xp installation media...

atomiser · 16 Aug 2008 at 08:05

hi there,

possibly a bit of a daft question... i'm in a scenario where i need to re-install a number of machines from scratch... the machines in question we're all supplied with xp oem when he purchased them... unfourtunately, the person i'm doing this for only has one copy of the installation media... grrr!

now, i've got a few copies of xp installation media...and obviously he has all the xp oem license codes... does it actually matter which media we use, so long as the machines all have the appropriate license code entered during installation?

i hope not, as this would save me quite a bit of time...

many thanks!

Brian Stuart · 16 Aug 2008 at 09:23

No, they will all install OK as long as the media matches the license key.

atomiser · 16 Aug 2008 at 09:49

Brian Stuart said:
as long as the media matches the license key

but thats the point...his license keys, my media... some of my media is retail, some oem, some volume license...

Brian Stuart · 16 Aug 2008 at 10:11

Then use your OEM media with his OEM license keys.

Burnsy2023 · 16 Aug 2008 at 11:41

atomiser said:
but thats the point...his license keys, my media... some of my media is retail, some oem, some volume license...

Retail and VLA media will not work with OEM keys.

Burnsy

atomiser · 16 Aug 2008 at 21:15

Burnsy2023 said:
Retail and VLA media will not work with OEM keys.

Burnsy

so as long as the media is 'normal' oem, and not something like a dell or hp oem we should be fine with the oem keys that are on the boxes? will we have to go through the activation wizard?

Burnsy2023 · 16 Aug 2008 at 21:19

Yes, as long as the machines aren't HP, Dell etc. And yes, you'll have to activate.

Burnsy

atomiser · 16 Aug 2008 at 21:27

cool, thanks for that. sod's law says the online activation won't work...oh how i am looking forward to punching 20+ x 50-char numbers down the phone... :/