Using "external" win XP installation disks. Can it be done?

[chssvl]

A cousin of mine bought a second hand laptop on ebay a year or so ago. The laptop came with Win XP home (pre SP1) installed as well as what appears to be a legitimate certificate of authenticity with its corresponding product key but unfortunately didn't come with any installation or recovery disks.

I bought a brand new laptop 6 months ago or so which came with Win XP SP2 home and its corresponding recovery and installation disks.

So, question is, if I re-install everything on my cousin's PC, could I use my Win XP disk but, naturally, my cousin's product key?

I hope I'm not asking for help regarding an illegal activity

[USMDude]

No, because the product key is tied to the disk the installation comes from, if I understand correctly what you're asking.

[chssvl]

I thought that in Win Xp (with what the activation process entails) the product key (particularly with OEM versions) was tied to the hardware itself and that's why you couldn't get it to work on a different PC.

[glc]

The answer is "maybe". Very often, "recovery" disks are hardware keyed to a particular bios - and won't install on a different machine. From a legal standpoint, if you can get it to install and use his key, you are fine.

[chssvl]

Thing is that my laptop not only came with the recovery disks but with the Win XP installation disks as well.

I hope it works because she's worried that once she has to start up all over again she won't have the software needed to go back to normal.

[fabaker]

I had a similar incident with a desktop Dell computer. I was able to successfully use my own XP disk and use the Dell product key to reinstall XP. I did have to go through reactivation afterword.