Windows 2000 product key - please help!

J.S. Pill

Hi all.

My laptop died a few weeks ago and in the menatime I've been using an old desktop that a firend lent to me. This machine was running XP but the computer was a bit f**ked so I decided to format the Hard drives and install windows 2000.

I got a copy off a friend. He didn't have the product key to hand so I got what I thought was the product key from his computer from the my computer properties. This product key has 20 characters but when I tried to load 2000 from the boot up after formatting it prompts me for a 25 character product key.

What the hell is wrong!? Is there some generic 5 character sequence in every product key that i have to put in or are microsoft just taking the p*ss?

verbatim

First of all you shouldn't really be publically admitting piracy.
Secondly, why install an OS that is 7 years out of date?
Get some XP disks and use the licence key that came with your laptop. On Dells for example, the key is on a sticker on the bottom.

seamus

J.S. Pill wrote:

I got a copy off a friend. He didn't have the product key to hand so I got what I thought was the product key from his computer from the my computer properties. This product key has 20 characters but when I tried to load 2000 from the boot up after formatting it prompts me for a 25 character product key.

2 things:
If the machine had XP on it, then the key that was on the machine would have been a Windows XP key, not a Windows 2000 key. You can't use a Windows XP key to install 2000, and vice-versa.

Secondly, unlike in Windows 98, when you go in to Computer Properties in 2k and XP, you won't see the product key. You'll see something else entirely. Think of it as a system identification number, unique to your install of Windows. This is useless for you and cannot be used to reinstall Windows.

You'll need to get the CD key that your mate used to originally install the copy of XP on his old desktop. Nothing else is legal.

Capt'n Midnight

If the laptop had a copy of OEM windows - with the sticker attached to the laptop, then the license is now dead too ( sucks big time )

Your mates computer most likely had a windows license if it was a brand name one, but unless either of you bought another copy (and it isn't installed anywhere else) then you can only use the version that came with that machine.

Capt'n Midnight

verbatim wrote:

First of all you shouldn't really be publically admitting piracy.
Secondly, why install an OS that is 7 years out of date?
Get some XP disks and use the licence key that came with your laptop. On Dells for example, the key is on a sticker on the bottom.

Until last week your only choice was another OS that was only 6 years out of date
Or a trial version of a server OS that expires after 6 months.

And using the laptops license key on any other computer is piracy since you can't move OEM license - Oh the the ironing.

If the laptop is fixed then you can re-install windows on it.

sceptre

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Until last week your only choice was another OS that was only 6 years out of date

Indeed. Of course, six years ago it wasn't out of date, nor was win2k seven years ago, hence they can't be six and seven years out of date respectively. How long they are out of date depends on when they became out of date.

And frankly, while win2k isn't the latest or greatest, it's still easily more than adequate for most uses and users.

J.S. Pill

Thanks for all that guys,

I don't think there's much prospect of getting the 2000 product key from my mate anytime soon as he's out of the country for the next few weeks, he built his PC himself so there's no product key on it (the sequence in the my computer properties looked a lot like a product key to me - should have checked in hindsight).

I can possibly get the XP cd from the guy who lent me his PC - the product key is on the top of the machine. He couldn't find it it at the time and thats one of the main reasons why i tried to install 2000 - no-one else (even me) seemed to have their OS cds.

So in the event that I do manage to get his XP cd do I need to reformat the PC seeing as 2000 is kind of half installed already??

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

If the laptop had a copy of OEM windows - with the sticker attached to the laptop, then the license is now dead too ( sucks big time )

Your mates computer most likely had a windows license if it was a brand name one, but unless either of you bought another copy (and it isn't installed anywhere else) then you can only use the version that came with that machine.

I take it then that I can't just ask my parents to post up the CD and product key for their computer at home then (brand name computer - compaq)??

thund3rbird_

did you try searching for <snip> in google ? (with quotes)

zilog_jones

You can't use the same product keys on multiple computers, unless they're Volume License Keys which I'm sure your parents do not have

If the laptop had a copy of OEM windows - with the sticker attached to the laptop, then the license is now dead too ( sucks big time )

It's not really "dead" - you'll just have to ring Microsoft to get the laptop re-activated because they won't activate them online any more... or something.

