ASUS Windows XP license key

Hello,

I wonder if anyone has an answer to the following question. My ASUS notebook (and as far as I know, all of them) contain the Windows XP license sticker at the bottom, with a license key. The sticker also has the ASUS text on it.

Would it be possible to use this key with an OEM version of Windows XP? I know that for some manufacturers (like Dell or IBM) you cannot use that companies license key with a plain and simple OEM version of Windows - which is kinda stupid.

The reason I am asking is, is it possible to install an OEM version with the key, so I would not need to use the restore CD, and without the need to buy another copy of XP.

Thanks
-Lenard

 

In short: yes, it's possible.


My A8Js came with german Windows and I wanted english. I took Win XP Pro CD that came with my friend's Dell, I installed it, upon activation used my key and everything is working perfectly !

 

The keys used between the retail and OEM versions differ. XP SP1 and SP2 release CDs also have different keys. These are the only scenarios though in which you should have any trouble.

 

Service packs do not affect keys. If it's from the same group of keys, it should work.

For XP, there are three types of keys: retail, OEM and VLK (volume licensing, ie: corporate). And naturally, you cannot interchange Home and Pro.

ex: You can use an XP PRO OEM SP1 key on an XP PRO OEM SP2 disk and vice versa, but you cannot use an XP PRO RETAIL SP1 box with an XP PRO OEM SP2 disk.

In some cases you can change languages and it won't complain, but it doesn't look too good if you're running a English XP when you're supposed to have a French XP license when you activate. This isn't to say it'll mess up your Windows, just that you wouldn't want to risk a few hundred dollars on something like that "just for fun"...

 

What I meant by my statement is. You can't use a newer SP2 key on a SP1 disc, it won't work. I've had difficulties doing this in the past. What does work though is a SP1 disc that has had SP2 slipstreamed.

 

Can we use ASUS' Win XP Pro license key to a slipstreamed SP2 corp cd?

 

No, you can't use an oem serial key on the corp edition of windows.

To get a fresh install of windows just restore with the original restore cd1 and then cd2 and then restart your laptop without inserting the driver/utilities cd.

 

I am trying to do the same thing as well but it doesn't seem to be working in my case. I have a dell oem winxp pro sp2 cd that I installed. It does not ask for product key during installation. Then, during the process of activating windows, it allows one to change the product key and I changed it to the one on the sticker under my ensemble Asus v6va. However, it won't accept this key for some reason. What is possibly the problem? The key is for oem winxp pro so it should work. The reason why I am doing this is because if I use the restore CDs, I have to convert it later from FAT32 to NTFS and for some reason my laptop gets really sluggish, especially during bootup. I want to use NTFS so I can have 4GB+ filesizes but the conversion really slows the computer down. I've also tried using partition magic to change the cluster sizes for 4k after conversion, but it doesn't really help.