Windows XP Pro Volume License Key vs Retail Key

theheyes

theheyes

theheyes

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Hi guys,

I wasn't sure whether to post this in the Windows forum, but I figured you guys might have a better idea.

I've just got a new technician's job, and the previous technicians haven't done a good job of keeping things organised.

Basically, a laptop of ours was playing up so I decided to format the drive and reinstall XP Pro. The laptop has a genuine XP Pro product key on the underside of the case. The only XP CD I could find was a Volume License CD, which I figured would be okay to use. I was wrong. I've never used a Volume CD before, and it asks for a Volume Product Key - it won't accept the original Key that is on the laptop. I probably should have anticipated this, but it is one of those things that only comes apparent afterward.

In amongst the piles of paperwork I have found certificates for volume licenses, but no actual key.

Does anyone have any advice? Is there a way to contact MS with the details of your certificate to recover your Volume key? Or would it just be best to cut my losses and buy a single OEM version of XP Pro and use that disk to install the OS?

Thanks guys.
 
Find a machine that you know has your volume license installed on it, then use 'magic jelly bean' (google it) to find the product key. I'm not 100% if this method will do but it is worth a shot :)

- Pea0n
 
If you have formatted the laptop you will have lost the key, your best and easiest route is to get ahold of an OEM Windows XP CD, they tend to be gold in colour, i imagine if your predecesors have done there jobs they should have stored them from previous builds.

Simply re-install with the OEM CD and use said license key attatched to the laptop.
 
There should be some record of a Volume Licence Agreement somewhere, hopefully with some login details to licensing.microsoft.com. The site lists all your agreements and VLKs for that agreement. You can contact MS and see what records they have of your agreement, but in the sort term it might be worth using OEM media.
 
Cheers guys, just so long as I'm not missing something obvious. An OEM CD will probably be handy to have around anyway, and I'll have a spare license to boot.

The sad thing is I will probably find the documentation after I sort the place out. I'll bear that jelly bean thing in mind though.

Thanks for your help everyone. :)
 
Find out your agreement number and who your reseller was. They should be able to sort out MSVL access for you, which'll show you everything you need about your licences, such as keys, as well as downloads for what your licenced for.
 
You can make your own OEM or VL cd from any XP cd, there is a .ini file which contains a set of numbers to determine what key the installing disc will accept, you simply copy the CD to a hard drive, then amend the file with the appropriate key.... this way you can "convert" your VLC disc to an OEM one to use with the laptops own OEM key.

Google will help ;)

Mods. if this breaks any rules, please delete with my appologies.
 
Hmm. Would they have purchased VLKs as well as the original serial? Perhaps there is an image ready (VLK prep'd) you could deploy? Any ideas if you have a PXE server?
Good luck with the job!
 
Thanks for the ideas guys. Basically, as far as I can tell (I'm the only I.T. guy on site, it's not as if I can even ask a co-worker) the volume licenses were bought to upgrade a few Win98 machines. The laptop itself was bought with XP Pro pre-installed, this is why there is a mix of volume licenses and original serials. The recovery CDs for the laptop are long gone, which is why I tried to use the Volume License CD to reinstall XP Pro. It's just a shame the Volume installation doesn't like an single key. I think I will have to beg/steal/borrow/buy an XP Pro CD. Pity I don't have one at home (I have Win98, XP Home, Vista Premium - just not the one I need!)

I took delivery of a few Lenovo laptops today, and I've told the staff not to remove the recovery discs from their corresponding laptop bag. Hopefully this will save me some headaches in the future!

Thanks again for your comments, you've been really helpful. :)
 
theheyes said:
I took delivery of a few Lenovo laptops today, and I've told the staff not to remove the recovery discs from their corresponding laptop bag. Hopefully this will save me some headaches in the future!
Click to expand...

Keep all install media in a fire proof safe.
 
It's not uncommon to have a VLK and for PCs/Laptops to have OEM licenses on them. One of our customers has exactly that, we get PCs/Laptops for them, they come with what is the current flavour license at that month, we then overwrite the contents of the HDD with a WinXP Pro image which has been created using their VLK.

I'd be inclined to get the magic jelly bean thingy and run it up on a few PCs/Laptops and see what they report back.

Also get in touch with MS who should be able to help, after all a VLK doesn't come cheap and if you have it you might as well use it to make your life easier.
 
https://licensing.microsoft.com/eLicense/L1033/Default.asp

^ your company should have login information to that site, which will list all your CD keys as well as being a central hub for downloading all the ISOs you need for all software you have the key for

If you have some paper work for your VLK then you most likely have the agreement number and the name/email it was registered under? contact MS (good luck with that) with that information and they should be able to grant you access to the account if you dont have the login info
 
If you have any other PCs from the same manufacturer with OEM XP licenses, see if you have media for them. Media is bulk copied so they are not tied to a particular PC. I've used Compaq desktop CDs in a Compaq laptop before and the key on the laptop worked fine.

Agreed on keeping the media safe - and separate from the PCs. You can absolutely guarantee your users will lose it (or at least if they don't, you won't find it when they leave/return the laptop).
 
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