If you used Aida32 (forget which version) before writing over the XP installation on that desktop, you could have retrieved the product key.

Capt'n Midnight

thund3rbird_ wrote:

did you try searching for <snip> in google ? (with quotes)

zilog_jones wrote:

It's not really "dead" - you'll just have to ring Microsoft to get the laptop re-activated because they won't activate them online any more... or something.

If you used Aida32 (forget which version) before writing over the XP installation on that desktop, you could have retrieved the product key.

<sigh> you can't use an OEM copy on any other machine.
Just because it's possible to get a copy of windows activated by lying over the phone doesn't make it legal, ( I'd be fairly sure that is fraud )

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.html - will allow you to see your serial number instead of the shorter version.

Capt'n Midnight

J.S. Pill has a loan of a PC with an XP COA on it.

So it's ok to reinstall that version of windows on it again. Provided you can find the appropiate CD, eg: may OEM CD's like DELL check the BIOS and may refuse to install on some other Brands. And you can't swap Home / Pro

As for installing 2000 , only allowed if you have an XP Pro license.
http://download.microsoft.com/documents/uk/licensing/faq/downloads/microsoft-windows-oem-eula-changes.doc

Use of Previous Version of Software (Windows XP Professional only). This OEM EULA consists of a license to use one copy of Windows XP Professional. If you acquire PCs licensed for Windows XP Professional, then you are licensed to use identified previous versions of Windows Operating System Product(s) in lieu of Windows XP Professional (Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional, Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0 or Microsoft® Windows® 98 (Second Edition).

If you have XP home you have no downgrade rights.

You can get a 6 month trial copy of Windows server 2003 if all else fails.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/trial/default.mspx

J.S. Pill

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.html - will allow you to see your serial number instead of the shorter version.

I think this is my best bet - I have access to my friend's computer (the one that has 2000 on it) so I'll just get that application on a USB stick and run it on his machine tomorrow.

Thanks again guys

I more quick question regarding 2000 vs XP: Would most of the spyware and viruses that are flying around today be targeted specifically at machines that run XP? If true, would running 2000 mean I'd be slightly less prone to viruses etc?? Maybe a stupid question but I'm no expert on this type of thing.

J.S. Pill

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.html - will allow you to see your serial number instead of the shorter version.

I think this is my best bet - I have access to my friend's computer (the one that has 2000 on it) so I'll just get that application on a USB stick and run it on his machine tomorrow.

Thanks again guys

I more quick question regarding 2000 vs XP: Would most of the spyware and viruses that are flying around today be targeted specifically at machines that run XP? If true, would running 2000 mean I'd be slightly less prone to viruses etc?? Maybe a stupid question but I'm no expert on this type of thing.

aidan_walsh

Would most of the spyware and viruses that are flying around today be targeted specifically at machines that run XP? If true, would running 2000 mean I'd be slightly less prone to viruses etc??

Unless its specifically targetting a feature that was only introduced in XP, there is always a high chance that the exploit can also be used on previous versions of Windows, since the APIs are similar.

Capt'n Midnight

Windows 95/98 are immune to some Windows nt/2000/xp exploits because they lack the features or use a different code base. Then again they have rakes of other problems.

Microsoft frequently release patches for more than one version of windows, showing the problem was there before. If I didn't have a life I'd set up an old NT 3.5 box to see just how old some of the holes were.

Roughly half of microsofts patches are for IE or media player or other similar app or VB or ActiveX or Outlook Express so in a lot of cases you it don't matter which os you used. And similar for office holes.

XP has a lite firewall, 2000 don't have any ( OK there is something you can set up - but no one does ) and both ignore outgoing stuff so a third party firewall is recomended

zilog_jones

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

<sigh> you can't use an OEM copy on any other machine.
Just because it's possible to get a copy of windows activated by lying over the phone doesn't make it legal, ( I'd be fairly sure that is fraud )

<sigh-er> I interpreted "then the license is now dead too" as you saying that license is now totally unusable, even on the said laptop it came from. It doesn't really make sense to me in the context of using it on another machine. And I was clearly talking about re-activating it on the laptop.

From my experience of re-installing Windows XP on many a PC (mostly Compaq with OEM licenses), I often had to ring Microsoft to activate the license.

J.S. Pill

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

Worked perfectly - thanks!!!