From: Meebers on
3yr old laptop with xp home installed by vendor. Went and bought a XP pro
disk (legal) oem disk and installed and has been working just fine for the
last 3 years. HDD went south, bought a new HDD and reinstalled windowsxp
pro from a disk that I slipstreamed sp3 into. Install went fine, however
when trying to activate, changed the product key back to the original XP PRo
disk version that I bought. MS automated activation says the key does not
match after trying the new installation numbers. Tried activation twice no
luck. Is there ever a person that answers, all I can get is the automated
answer, or is my process wacked out.

From: LD55ZRA on
Perhaps you could clarify this:

"Install went fine, however when trying to activate, changed the product key
back to the original XP PRo disk version that I bought". Are you saying
that the installation was done without entering the serial number? The
reason I am asking this is because it is possible to install XP with SP3
without the serial number but you are required to enter the serial number
when you go online to activate it.

Please clarify this because it is likely that you are entering the wrong
serial number because either you can't read it properly or something else.

hth

"Meebers" <Iam(a)bat.com> wrote in message
news:OG9lWYYwKHA.5940(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> 3yr old laptop with xp home installed by vendor. Went and bought a XP pro
> disk (legal) oem disk and installed and has been working just fine for the
> last 3 years. HDD went south, bought a new HDD and reinstalled windowsxp
> pro from a disk that I slipstreamed sp3 into. Install went fine, however
> when trying to activate, changed the product key back to the original XP
> PRo disk version that I bought. MS automated activation says the key does
> not match after trying the new installation numbers. Tried activation
> twice no luck. Is there ever a person that answers, all I can get is the
> automated answer, or is my process wacked out.


From: Andrew E. on
Try,in the activation window,locate "change registration#"or change key
#,a new number will show.Or,try the register by phone method.

"Meebers" wrote:

> 3yr old laptop with xp home installed by vendor. Went and bought a XP pro
> disk (legal) oem disk and installed and has been working just fine for the
> last 3 years. HDD went south, bought a new HDD and reinstalled windowsxp
> pro from a disk that I slipstreamed sp3 into. Install went fine, however
> when trying to activate, changed the product key back to the original XP PRo
> disk version that I bought. MS automated activation says the key does not
> match after trying the new installation numbers. Tried activation twice no
> luck. Is there ever a person that answers, all I can get is the automated
> answer, or is my process wacked out.
>
> .
>
From: Patrick Keenan on
"Meebers" <Iam(a)bat.com> wrote in message
news:OG9lWYYwKHA.5940(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> 3yr old laptop with xp home installed by vendor. Went and bought a XP pro
> disk (legal) oem disk and installed and has been working just fine for the
> last 3 years. HDD went south, bought a new HDD and reinstalled windowsxp
> pro from a disk that I slipstreamed sp3 into. Install went fine, however
> when trying to activate, changed the product key back to the original XP
> PRo disk version that I bought. MS automated activation says the key does
> not match after trying the new installation numbers. Tried activation
> twice no luck. Is there ever a person that answers, all I can get is the
> automated answer, or is my process wacked out.

Sounds to me like the key does not match the install type.

Have you called the activation number?


From: SC Tom on

"Meebers" <Iam(a)bat.com> wrote in message
news:OG9lWYYwKHA.5940(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> 3yr old laptop with xp home installed by vendor. Went and bought a XP pro
> disk (legal) oem disk and installed and has been working just fine for the
> last 3 years. HDD went south, bought a new HDD and reinstalled windowsxp
> pro from a disk that I slipstreamed sp3 into. Install went fine, however
> when trying to activate, changed the product key back to the original XP
> PRo disk version that I bought. MS automated activation says the key does
> not match after trying the new installation numbers. Tried activation
> twice no luck. Is there ever a person that answers, all I can get is the
> automated answer, or is my process wacked out.

If you installed XP Home from the laptop's original disk, then tried to use
the XP Pro activation key, that's where your problem lies. If you're
installing Home, you'll have to use the Home key, then upgrade/install Pro
over it, then use the Pro key. If you want Pro from the start, go to the
laptop manufacturer's web site, download all the drivers, create a driver CD
(if one didn't come with the laptop), install Pro on a clean HDD, then
install all the drivers, starting with the chipset drivers.
--
SC Tom

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