[Alzeimer]

I was asked a question by one of my customer and I did not know the answer, I checked the internet for an answer but was not able to find a clear answer.

She (my customer) bought a used laptop (Dell Inspiron 1300) with Windows Home SP2 English, she is French and asked me if I could used the product key of the English version and install XP Home French instead.

Is it possible or are the product key assigned to the language also as well as the XP version and Service Pack



Thanks in advance for your input.

Edited by Alzeimer, 07 September 2012 - 01:15 PM.

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Hi,

AFAIK you can but you will need a XP Home French also from Dell, if you install a retail version of XP Home it will not accept the key you have on the sticker.

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

AFAIK you can but you will need a XP Home French also from Dell, if you install a retail version of XP Home it will not accept the key you have on the sticker.

[Alzeimer]

Hi,

AFAIK you can but you will need a XP Home French also from Dell, if you install a retail version of XP Home it will not accept the key you have on the sticker.

Thank you for the answer,

Just one question to clarify. I have reinstalled on Dell's, HP ect OEM versions using an OEM XP version not assign to any Company using their product key and never had any problem validating the XP version, take note they were the same language and service pack version as the sticker said. Can i do that if another language.

[SleepyDude]

Well I don't have real experience on this because I use VLK key at my work, but this is the official information from Microsoft.

From the page Preserving OEM Pre-Activation when Re-installing Windows XP

In order to reduce a significant source of piracy, Microsoft has disabled online activation for COA Keys that are attached to PCs that have been pre-activated by OEMs.

Another article Unable to Activate Windows XP and Vista with COA OEM Key Online Without Phone Activation.

The information I have is that if you install a DELL machine using a XP CD from Dell, windows will be automatically activated because the oem files included on the cd and the brand information on the computer BIOS.

Edited by SleepyDude, 07 September 2012 - 02:51 PM.

[Macboatmaster]

The information I have is that if you install a DELL machine using a XP CD from Dell, windows will be automatically activated because the oem files included on the cd and the brand information on the computer BIOS.

are already stored in the BIOS and the OEM CD will only work if it sees certain hardware.


I agree and previously it was possible to install the O/S from an OEM CD on more or less any computer but that was corrected sometime ago, for the same reason stated.

I DO NOT think it will work as the OEM identifiers include the language of the install and although the MUI (not available on download anyway or on normal retail sale) can be installed on XP Professional it was never available for XP Home

For instance the identifier for XP Home OEM in French is
76412 : XP Home - French (OEM)

Totally different form the identifier for the XP Home English.

and I believe, although I would be interested to see the result, that the French installation whilst it may install will not get further than that.

[Alzeimer]

Thank you all for the information, i will tell my customer all this and if she wants to try it I will let you know if it works at all.

Again thank you all for your replies.