no original xp cd but want to reinstall using product key

[dude_56013]

It's illegial asking for keys

He's not asking for keys. He's asking how to reinstall without his xp cd. That's not illegal in the least. Please think before posting.

 

[shappo]

He's not asking for keys. He's asking how to reinstall without his xp cd. That's not illegal in the least. Please think before posting.

thanks for that, yeah thats exactly what I want to do, I have no intention of being illegal. I have a key that I want to use so that i do not have to purchase another.

Hard drive swap should not matter. The "key" is tied to the MB, but it's not a brand specific type deal. Find yourself an OEM XP install disc (same version..i.e. home or pro, whichever...SP doesn't matter) and you should be good to go. You can torrent a non-cracked one, but that's where we stop on this forum since it's "technically" illegal (even though it'd be the same thing microsoft or hp would send you). You'd need to use google for any instructions on that.

ok that is good info, so if I can get another disk that is the same version I can use that then type in my product key. Sounds good. That leaves just one more problem. I do not know what version it is. The product key sticker is quite old and I cannot read the bit where it says "Windows XP ......" the previous owner was able to tell me that it is xp but not sure if its home or pro. Is there somewhere on the net where I can go and type in my key and it will tell me this info ? I couldn't find a site.

 

[Joel~]

If you can find the correct OS version to go with your product key, you should be fine. But I'm thinking that key is tied to the specific HP branded OS. I can't be certain on that though.

Not necessarily. Sometimes you simply need an OEM installation CD rather than a retail one.

 

[shappo]

Not necessarily. Sometimes you simply need an OEM installation CD rather than a retail one.

This is correct, I did some serious research last night and found this site:

http://www.thetechguide.com/howto/setuppini.html

which explains that you need a retail cd for retail keys and an oem cd for oem keys. It also explains how to make your existing cd accept retail/oem keys a great site.

Armed with this information I took a punt on which operating system my key was for and tried using an xp home cd to install windows on the laptop (after I had made it accept oem keys). When prompted to put in my key i did so and it worked ! so I am back in business. Thanks to everyone that helped me do this I am very appreciative.

 

[Russel1]

Excellent!