Will my Official XP Home Serial work with a downloaded copy

[oliphill187]

I have a laptop with XP Home pre installed on it. I can't find the CD anywhere. The serial number is on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop. I'm currently downloading a copy of XP Home Retail (With SP2) from demonoid. Will my serial number work? The version installed on the laptop doesnt have sp2 included, so any ideas if it will work or not?

Also, just wondered, is this technically legal?

Oli

[BlackDiamondJr]

Only if the CD Key originally belonged to XP Home Retail.

CD Keys are not interchangeable between Retail, OEM and Corporate versions without modification of the PID in the setupp.ini file.

It makes no difference which Service Pack is integrated.

Chances are that your laptop has an OEM installation, in which case the serial number will not be accepted by the downloaded Retail version.

[oliphill187]

Yeah it is the OEM version with my laptop.. Hmm, so the only thing I can do is try to find OEM version on the web?

Thanks, Oli

[BlackDiamondJr]

There is NO difference in code between WinXP Home Retail and WinXP Home OEM. They are both EXACTLY the same, the only difference is a setting in the setupp.ini file that tells the installer whether it should act as OEM, Retail, or Corp.

This also means that you can edit the setupp.ini file in the I386 folder to make any version of XP Home you want. The PID tells the Windows Installer what version of XP Home this is. The first 5 numbers set the version of XP (Corp, Retail, or OEM) and the last 3 set what type of key it will accept (VLK, Retail, OEM).

The different PIDs are as follows (the first 5 numbers that are originally in your file may be different than these, but these should work):

XP Corp / VLK = 51883 270
XP Retail / Retail Key = 55277 000
XP OEM / OEM Key = 82503 OEM

These 2 sets of numbers can be mixed and matched. So for instance, change your PID to "51883000", and now you have a Corp version of XP Home that will accept normal Retail keys. Conversely, a PID of "55277OEM" will identify your XP Home CD as Retail, but still allow you to use the OEM serial...and so on.


Or simply borrow a copy of XP Home OEM and make a copy for yourself.
The problem is that most OEM manufacturer's installation CDs are proprietary.

[lumbie]

hi would this work with windows media cntre to make it think it was a home version of xp

thanks lumbie

[BlackDiamondJr]

Windows Media Center is an oddball. Since there is only one version then there is only a single PID. I could be incorrect but I don't think it would work.
Of course you can always try it if you have the time and the hard drive.

Both XP Home and Pro have three versions, thus they each have their own PIDs.

Windows XP Pro:

XP Corp / VLK = 51883 270
XP Retail / Retail Key = 51882 335
XP OEM / OEM Key = 82503 OEM

[lumbie]

hi is there any way to make windows xp media centre edition think its a xp home edition as i have looked for a i386 folder in the windows folder on the hd and cannot find it

thanks lumbie

[BlackDiamondJr]

The I386 folder is in the root of the CD, not the one on the hard drive.

It is extremely doubtful that you will find success here.