OEM License

Overheal

Trying to revive an old machine and I want to give it a kick in the pants by nuking the drive and re-installing XP.

But, Im wondering how the OEM Licenses work? If I use a Generic XP Home CD for instance can I use the Home OEM License from this machine to do so? How does that all work?

Ruu_Old

The OEM license is tied to the motherboard as far as I know and will work that machine only.

Overheal

I understand. Nothing is being changed about the machines configuration. But I mean if I were to reformat the hard drive entirely and install from a generic XP Home Installation CD would the OEM Key still recognize the machine?

MarkR

If that disc came with that computer then it should work fine.

bubonicus

Install the same version of windows(home, Pro....) from any disc. As long as the version is the same the OEM licence will work.

It's the licence you pay for not the disc.

conceited

Your saying you want to use a different cd to install windows but you want to use your old oem cd key you got with the computer when you bought it.

Right?

[edit]
Looks like the lads answerd it .
[edit/]

Overheal

conceited wrote: »

Your saying in you want to use a different cd to install windows but you want to use your old oem cd key you got with the computer when you bough it.

Right?

yup. its an XP Home OEM Key so the plan is to install XP Home. Very old computer, Im not even going to waste the energy trying to find a disk; Im just writing it off and getting another elsewhere. As for the recovery drive on the machine its totally blank: either someone deleted it or a virus did (and this computer is chock full of those let me tell you)

conceited

ya your grand so fire away.

Capt'n Midnight

if XP is already installed then backup wpa.dbl to preserve activation with the hash from that hardware, it may not work and won't work on anyother PC

note you may have problems using an oem cd from a different brand of PC

Overheal

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

if XP is already installed then backup wpa.dbl to preserve activation with the hash from that hardware, it may not work and won't work on anyother PC

note you may have problems using an oem cd from a different brand of PC

I was just fetching the retail CD to be honest. Is that a problem?

where can I find wpa.dbl and do I just pop that back into place after the reinstall; will it just be activated after I do that?

MunsterCycling

Normally re-activation will either work as normal over the net or a quick call to our Indian friends will sort it out for you, no real need to use the wpa.dpl but it can't hurt.

Location info

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1151566,00.asp

Overheal

Well it turned out ok even though there was an apparent snag. When I went to grab the OS's product key using magic Jelly Bean. The key it pulled up turned out to be invalid when I went to do the online activation even though it worked for the install

fortunately though my own shortsightedness washed away momentarily I found the sticker on the PC Case and that worked the treat for activation.

And no the 2 keys did not match. So I have no idea what happened there. Anyway its done now. That computer could sure use some ram though: After installing AVG its slowed to a crawl.

Overheal

Overheal wrote: »

Well it turned out ok even though there was an apparent snag. When I went to grab the OS's product key using magic Jelly Bean. The key it pulled up turned out to be invalid when I went to do the online activation even though it worked for the install

fortunately though my own shortsightedness washed away momentarily I found the sticker on the PC Case and that worked the treat for activation.

And no the 2 keys did not match. So I have no idea what happened there. Anyway its done now. That computer could sure use some ram though: After installing AVG its slowed to a crawl.

The key which the keyfinder found was the OEM SLP (System Locked Preinstallation) key. This key is tied to the BIOS on the motherboard and allows you to make as many changes as you like as long as the motherboard is left intact. These keys will always fail to activate if you use it for a clean install.

When you use the key on the side of the case the activation reverts to the regular retail method (10 device categories checked, 7/10 needed for a pass).

Overheal

so, the key on the side is an OEM, but so long as I still have 7/10 of the original devices it will generate a new/the old SLP?

No, the SLP key is gone, it only applies to the installation which the vendor preinstalled. So if you check the key using Magical Jelly Bean you'll see the key you entered rather than the SLP one. Some branded OEM discs such as Dell discs automatically use the SLP key during the setup (therefore bypassing activation) but if you use a generic CD then only the key attached to the case will work.

The key on the side of the case is an OEM one but it follows the same guidelines as a retail install - it's tied to the ten hardware categories and not the BIOS. As long as you have 7 of the 10 devices that were in the machine when you installed and activated the OS then the activation is valid and you don't have to do it again.

This application allows you to check which devices are reporting themselves as changed.