Thread: XP Home?

Bought a laptop off my bro but its not got any OS installed. Spoke to my mate who says that any copy of Xp home will work if you have a valid product key on the back which I do. D/L a copy of XP home yesterday but the key is invalid when I try to install. I know that there is Home and Home OEM edition and I've got the right one as far as I know. Am I missing something?

There are 4 versions of Xp. Home, Professional, Pro x64 and Media center. It should say on the sticker which version the key is valid for. Make sure that the operating system you install matches the sticker.

It should actually let you install the operating system though and then give you 30 days to register. Is it letting you do this? If not then maybe your install disc has something wrong with it or something.

Yeh it says XP home on the sticker and thats what I'm trying to install. I dont have to put the key in when asked so I can install it then have 30 days but either way it wont work with the key on the sticker on the back of the laptop.

Thats a bit odd. If its definitely a genuine valid key then it should let you install (or reinstall) as many times as you like on the same computer.

You might have to give microsoft a call, there should be a 0800 number to call when the key fails. They can sort it over the phone and give you a code to put in.

Cool. I'll try that, thanks.

I had this issue a while ago.

It all depends on the exact version of XP in the setupp.ini file on the disc. You can turn one version of XP into whichever incarnation you want by changing the PID key. All you do is copy the disc to hdd then change the setupp.ini file using notepad then re-author the iso using N-lite (nLite - Deployment Tool for the bootable Unattended Windows installation).

There is a pretty good guide and list of the various PIDs on the following page.

How to Change Windows XP Version Between Retail, OEM and Volume License Channel » My Digital Life

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by Buzzin2dmax

There is a pretty good guide and list of the various PIDs on the following page.

How to Change Windows XP Version Between Retail, OEM and Volume License Channel » My Digital Life

Hope this helps

Great site find mate. On that page there is also a link to directly download (or by torrent) just about any version of XP you like.

I've just got myself a new copy of XP Pro sp3 (I just had sp2 and had to add sp3 after). It'll save a lot of messing about when I have to reinstall again.