So I have a windows xp media center software lying around. But the problem is, its a restoration CD, that came with my dell. The only different thing it did when i reinstalled my dell was that it asked for the bottom code of the computer. Do you think this Recovery CD will work on my macbook pro(through boot camp, of course) if i entered the Dell's serial number when it asked me to?
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XP installation on Macbook
- Thread starter fhcsoccer12
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there is a hack to get media centre running on it. But i don't know it off the top of my head. But google's always a useful tool. As for the serial number, it will work, but you shouldnt install the same copy of windows on more than one machine. So legally, that disk supplied with your dell with windows on it, should only be used on the dell.
Nope, won't work. Not even going into the "Media Center not supported in Boot Camp" or the license violation issues (by the way, this thread will be wastelanded for sure just from the suggestion,) recovery CDs made for big OEMs (like Dell,) are locked to the specific model of computer it came with. This means that your Dell Recovery CD will only work with that one model of Dell. (So if yours is, for example, a Dimension 4100, then your recovery CD will only work on a Dimension 4100. Not on a Dimension 8100, not on any Inspiron, and definitely not on any HP, Sony, Apple, or generic.)
It is hardware locked. This is ON TOP of the fact that even if you found a way to get it to install on another computer, when you went to activate it (after typing in the Dell product key,) it would fail, telling you that you are trying to activate it on a different computer than it is licensed to.
So, the disc is hardware locked to a certain model of computer, and the product key is locked to your specific computer. (So even if you installed it on another Dimension 4100, even with identical hardware specifications, the product key would not work, because it is locked to another computer. If your computer had to be returned to Dell for repair, and some of the core pieces of hardware were replaced in the process, the next time you re-installed Windows, it would fail until you called up Dell and had them talk to Microsoft to authorize this 'new' computer.)
edit: Here 'ya go, here's what it looks like when you try to activate a product key that has already been activated:
