[GMVSHORT]

dsenette,

I thought I used the key from the CD jacket to install XP on reformatted drive. However, in trying to verofy I could not find it.

OEM CD was the CD that shipped with Dell box - has OEM in product license.
What I am guessing is a RETAIL version does not have OEM in product license.

The KEY/License info I have is off Belarc Advisor, I did not use as I did not notice it until much later after I had already installed the OS. If I had of noticed it I probably would of tried using it just to see what would happen..

This was two months ago (end of Janurary) and now I can not find or prove where I got the KEY that I used to install the OS..

[Advertisements]

ok well...one thing is known for a fact....the dell recovery disk is an OEM license and the key that's used for it is tied to that machine, that key is the one that's on the sticker on the side of the dell computer

with belarc have you verified that the key in use on the dell is the same as the key on the COA sticker on the dell? (sorry there's a lot of stuff in this thread and it's a little hard to track)

if the key used on the NON DELL computer doesn't match that of the COA on the side of the DELL, then you're at least in the clear on the dell....but we need to verify where the key used in the NON-DELL came from before you go too far

[dsenette]

ok well...one thing is known for a fact....the dell recovery disk is an OEM license and the key that's used for it is tied to that machine, that key is the one that's on the sticker on the side of the dell computer

with belarc have you verified that the key in use on the dell is the same as the key on the COA sticker on the dell? (sorry there's a lot of stuff in this thread and it's a little hard to track)

if the key used on the NON DELL computer doesn't match that of the COA on the side of the DELL, then you're at least in the clear on the dell....but we need to verify where the key used in the NON-DELL came from before you go too far

[GMVSHORT]

dsenette,

sorry for long delay in reply..

Facts ---
Product Key on MS sticker on side of Dell box (I'll call DELL-2) is not the key that Belarc Advisor listed with it's OEM license.

On the other PC (also a DELL, I'll call DELL-1) there is not an MS sticker. On Dell-1 prior to HD reformat - Belarc Advisor listed a license (no "OEM" within it), thus I believe this was a Retail version..
However, after the HD reformat I used the only XP CD available (a DELL CD - both PC's are DELL) that gave it the license w/"OEM" contained within it. This I discovered later and it is that "OEM" license I want to change to the Retail? license (listed by Belarc Advisor).

Note - neither Product Key listed by Belarc Advisor matches the Product Key on the MS sticker on the side of Dell-2. And, at this moment (over a month later) I cannot say where I got the Product Key from I used to load XP on Dell-1. Maybe the reinstall CD did not need a Product Key... I'd have to do another HD reformat to see what happens..

None the less, I still need to change Dell-1's XP license to the one that Belarc Advisor listed!

[dsenette]

sorry work got busy and i lost you for a minute

unless they bought a retail version later, then both dells are OEM licenses

Facts ---
Product Key on MS sticker on side of Dell box (I'll call DELL-2) is not the key that Belarc Advisor listed with it's OEM license

then someone had reformatted this PC before and used another disk/COA....the license key on the side of that computer IS the key that belongs on that computer and is the one that should be used during install. during boot up on this PC press f12 (there should be a prompt to press fsomething to get into the boot options...) see if there's a recovery option in that list of options. this is typical of a dell system that doesn't ship with disks, they build in a recovery partition that can be used to do a destructive restore (format/reinstall) to put it back to factory defaults.

On the other PC (also a DELL, I'll call DELL-1) there is not an MS sticker. On Dell-1 prior to HD reformat - Belarc Advisor listed a license (no "OEM" within it), thus I believe this was a Retail version..
However, after the HD reformat I used the only XP CD available (a DELL CD - both PC's are DELL) that gave it the license w/"OEM" contained within it. This I discovered later and it is that "OEM" license I want to change to the Retail? license (listed by Belarc Advisor).

the lack of COA sticker may suggest that this is the PC that that disk belongs to, but maybe not...a lot of times when they send a recovery disk, they don't bother to put the COA since the disk won't ask for it anyway.

[GMVSHORT]

dsenette,

sorry for long delay to get reply posted.. I've been working virus/issues on my HOME PC.

I did check boot-up options - can use last good config, otherwise no recovery options available there. Thus no recovery partition on HD. The only recovery option is to use Dell's reinstall CD.

Is a product's unique license number tied to a specific/unique product key?

[GMVSHORT]

Dsenette,

Still looking for answers..

I believe the XP CD has a fixed license number associated to it as it istalled with "OEM" contained within it..

If I use the XP CD with the COA on side of DELL-2 box it will install with that license number. This is the license number, but not the product key that Balarc Advisor reported in the profile for that PC.

However, since I only have one XP CD and I used it to install on the Dell-1 box it now has the the same number (containing "OEM" on it, which is not what Belarc Advisor reported in the profile for that PC, prior to the REFORMAT.

Thus, I still need to change DELL-1's license number to what it was prior to the reformat.

So now we have done a complete 360. I have provided all the answers you requested and now I request from GTG a resolution. Please provide a solution to remove/mod subkey from registry.

