Windows XP key not accepted?
First off, the key is genuine I am not asking how to crack windows or anything like that.
Now the problem is that I have had to reinstall windows on my nephews Sony laptop after putting in a new hdd, he didn't have a recovery partition obviously, nor has he got the windows cd that came with it.
I thought this would be no problem, it has the key sticker on it, and I have reinstalled windows a few times like this and had no real problems, so I popped in my windows disc, and formatted and installed it.
The disc didn't accept the key as valid, I have had this problem before, so a trip to google sorted that problem and it installed and is running nicely.
However on previous occasions I have hooked them upto the internet and gone to the activation program and changed the key to the one that is on the sticker, but this key isn't being accepted, now I know with 5 mins work I can get this laptop running without wga/activation, but it has a legitimate key, and I am pretty sure that my nephew would like to be able to get updates, which using the current key isn't going to happen, so is there anything I can do about this? Perhaps edit the registry with the legit key and then activate?
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
normally due to you installing the wrong version of xp.
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Nope, the sticker says windows xp pro oem, and that is the disc I have.
Edit: just looked, and the sticker says "Windows XP Professional OEM Sony Corporation", surely the sony corp bit can't make a difference can it, my disc is still an oem one
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
there are 9 versions of xp afaik, also had what i thought was the correct oem cd and it wouldn't take the key, in the end the guy found his cd and it worked, both said oem so go figure.
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
That is one hell of an annoyance, they are functionally the same, no way of forcing this key, or am I going to have to hope that I can find and download a sony oem disc?
Edit: Also as I said I have had a couple of installs in the past where I have had to use a key from google initially, but upon internet activation putting the correct key in worked, why is this one different?
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
GoNz0
there are 9 versions of xp afaik, also had what i thought was the correct oem cd and it wouldn't take the key, in the end the guy found his cd and it worked, both said oem so go figure.
I've had the same issue. Grabbed some disks that came in to work that were spare - no joy. I even ended up trying a certain Pirate themed torrent site, wheree I found a Dell Windows XP OEM disk. That didn't work either.
Very frustrating, especially when your disk image taken before the wipe didn't save properly either...
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Yeah I've had exactly this before.
With Windows 7, you can use OEM install media and any key you like.
With Windows XP, you need to match the manufacturers' key and disc.
In the end, I asked around and someone donated me an XP OEM key. That's all I can advise really.
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Want to try out an old key I have? Just to see what version etc does work?
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
surely you just follow the instructions to phone up microsoft with the 50 digit number thing,
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Looking on MajorGeeks site, I saw some progs that will find, presumably from the registry, the relevant key for that cd. Might help? Think they were around a tenner, might have been a free one there.
Kumagoro may have had a point too; after all you are working hard to keep this legit here and you would of thought MS would want to assist that. Or I am I just being very naive! If MS UK had the same customer service skills as the US arm that might work...
Good luck and let us know what happened.
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Rang microsoft up, they said that as it is a sony oem copy the cannot and will not supply any support, and I had to contact sony (despite it being about the key),
so rang up a friendly indian, who despite being polite informed me that sony are not able to replace keys (not what I asked but still), nor are they able to send out copies of windows xp discs due to it being outdated, and tried to sell me a copy of 7.
Have ended up getting frustrated and spent 5 mins googling, now there is no problem, and it even passed wga checks.
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Quote:
Rang microsoft up, they said that as it is a sony oem copy the cannot and will not supply any support...
No, that is actually part of the OEM license. That's (partly) why it's cheaper.
I've had issues with XP OEM keys before. AFAIK the small OEM's use the standard XP OEM disc and a key from one will work with another. (Assuming same SKU) But the big OEM's have their own keys so a Dell key only works with a Dell disc etc. I am pleased to hear that this is no longer the case with Win 7. I've always thought that as it is the key you have to pay for, the installation ISO itself ought to be available as a download. (Then we could get rid of the tat that OEM's like Dell and Sony like to supply)
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Ahhh. Interesting learning on OEM keys.
Glad you got it sorted, annoying you had to exhaust so many avenues before doing what you were tempted to in the first place. :-)
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Golden Dragoon
Rang microsoft up, they said that as it is a sony oem copy the cannot and will not supply any support, and I had to contact sony (despite it being about the key),
so rang up a friendly indian, who despite being polite informed me that sony are not able to replace keys (not what I asked but still), nor are they able to send out copies of windows xp discs due to it being outdated, and tried to sell me a copy of 7.
Have ended up getting frustrated and spent 5 mins googling, now there is no problem, and it even passed wga checks.
Hi, just seen your thread and have a similar issue and was hoping you can help. I have two Sony Vaios, both of which have had new drives recently. I've tried reinstalling Windows using a Windows XP pro disk and the licence code on the laptop but both fail saying it's an invalid product key. Any ideas where I can get a Sony Corp version of Windows XP Professional so I can sue it with my product keys. Any information very welcome. Thanks in advance.
Martin
Re: Windows XP key not accepted?