XP Install question

Hello,

I'll try to keep this as short as possible and still make sense. Here
goes... I have a friend who had 6 Dell computers networked at a business.
The business had folded and this friend now has one of these computers to
use at home. It has Windows XP Pro installed. Anyway, this installation of
XP really needs to be reinstalled. It is a mess. I do have the product key
code that is pasted to the side of the machine.

I do not have the original disc for this installation of XP. This person
says after looking everywhere, it can't be found anywhere. I'm sure it is a
legitimate copy of XP installed. At any rate, I've read where you can
reinstall XP without going through the activation if you copy a couple of
folders, and if the hardware hasn't changed. Nothing has changed in this
computer since it's been new, so that's not an issue.

My question is, can I use the copy of Windows XP Home that I have for my
Dell, install it on this machine using their product key found on the side
of the machine? I'm assuming not, especially since my copy is XP Home and
what was originally on this machine is XP Pro. Is there anyway to do this?

Thanks!

Doug

Wrong news group for this question.

This is an Excel NG.

Try over in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general


Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 18:19:25 -0500, "Doug" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I'll try to keep this as short as possible and still make sense. Here
>goes... I have a friend who had 6 Dell computers networked at a business.
>The business had folded and this friend now has one of these computers to
>use at home. It has Windows XP Pro installed. Anyway, this installation of
>XP really needs to be reinstalled. It is a mess. I do have the product key
>code that is pasted to the side of the machine.
>
>I do not have the original disc for this installation of XP. This person
>says after looking everywhere, it can't be found anywhere. I'm sure it is a
>legitimate copy of XP installed. At any rate, I've read where you can
>reinstall XP without going through the activation if you copy a couple of
>folders, and if the hardware hasn't changed. Nothing has changed in this
>computer since it's been new, so that's not an issue.
>
>My question is, can I use the copy of Windows XP Home that I have for my
>Dell, install it on this machine using their product key found on the side
>of the machine? I'm assuming not, especially since my copy is XP Home and
>what was originally on this machine is XP Pro. Is there anyway to do this?
>
>Thanks!
>