Sold My PC, Still Have Win XP (but no serial)

[Spliff]

Does anyone know how I can install Windows without the serial number (as the stupid sticker was on the PC I sold a while back and forgot to record this) as I want to put it on my Mac w/Bootcamp.

Can MS phone support provide me with this at all? Or do I basically have another beer coaster?

 

[IDANNY]

sounds like a beer coster, unless you find some other means of obtaining a serial number.

 

[Mac-Addict]

Worthless. sorry. Unless as the iDanny said above.. you obtain a serial code.. *cough* *cough* *cough*

All I am doing is giving a link to a google page, nothing illegal here, ah who cares its microsoft.

 

[JNB]

If that copy of XP was still installed on the PC, you couldn't use it anyway. One license, one CPU...

 

[Decrepit]

Does anyone know how I can install Windows without the serial number (as the stupid sticker was on the PC I sold a while back and forgot to record this) as I want to put it on my Mac w/Bootcamp.

Can MS phone support provide me with this at all? Or do I basically have another beer coaster?

Technically speaking, it is illegal to run XP without a key. The key is licensed to the machine that the sticker was on. The person who bought your computer is using the legal key since they have it in their possession and it's tied to that computer.

If the CD you have was linked to the key on the machine, it is probably locked to only install on that brand of PC, so it won't matter much.

If your CD is generic enough that it can use any key, then you should be able to buy one cheaply at an online computer store.

Sorry, but that's the story.

 

[JNB]

If the CD you have was linked to the key on the machine, it is probably locked to only install on that brand of PC, so it won't matter much.

If your CD is generic enough that it can use any key, then you should be able to buy one cheaply at an online computer store.

Windows install CD's may be labeled with the OEM, but otherwise they're identical. It's never been brand-specific functionally. Other than that, you're dead on. He needs a new license.

 

[Mac-Addict]

If that copy of XP was still installed on the PC, you couldn't use it anyway. One license, one CPU...

Isnt that only for OEM versions? Which you can ring microsoft and say you upgraded some components, they give you a key you enter it and done.

 

[emikshe]

Like everyone else has been saying, yes if you did not get the CD Key before selling it (and uninstall XP from that computer) then you can't use the CD you still have legally.
If you want to stay legit, look into buying windows via a student if you know any at a university (not perfectly legit, but still far more legal than pirating), or OEM through a site like newegg.

Of course there are many many less-than-legit ways to get XP or Vista, and you can do those if you want, just be careful with security updates. With a Windows OS, you really need those security updates, but with an "alternative copy" of windows, you may not be able to get them.

 

[Spliff]

Lol, thanks for the replies guys but to explain the PC I sold was shot and was used for parts so therefore Windows wasn't even running on it.

It was my mistake for not copying the serial down before selling it as the guy wasn't even interested in Windows anyways, however I thought there was a way of recovering the serial. It is an HP machine, and the CD I have is an "HP Windows" CD and not a MS Windows copy.

 

[emikshe]

Lol, thanks for the replies guys but to explain the PC I sold was shot and was used for parts so therefore Windows wasn't even running on it.

It was my mistake for not copying the serial down before selling it as the guy wasn't even interested in Windows anyways, however I thought there was a way of recovering the serial. It is an HP machine, and the CD I have is an "HP Windows" CD and not a MS Windows copy.

Well I've googled around a bit and there are definitely ways to recover a lost CD-Key if you have the computer up and running, but obviously that's not the case. Someone else correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the CD-Key is embedded digitally in the CD at all, so there probably isn't any way to recover it just with that.
I wouldn't feel too bad though, because a manufacturer-supplied disc like the one you have might have not worked to install windows on a non-HP machine anyways (or if you were lucky and it did work, it would probably auto-install bloatware).

 

[Spliff]

Well, I installed XP on my machine last night and tried entering in "borrowed" CD key(s), however since the key is sent to Microsoft for validation, it does not work. There are basically too many people using the same keys (there are only a handful found on Google), and even though the keys are valid they do not work because they've each been used so many times!

I just want XP on my MBP mainly for the odd game anyways, so if the reminder keeps popping up when I boot into it then so be it. I cannot do a Windows update though as there's a mandatory install to add that Geniune Windows Checker thingamajig to my machine which will try to verify my copy (even though it's geniune and authentic, it is not registered).

One thing learned from all of this is that I don't miss MS one bit anymore! I haven't installed and used Windows for well over a year now and will never go back to being a dedicated user. Long live OSX!

 

[Spliff]

Oh and by the way, the CD key is not tied to the actual CD itself or the machine it was purchased on. Any of those Googled keys will work.