XP product key question

D

Donny31

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
131
Reaction score
1
Hi all

I do feel a tad stupid about this whole story....:o

I used the incorrect method to format my Acer laptop a few weeks ago. I was unaware of the "hidden" partition containing the XP files and simply used a friends XP disc to install.

The product key on the bottom of my machine is now not accepted by Windows and I'm currently unable to register my "legit" version of XP. Acer wants R500 to send me a disc which would solve the problem but I was hoping there could be a cheaper/faster (also legal) way of going about this.

Thanks

Don
 
Ask a friend for a legal CD key, change the product key and put that CD key in and wait a few months, then change the product key again to the one under your laptop.
 
Is your laptop still under warranty?

The reason I ask this is to determine the route to be take to get your system back to legitimacy

Also, is this Win XP Pro...retail, oem, Corporate, etc...????
 
Last edited:
You probably using a Retail CD and your Laptop has an OEM key, so you just need a OEM CD to use the oem key.
 
Donny31 said:
Hi all

I do feel a tad stupid about this whole story....:o

I used the incorrect method to format my Acer laptop a few weeks ago. I was unaware of the "hidden" partition containing the XP files and simply used a friends XP disc to install.

The product key on the bottom of my machine is now not accepted by Windows and I'm currently unable to register my "legit" version of XP. Acer wants R500 to send me a disc which would solve the problem but I was hoping there could be a cheaper/faster (also legal) way of going about this.

Thanks

Don
Click to expand...

So you deleted the recovery partition? :eek: The hidden partition? OMW Well when you turn a Acer machine on after purchase you are prompted to create recovery disks usually 2 DVD or 13 CD. Did you NOT create them? If you did you can boot of the recovery disks then install your OEM version of your OS again. Short of that I will pay the R500 and write it off to experiece:D
 
I would ask them to pay me to use those recover discs. Just do the clean install with the key update. You also then won't have all those pre-installed applets that run in the background and use up all your resources. Just download the latest drivers from the Acer website and install what you need.
 
These new recovery partitions are a pain - but then again we get great pleasure at work nuking them when upgrading the OS to LINUX.

But anyway, for my brother in law I made 5 copies of his recovery disks - he has an HP and it only allows you to make one set and thats it. He has 2, and I have the other 3 scattered across the country. What a pain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X