09-11-2006, 06:15 AM

Hello all

My question is totally out of keeping with this forum but seeing as most users here have good Windows knowledge i thought i'd give it a try.

My girlfriend has a Compaq PC that is a few years old and is acting up so i want to reinstall XP to give her a fresh start. The PC came with XP Home and a serial number stuck to the outside of the case but no installation or back-up cd.

I have an OEM XP home cd which i would like to use to install using her serial number so as to keep her all legal. My question is: Will her serial number work with any OEM install CD, her serial is an OEM serial so i am hoping there should be any problem.

Thanks
M

09-11-2006, 06:44 AM

From what i've experienced, yes it will work.

09-11-2006, 06:57 AM

The sticker on the Case of the Compaq is the COA. That is her Windows License. I have done the very thing you are going to try with a Dell and it worked. I had one issue once but normally if the Compaq came with an OEM which it probably did, Your OEM should work. Give it a try. It's can't hurt anything. It legal if it works as she has a licence to use one OEM Windows XP Home on that machine.

09-11-2006, 02:10 PM

As long as you have an XP Home license and an XP Home disk, it will work.. I used an XP home SP1 disk on my server, and used a "newer" XP Home COA and it worked.