XP CD Key Problems

[als814]

My friend's mom found an unused CD of Windows XP Pro under one of the seats in her car, and he gave it to me since I am only using Windows 2k. He doesn't have any idea where the original box is, so I don't have a CD key. Is there any way to take the CD key straight off the disk with a program, or would I even need a CD key since I am upgrading from 2k? They paid for the copy at one point, so I don't think there are any moral licensing problems, I just don't know if I will be able to use it or not. It is kind of scratched anyway since it was sitting in their car for so long, so I'm not 100% sure that it will go through anyway. Thanks if you can help.

[Panama Red]

Nope, can't use it. You need the Product Key in order to do the install and if it's already been used for their own computer they should keep it in case they need to do a repair later. You can't legally use it on any other pc.

[als814]

They said it was never used on their computer because they lost it at some point. Also, is it even possible to upgrade to XP Pro from 2k Pro?

[als814]

I don't want to do anything illegal since 2k really is working fine, XP would just allow for more support for games and stuff like that. It is an almost new PC with 1 gig of ram and a 3000+ Venice in there, so i'm not worried about performance problems. I just didn't know if there was some way to get it right of the disk since it is a legit disc with the Genuine Microsoft holograms all over it. I just figured since they paid for it, someone should put it to use, but oh well. I'll just see if I can get a copy of XP Pro x64 for cheap when Vista comes out.

[glc]

It's not the CD that counts, it's the certificate. No certificate, no license. There is no difference between the CD's, the key isn't stored on it anywhere. I use my XP CD all the time with customers' keys on their machines.

true_ks, read the forum rules about what is acceptable to discuss here. Your post has been deleted.