Creating an OEM XP Disk?

December 1, 2009

I have a private job to do for a friend who needs his PC rebuilt. Of course, as is always the case, he has lost all his CDs. I have to rebuild 2 machines:

PC - Sony VAIO PCV-6603 (AIO)

Windows XP Home Sony (According to the CoA)

Laptop - Lenovo 3000 C200

Windows XP Professional Lenovo (According to the CoA)

Now, my question is, if I download some retail XP Home/Professional Disks from Technet and edit the setupp.ini file as detailed in this guide, will I have any issues with the Product Key or Activation?

December 2, 2009

Well technically whatever license those computers come with, they should be based off an OEM license (if the stickers are underneath the laptop). Retail serial keys + cd's are different than oem serial keys + cd's (if i remember right). So no, if you use a Retail CD but use an oem Serial Key it will not authenticate.

VLK licenses are also completely different to authenticate

Edited December 2, 2009 by Unholee

December 5, 2009

You can't activate Royalty OEM keys unless you call MS to do it. They'll do it no problem, but you do have to call and speak to a human.

December 12, 2009

Just to confirm, the method from the first post worked fine. Changed the PID from the Technet disk from 000 to OEM.

December 12, 2009

Interesting information, to say the least.

December 12, 2009

It is and very useful for IT Professionals if you are fixing personal PCs. Thankfully you don't have this problem with Vista/7 as all versions are already on the disk and it is based purely on Product Key. However, seeing as most novice users are still running XP on legacy equipment, it is very useful to know.