[dsenette]

well the problem is that, you've stated that the key reported by belarc didn't match the COA sticker on the side of PC2 right? so at SOME POINT someone reformatted this computer. now where did they get the key they used when they reformatted? why wasn't the key on the COA used? who did the format? this is a question that needs to be answered by someone before you can even begin to find out what the real key is for PC1. is what you found with belarc on that one the real one?

I believe the XP CD has a fixed license number associated to it as it istalled with "OEM" contained within it..

the license itself isn't tied to the CD....though i think you're saying that it automatically enters the license info when you install it


does the license key that was automatically entered on PC1 when you formatted/reinstall match the license key on the COA sticker of PC2?

[GMVSHORT]

Dsenette,

With my little bit of knowledge this is my take.
License number and product key are two different items.

The "OEM" license is installed on Dell-2 and according to Belarc Advisor the product key contained within IS NOT the product key on the case sticker.

The "OEM" license that loaded to Dell-1 when I did the reinstall of XP using the only XP CD (Dell reinstall of OS) available and using a different product key IS NOT the license or key that was reported by Belarc Advisor.

Now I can not say who or when changes were done. These PC's came with the home business that my brother-in-law purchased 5+ years ago. And since then there has not been any OS problems until now. I can only surmise that the original owner(s) made the changes or had them made and they kept or lost the software.

Since these systems have been maintained w/auto window's updating with the license/key they have had for at least the last 5+ years it seems that it would not be beneficial to not make a change to the internal license or key now.

So lets go!
Please provide a solution that I can use --
** to remove the 2 extra subkeys I created while trying to modify the subkey with the incorrect value (license number) in the registry.
** to modify the subkey value (license number) replacing with value (license number) that was in effect last 5+ year.

Thanks for your time and HELP!

[dsenette]

License number and product key are two different items

incorrect...the terminology being used here is referring to the same items the product key is the license number...the other term being used COA is the certificate of authenticity, this is a sticker that comes on EVERY package that contains a windows disk. typically an OEM manufacturer will remove that sticker from the disk package and apply it to the case for safe keeping. OEM is "Original Equipment Manufacturer".

The "OEM" license that loaded to Dell-1 when I did the reinstall of XP using the only XP CD (Dell reinstall of OS) available and using a different product key IS NOT the license or key that was reported by Belarc Advisor.

does the key that this process used on dell-1 match the key that's on the COA sticker of dell-2?

[GMVSHORT]

Dsenette,

OK.. Your saying that the "product key is the license number". Then when I entered the product key it was actually translated to the license number that I see in Belarc Advisor, correct?
As an example:
product key "N6XYZ-AMY6B-WESRT-ASSGD-22JHD" would translate to
license number "12525-OEM-0005268-23554"

Then on the DELL-1 PC reinstall it created the "OEM" license from the associated product key which was reported by Belarc Advisor.

The Dell-1 product key does not match the product key on the DELL-2 COA.

[dsenette]

ok....we've had another instance of confusion...

the license number you're talking about is different than what i was thinking you were talking about...i assumed you were attempting to use product key and license number interchangeably (as many people do)....that license number is a number that's generated by an algorithm during install. it's "hashed" from the product key to verify that you've got an authentic key. (basically when you enter the product key during install, the system does some math on that number and comes up with another number, for it to be a valid key the second number has to be within a certain range of numbers)

that license number that you got from belarc isn't going to do you any good.

download Magic Jellybean and run it on both machines...this will tell you the product key that's in use on both of them. check to see if they're both the same, and if either matches the COA on dell-2

[GMVSHORT]

Dsenette,

I just tried to DL Keyfinder to Dell-1. The AV - AntiVir Guard says kefinder.exe contains a recogonized patter of the SPR/TooLPassView.XA pgm and suggests that I Deny Access..

Your thoughts...

Note, I tried to get to this topic on that PC to give you the above info, but could not.

From my current experiences with malware (conficker/DownaDup) not getting to the GeekToGo site meant that the PC is infected..

Since I'm already infected. I will ignore AntiVir Guard and proceed.

Get back with info on both Dell shortly!

[dsenette]

i can't speak to the part about you not being able to get here from that computer, but MagicJelly bean does get flagged by most AV's because of how it does it's do, i've used the product numerous times and not had any issues with infection

[GMVSHORT]

Dsenette,

I got a few more Alerts from AVIRA on Dell-1, but ignored them.
I ran without on Dell-2 without and Alerts from McAfee.

Keyfinder reported both have installed "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" with it's associated Product Key. The Product Key on Dell-1 and on Dell-2 the same and it is not the Product Key on the COA on Dell-2's case.

[dsenette]

awesome....so we're now even more confused. so now we've got two installations with the same product key, one COA sticker (with no matching key in use) and nothing else.

someone has obviously already reinstalled the OS on dell-2 since the COA doesn't match. the dell recovery disk PROBABLY will not ask for the product key so i wouldn't suggest using it to reinstall on dell-2

that disk MAY go to dell-1 and at the moment we'll assume it does since it's definitely using a different product key than dell-2 should be. so to fix your odd issues on this one, i'd suggest a format/reinstall as the quickest option (assuming you haven't gone through the commotion of installing a bunch of applications etc...)

for dell-2 if you can get your hands on an XP home OEM disk you can use that disk to reinstall the OS and use the product key that's on the COA on dell-2's case