been asked before.

I recently got a second hand laptop from a friend with win xp pro installed but no windows cd, the coa and product key are on the underside of the laptop. I want to reinstall xp to get rid of all the crap that is already there.
My question is: is it legal to use the laptop product key with a different windows disc? as far as i understand the key is your licence and not the disc, correct me if i'm wrong.
Any help would be appriciated
Cheers

MunsterCycling

Licence belongs to the machine / COA not the disc, work away and ring the M$ monkeys if you need activation.

MC

5uspect

Is it an OEM like a Dell? IIRC you can just boot any XP Pro CD and it will install fine since the product key is imprinted on the BIOS.

MunsterCycling

Nope, never heard of the product key in the bios. new one for me.

MC

Capt'n Midnight

actually it's the other way around
a Dell XP CD will complain if you try to install it on another brand of computer because it doesn't recognise the BIOS

The key for a recovery image would be in the CD not the bios

you can use magic jelly bean keyfinder to backup the oem key.
you can't use a different brand of XP cd as it won't recognise the BIOS, but a generic OEM might do


a lot of laptops did not come with CD's
depending on the brand you may only have an image file on the HDD

or look for the pc decrapifier to remove junk

5uspect

That must be it. Wasn't too sure about it.

lemd

cheers