I'm sure a lot of you have gone through the process of installing a new OS (XP in this case): put the CD in, do a format, and let 'er go. In most cases, before you get too far along, it asks you for the registration number (off the COA sticker) and if you don't have a good one, it stops.

A few years ago, I bought (eBay) a Dell restore CD, with SP3 on it. It came with a good, unused COA sticker, so I installed it. This particular one lets you install the whole thing and doesn't ask for the number until you try to activate it 30 days later.

Using the Magical Jellybean Keyfinder, I'm able to look at the key any time I want.

A few days ago, I was given a couple of Dell Optiplexes with flakey hard drives. I installed some drives I had laying around and installed XP (each computer had their own COA sticker attached). Hmmm. The little window warning you how long you had to activate it never came up. Using Keyfinder, I was told that there was already a key installed, and it was one I had seen before. Same thing for two computers (so far). Strange.

Last month, I was at a flea market and there was a guy selling used laptops. Apparently, he would service them and take them in for trade-ins, and now he wanted to dump some. Most of them were gone, but I did find a Dell D600 that would make a pretty good internet cruiser so I bought it. It was only $20, so how could I go wrong? Had a fresh copy of XP installed (by him, I presume) and a good COA sticker.

Brought it home and fired it up and, to my astonishment, it had the same registration key as the one referred to above. Three computers (so far), same registration key, never manually entered.

So ... is this some sort of "magic" CD that installs a pre-activated copy of XP? I could imagine it would be used by corporate site-licensed guys to do a lot of installs, but I never heard of it.

Anyone have any clues?

Hmmm.

From the Magical Jellybean website:

Does this mean the OEM key is right there on the CD? If so, I probably got one of those. Or do they use a regular CD and enter the OEM key?

And cloning a drive to install in another PC (with the same mobo) will usually work, too.

On every Dell PC I have ever owned, the key was automatically installed from the OEM CD. I have never needed to type it in, or activate later. It just works.

I've done XP restores from a Dell Restore CD for a D620 laptop on several computers, Dell and otherwise, laptop, desktop, etc... I've never had to enter a key, and they all show the same key after installation. No issues with Windows Updates, Service Packs, etc. With Vista and newer (and especially 7 and 8) the license validation process is much more stringent.

Normal for the Dell CD and Dell hardware IDs to match-up during the Windows installation via the Dell restore CD.

It's not a magic CD, as say, you try using it on an HP computer and it won't work.

The CD I have from a Dell Latitude D620 seems to work just fine on any computer OEM or DIY.

Me too.

I use that CD because it's already got SP3, so the update process goes faster once you get it installed and connected.

Yes, it also works on non-Dell hardware but, IIRC, those computers had to be activated and a different (presumably legit) registration key had to be entered.

It makes sense, but I just never heard of an install CD that had the registration key built into it. I learn something new every day.

As other have said, it's manufacturer specific; a Dell XP CD will install XP onto any Dell machine from about 2000 or newer, no key needed. It will not work on a Lenovo or an HP, but there are similar disks for Lenovo and HP.

Ditto for Vista, for machines 2005 or newer, or for Windows 7 on most machines from early 2009 or so.

In the case of Windows 7, you can convert the disks pretty easily -- you just need the product key and the "whatever.xrm-ms" key file that matches your manufacturer's BIOS... I've got a mix of Lenovo and Dell machines, and rather than keeping several different Windows 7 disks around I just keep a USB stick with the universal 64-bit installer and utilize the keys matching the hardware I'm (re)installing.

From a practical, if not legal, perspective the machine doesn't need to get the OS it originally came with, but it does need to be new enough to have plausibly gotten that OS -- putting Windows 7 on a 2006-vintage machine requires a regular product key.

--

The whole system changes under Windows 8; I haven't looked into the details of it.

XP is certainly not a "new" OS. It's already End of Life. Support for it ends early next year.

Yep.

So what?

This was already discussed in this forum a while ago.

*So* it would be wise to use a non EOL OS. If your primary motivation (which you never mentioned) is price, choose linux (free).

Given his limited internet use, not as unwise as it is for many. I would hope he takes to heart the advice to not use IE after EOL (honestly, it's good advice to avoid IE in general except on sites that absolutely require it), and that he uses a third-party software firewall if on untrusted networks.

Chrome.

ZoneAlarm.

There you go. Much as I find the jump to Vista or 7 worth it from a UX perspective, that combination should keep you OK for a lot of things (and when one or both of those drop XP support, you've potentially got Firefox, or Opera, plus a comparable software firewall -- which I haven't followed as I no longer support anyone using XP, but there at least used to be alternatives and I'd be surprised if there weren't.)

For many people, Flash quitting XP support may be an issue as well, although I'd imagine in your case you're going to just disable it, if you've got it installed at all.

Linux + Wine or CrossOver is probably your next step on older hardware once XP goes a couple steps further to the unsupported.